22 January, 2020

Costumes roughed up for Summer Shakespeare

After she has carefully constructed complex Renaissance outfits, the costume designer for Takapuna’s Summer Shakespeare has to give some of them a dose of rough treatment.

Forrest Hill resident Aria Harrison-Sparke, 19, is the sole costume designer for Shoreside Theatre’s outdoors production of As You Like It in the PumpHouse amphitheatre.

“For the forest [of Arden] scenes, we wanted the costumes to look dirty and old,” Harrison-Sparke says.

She distresses the costumes using paint and tools such as a hair dryer, heat gun, rotary tool and an airbrush.

“It’s good to have made something and then destroy it. People ask, ‘Is that hard?’, but I say, ‘No, this is the finishing touch.’”

The crew of volunteers who put on the Auckland Shakespeare in the Park productions, now in their 24th year, start preparations a year earlier – while the previous production is still under way.

As You Like It director James Bell is impressed by the amount of time and effort Harrison-Sparke puts into researching her costume designs and getting all the details right.

It also helps that Harrison-Sparke, who plays Phoebe in As You Like It, is also an actor, Bell says, because she knows how to talk to actors about the costumes.

He says costumes need to not only help the audience understand the character, but also be comfortable for the actor, not making them feel fat, for example.

Shoreside Theatre specialises in “true to text and period” productions, which means all the elements, including physical theatre and costumes, need to help the audience follow the play, despite the period language.

The set has to be relatively sparse, as it has to be packed down at the end of every show, to alternate with performances of Macbeth, and it needs to be weather-proof.

The play starts in the court, where Harrison-Sparke has used red and black in costumes.

An evil duke banishes his niece, Rosalind, for taking a shine to a young man, and she heads to the forest with her cousin, the duke’s daughter, Celia, and a court fool.

In the Forest of Arden she continues her romance while disguised as a boy shepherd, creating a comedy of errors.

The cousins meet up with the duke’s banished brother, Rosalind’s father, and his men, as well as the people of the forest.

Those characters who were banished from court have red in their costumes, and all the characters have elements of the forest in their clothing, Harrison-Sparke explains.

Even the evil duke has floral brocade on his jacket, she says.

Harrison-Sparke is studying costume design and production at Unitec, finishing this year.

Her passion for Shakespeare started with productions at Albany Senior High School and carries her through the many hours of work for Shoreside Theatre, which she plans to continue with, looking forward to celebrating its 25th year next summer.

•  Auckland Shakespeare in the Park runs until 15 February with As You Like It and Macbeth on alternate nights at 7.30pm. Adults $25, students/seniors/groups $20, children $10. Book at pumphouse.co.nz, ph 489 8360 or email info@pumphouse.co.nz.

This article originally appeared in the 24 January 2020 edition of the Rangitoto Observer.