Costume Ideas

I didn't really have any ideas for how I wanted Ashputtel to look in particular, I knew she needed to be wearing clothes that portrayed her social status and looked worn and lived in. From watching Quills, Kate Winslet's character of Madeleine plays a chamber-maid, wash girl character with the sort of style I want to create for Ashputtel.

The following screen shots show different elements of Kate Winslet's costume:

Stage Design - Working towards a final idea!

I've decided to have the stage completely white, no colours, and no real signifiers to the time period. Making the design a combination of Louis XIV France but designed to be modern also. The Louis XIV element will come from the costumes and the modern element from the simple stage design - minimal set and the use of lighting!

The set have remained the focal point but have be moved to the side so that there is more space for the use of props (to suggest period) but also so that the stairs can be incorporated in different ways between the different scene changes e.g the stairs can be used to come down into the kitchen for Ashputtel and the stairs as the focal point when Ashputtel loses her shoe and runs away from the Prince's castle.

Lighting Projections for the scene (Using lights as up-lighting) - Lights projected onto the backdrop:

For the Prince's Castle - Red and Gold alternate panels of the backdrop. Colours to not mix where they colours meet.

**Stairs to be up-lit in a velvety red.

The red and gold sound gawdy but I almost want that to be the feel so it seems over the top and rich!

Stage Design

Moving on from my initial design I've carried on with keeping the stairs in a central position; these will be a fixed piece throughout the whole of the production so they need to be easily adaptable to each scene, I struggled with ways of how I was going to achieve this and through looking at the works of Peter Greenaway and Quills the way I will get around this is not through set changes but through the use and change of colour to compliment the mood of the scene.

The backdrop I see as being like drapes in a plain colour which can then change between the scenes using the lighting to alter colour and mood. (Ashputtels house - drapes in a grey; Prince's Castle - drapes in red and gold.)

Breaking down at the designing stage.

Images of my designs to be uploaded later! I'm finding that I'm producing design after design but on paper I'm thinking my ideas seem too simple but the fact is although they are simple in stage design and layout it's more focus on the use of colour, lighting and image projection that is going to complete my set for me!

The three main scenes of Ashputtel are:
1 - Ashputtel's House - mainly the kitchen.
2 - The Tree/Mother Spirit - Wish ("magic") element.
3 - Prince's Castle

My concern is that Ashputtel is such a fast moving play, and the story 'flits' quickly between the 3 scenes which I don't think will allow for a over-complex set design; something I wouldn't want either - so I think it is going to be better transitionally to keep the design simple but each different scene change will be identified through the lighting and projections that signal the change and contrast between the scenes.

Although the scene I am focussing on is when Ashputtel visits the Castle the third time and loses her slipper as she runs away from the Prince, I'm having to take into consideration the other scenes too because of how they transition!

Colour ideas to identify between the different scenes:
1 - Ashputtel's Kitchen - Dull tones - greys, whites and browns, based on the sort of colour use in Quills (screenshots to follow)
2 - The Tree/Mother Spirit - whites, blues, blacks
3 - Prince's castle - red, golds, patterns (patterns but be presented through video projection to bring the grandeur to life rather than just flat colours)

The Marquis de Sade inspires.

I've become quite interested in the film Quills (2000). As I mentioned in a previous post, I have ideas from the film for the stage, costume and colour.



The trailer shows sort of gives an idea of:

- The costumes I want - especially those of Kate Winslets character for the sort of clothes for Ashputtel.
- The stage design - The grand hall in Quills, with high ceilings and plain walls, simply decorated with tapestries.
- Colour - Kept to a minimum with a grey, off-white, greenish pale, although it has a clean-ness to it there is also this dirtiness to the colour palate.

Quills

Bit of a random pick from the library because I knew it was a sort of 17th/18th century based film - but I've only watched half an hour already and I'm not really looking at the story but getting plenty of ideas for colour choices, stage designs and costume designs.

Colours have been kept to a minimum with a grey, off-white, black, brown and grey/green palate being the over riding theme with the odd splash of red - used to highly gory and dramatic effect.

Stage design ideas for the palace, keeping the palace feeling OTT and spacious with just detailed hints of decoration.

Costume design mainly comes in the form of Kate Winslet's servant girl style.

Ideas are floating around, images doodled, just need to pad these out and I think I'm liking the Louis XIV period of France.

If I were a rich man ....

... I'd have sat for as many portraits as Louis XIV did! There are numerous paintings of King Louis to highlight his grand lifestyle. I love the over-top'ness' of it all, there is nothing simple about his clothes, everything is detailed and over-done, the colours exploding out of the painting, this is something combined with looking into the baroque style of grand living that I want to focus on for the costume design as well as the stage design. The Palace/Castle of the Prince needs to be over the top to contrast against the kitchen that Ashputtel dwells in. I think the patterning, which I'm particularly liking in the bottom image is something that I want to work in, so not necessarily doing a full-on palace layout but giving suggestions of that through materials and colours and patterns, this being because the scenes swap around so quickly I want a clear swap between the grandeur and the hovel!!