Reds and blues

We’re in to the second and final week of our production in Alexandra Park – Star-Cross’d and I would just like to take this opportunity to say thank you to everyone involved in the project. From the start I knew this was a very ambitious idea but I’ve been taken aback by the commitment and professionalism not only of the principal cast and crew but of the whole company – especially those who have given up their time to be part of Star-Cross’d.

Talking about Star-Cross’d, this week I wanted to write about the design and costumes of the play and how they work as part of the narrative. Designing a production is not a simple task and we use the best theatre designers in the North West to work on our productions. Alison Heffernan has designed Star-Cross’d and her most recent Coliseum production was The Road to Nab End which was another large scale piece. For Star-Cross’d Alison has taken a lot of inspiration from Bollywood to create a carnival atmosphere – you’ll see this straight away when you arrive at the main entrance to the park. She has also seamlessly incorporated the park's permanent features into the design; for example the Lion’s Den (which is beautiful anyway) looks stunning dressed up at the Capulets’ banquet hall.

All the costumes are very subtle – the complete opposite to pantomime. A lot of plays that we produce – apart from pantomime – are set in the recognisable world. This means that the characters all wear clothes that fit in to both the time period and location of the play. Star-Cross’d is set in 2012 so the clothes that the characters wear are up to date but they also reflect the character. Alison has made sure that the Capulets all wear something from the red pallete; maroon, orange, ochre, cherry etc. And the Montagues all wear something from a blue pallete. The idea behind this is so that if you plucked one of the characters out of the play and placed them in the park on their own they wouldn’t look out of place and blend in with everyone else. It’s only when the characters from the different families all come together that it will be more obvious which family they belong to. Something quite different from the idea of gang motifs/costumes like the warring gangs of the Sharks and the Jets from West Side Story.

The costumes are also mix of Asian and western cultures. The Montagues – including Robbie (Romeo) – all wear what any Oldham teenager would wear. In contrast the Capulets wear dazzling traditional Asian dress which adds to the contrast between the two feuding families.

The overall effect is a fantastic visual experience and looks wonderful. The show closes this weekend so do make sure you come and see the totally unique production before it’s too late.

Kevin Shaw
Artistic Director