Mad Hatters Charity Tea Party 2012

drying the tea pot

Today was the day, the day where sleepless nights, hours of continuous sewing and hard work became worth it. At the crack of dawn Libby and myself were up sewing animal tails and finalising costumes. once everything was given the once over, categorised, and packed we took to painting the tea pot prop which was made of pappier mache.  The colours chosen were yellow, blue and pastel pink. What shocked us was the amount of time the paint took to dry, so as a solution we used a stage fan held up the tea pot and aimed the fan on the areas needing to dry. This took us between 45mins to an hour however the final product was well worth the wait. 

dooremouse in the tea pot

white queen and alice

mad hatter

The Costume and Wardrobe Team

On arrival to the location we found there was not much time to get the characters dressed. So Libby and I split the cast in half and through dividing jobs we got everyone dressed in under 10 mins, final checked, and then on stage ready for the first performance. Due to the open air surroundings I was slightly concerned the actors would be uncomfortable with costume change, however they all acted professionally and helped each other out a great deal which saved time. first thing we noticed was that the March Hare ears kept falling out of the actors hair. the ears were attached to hair clips and the actor had very fine, short hair which was tricky to grip. Thankfully due to earlier preparations, both of us were carrying hair grips which we used to our best ability to secure the ears. for future reference maybe slides instead of combs on the ears would be more practical. another issue was the white rabbit tail. even though we used countless safety pins to secure it, due to the amount of movement from dancing and hopping, it fell off.  If this was tacked onto the animal costume it would have been heavy and pulled the bottom half down, for the next event this will have to be looked at. 

The performances went off without a hitch, the actors were amazing and received many glowing compliments which they all deserved. The costumes held the rough and tumble of the performances and though a lot of intensive cleaning is needed (whipped cream from the tweedles and dryed mud from the animal costumes) it is worth it to know the day went brilliantly. 

 The Mad Hatters Charity Tea Party was a total success and Becki Short (organizer) should be very proud of it, she has put a lot of hard work and effort into making this a wonderful family event. Many thank you's to the wonderful Libby for everything you have done from costume to props. Without you I wouldn't have been able to get things finished on time. Jeremy for not only becoming a costume assistant but helping out till the very end, keeping spirits up and bringing light to confusion. Finally all the cast,well done to each of you. each of you brought something to the event which was valued and somewhat magical, you were all amazing and cannot wait to work with you all again.

the full cast

the night before the big day

jeremy making roses

Well its the night before the big day and believe me when i say it is all go. On arrival at the organizers last night we made a list of everything needing to be done and have found that myself and Libby Cooke (costume assistant) are being drawn into props as well (which is rather fun) in the form of a tea pot. Left to do are the fastenings, more roses for the white queen dress and categorising everything ready for the day.
As soon as Libby arrived we settled down to start fastenings. these included zips on three animal costumes, eyelets and lace on both the queens dresses along additional jobs such as adding roses to dresses, ironing, slip stitching and general maintenance. We roped another volunteer into sewing, Jeremy Emery,  making roses for us whilst we cracked on with the main garments.  At around 4am it was decided that in the best interests of health we should get a few hours and recoup and start again at 6am

so much to do so little time

close up of the roses Libby has made with added beadwork

Were now drawing closer to our deadline for costumes for the Mad Hatters Charity Tea Party. After many talks with the organizer, Becki Short, she has given me permission to go ahead and do what i feel would be best for the other all appearance of the characters. Libby, my costume assistant, has been slaving away making roses for the white queens dress out of organza and white lace whilst I have been  binding the red queens edges with decorative braid. after the roses are made I have been adding bridal beads to them so the light bounces off. 
I have decided it is in the best interest to make sure all the animal suits have a removable calico lining as well. This way if the weather is warm, perspiration can be absorbed and if it is cold the extra layer of material will keep the actors warm. 
Below is the final picture of the roses falling down the white queens dress. 

LOVE SOUTHSEA PROMOTIONAL

Today we had the Love Southsea event where the cast were advertising the event and putting on a little sketch for the audience. It all began early in the morning trying to put everything together and categorising each outfit for the individual characters. I noticed at once that there were not enough bow ties so this is going to be a major thing i need to source.  Once on arrival I got everyone dressed and found that we didn't have a full cast which meant I had time to do a few final fittings. i have learnt the red queen needs some gold braid as well as the neckline being taken down and the animals need tails. unfortunately i was unable to check the Alice dress however with a wing and a pray im sure it will be ok.  The Tweedles braces will need to be lengthened for the actual performance day as they kept flicking off. The doormouses outfit is now the correct size for the actress and can have the fastenings attached and the same goes for the white rabbit. The event was a great success and we shall hopefully have many people turning up on the day.