John Wilkes Booth: One Night Only!
John Wilkes Booth
I was tasked with creating a three piece look for the leading man, John Wilkes Booth. Orla Long, the costume designer, wanted to make a sleek all black, classic menswear look for him. The goal was for him to look prim, proper, and as if he has everything together. That contrasts with the reality of the play as he is dying in a barn at the end of his life. The question that was posed to me was what does John Wilkes Booth think he looks like or how does he perceive himself.
I drafted a tailcoat, a waistcoat, and pair of broad fall trousers. This set of costume pieces allowed me to make some classic and traditional menswear pieces. Every piece has pockets where they normally are.
One challenge that I had to address was the shoulder holster for his gun. The holster that was provided rested on one shoulder and it need more support to hold up the weight of the gun. He also takes of the holster at the end of the show and so it had to be something that the performer is able to take off. After a few lines of trying straps and elastic, the answer ended up being clear plastic snaps that are near invisible from the audience.
The Boy
The Boy plays John Wilkes Booth in a flashback moment. Orla wanted to give the character something showed his youth compared to the rest of the characters in the show. Her research led to a shorter cropped jacket with grosgrain trim detail.
This jacket was straight forward in its drafting and construction. When it got on stage for the first time, Orla and I noticed that the jacket looked very heavy and formal. After looking deeper into it, it turned out the shell fabric and the lining together made the jacket too heavy. I took it out and pinked the insides to soften the drape of the jacket.
The Gypsy
When Oral brought this corset to me, the idea was that there would be a moment in the show where the Gypsy character would take off her clothes, revealing her undergarments. Orla wanted her to have a beautiful corset with a lot a topstitching detail. Orla wanted to communicate that the Gypsy, like the other people in the play, are not real people. They are actors performing the parts that John Wilkes Booth has cast them in.
After our first fitting, Orla designed the topstitching details for the corset. During tech, the director and playwright decided that there was not enough time or place for her to take off all the layers. So, that action was cut, unfortunately.
