Richard III
Costume Design by Caitlin Quinn
Directed by Kate Powers
The South Dakota Shakespeare Festival
Production Details: This was an outdoor production with a cast of 12 where every actor but Richard played at least 3 characters. The director did not want to set this in a specific period, but wanted the costumes to read as broadly "Shakespearian" to the audience. No characters wore stays and any petticoats and padding had to be secured to the dress because of the amount of quick changes with one wardrobe crew member. 4 of the women's gowns and Richard's doublet were built. I was the shop manager for this show as well as the designer and had one stitcher working in the shop. All the costumes were built, fit, and altered by the 2-person costume team. This production had 4 weeks for design and build.
Costume Details: Because we had a variety of periods to pull from, and a small amount of actors playing a large amount of characters the costume concept relied heavily on color to help the audience decipher the different factions at war for the throne. Richard's family were in blacks and blues while the rivals were in reds and warm tones. The variety of shapes in gowns and doublets (inspired by various historical periods) helped to distinguish the "older generation character" from the "younger generation" with amount of fabric used.