Notes on Costume Design for TŪ currently playing at Circa One: Clare Bowden
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| Photo by Matt Grace. |
I don’t
know when Hone Kouka first started mentioning this project to me. Over the past
8 or so years it would come up when he was asking for small amounts of help on
other theatre projects. He would say “the big one is coming”. I worked on the
development season up at Victoria University in 2010 when he was pitching to
festivals. TŪ had its full theatre debut
at the New Zealand Festival of the Arts in 2012, it opened to acclaim on
Pipitea Marae in Wellington. TŪ returns
to Circa Theatre, Wellington
this Saturday 15th June before travelling to Auckland for the
Auckland Matariki Festival in July.
I feel
like I have been a great fit for this job, I am humbled to have been sought out
for it, and I have THOROUGHLY enjoyed the process of development. The design
brief was left very open for me to bring my interpretation to Hone’s work and
to complement exciting design from other disciplines of theatre: MARK
McENTYRE – set. ULLI BRIESE – lighting. KARNAN SABA – sound. HONE
HURIHANGANUI - composition.
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| Photo by Matt Grace. |
I have
been extremely well supported and encouraged by a phenomenal, experienced,
award winning crew.
I have
kept to the 40’s in the shape of garments. There is also a deliberate nod to
wartime use of domestic textiles in garments. My mother has a story of an
extravagant usage of cloth for a full circle skirt, but this was finally made
for her in scratchy dowdy teatowelling! Candlewick, hessian sacking,
cheesecloth, floral furnishings and mattress ticking - these sorts of textiles
escaped the rationing placed on ordinary fabrics and were often used for new
designs on a budget. There’s a subtle reference to Maori and blankets in there
too.
Beautiful
elegant well-dressed 1940’s urbane Maoridom: Well, the cast are extremely
beautiful and handsome – I literally could put them in sacks! I threw in
the colours of rural Maori houses of the 1970’s that I grew up amongst to give
the stage glow. Spearmint, Mustard, Lemon, Lolly Pink with Ratana Purple.
I also drew from time I spent as a teen with an elderly Maori Matriarch who had
been a prominent member of Auckland Society. She had recognised a mutual
interest in her favourite NZ designers, Kevin Berkahn and Colin Cole, and left
me a small but exquisite collection of her garments and textiles which I
cherish.
It looks
right to me – this is my interpretation for the story and these characters
within a family (I have three brothers).
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| Photo by Matt Grace. |
Thank you to my fabulous staff for
their support to allow me to interrupt the regular biz for this buzz. Thank you
Hone Kouka and Miria George of Tawata Productions for the opportunity.
I hope
after reading this you are inspired to come and see the show, to see the layers
and layers of talented work that go into this show with its illustrious cast
and very New Zealand family story.
Arohanui,
Clare
Clare Bowden is owner, director and co-designer of Mandatory,
an independent menswear store which opened in 1997 in its current location on
Cuba Mall, Wellington. The store has an international reputation for great
pants! Clare first met Hone and his work (his trilogy) at the 1996 Wellington
International Festival of the Arts. She has no theatre training and this is her
first return to making Womenswear of any kind since 1997.
