Oral Histories

Annie James, Head of Wardrobe There was one show, when Vicky Ireland was Artistic Director, we were doing The Snow Queen, and Vicky used to have the most awful migraines, and be out of action for a couple of days in a dark room. We were sitting in the back of the auditorium on the first performance, I can remember this distinctly, Vicky was getting a migraine, so she was sitting there obviously feeling terrible, but she directed the show, so she had to stay around. And it was the second half, after the interval; the performers were all running down through the auditorium, and they were supposed to run up the stairs onto the stage. It was a pirate queen and her pirates, and one of them decided to be a bit clever and jumponto the stage instead of going up the stairs. And sadly he didn’t make it and he fell off. And from what I remember he dislocated his knee and cracked a bone in his elbow. And we all sat there thinking ‘is he going to be all right?’ The performer who was playing the pirate queen said to a pirate – still in character – ‘Take him away!’ So they dragged him out of the auditorium, and somebody backstage dealt with him. And Vicky suddenly disappeared. And this guy who’d hurt himself was playing one of the lead roles, as well as various other roles. And when we looked up, there she was on stage, dressed as, I think it was ‘Kay’ that he was playing, in The Snow Queen. Going on, with a migraine, full warp, she was fantastic and the show carried on. I think someone must have said something at the end. We’ve had various ones where people have not turned up, through illness, and artistic directors and associate directors have had to go on. And we’ve had to run around trying to find a costume for them. One of them was Roman [Stefanksi], in The BFG I think it was, he had to go on for somebody and was dressed as the Queen of England – so we had to find a pair of high heels to fit a grown man, and a quick outfit, and a wig. But he loved every moment. [laughs] There was one costume, which I think is possibly going to be in the exhibition, which is the Samurai Warrior. I went off and did a load of research at the V&A and did lots of sketches as to how it was made. Obviously there was no way – because they’re incredibly complicated with strips of bamboo and things laced together - I couldn’t replicate it exactly. But it was quite fun to try and find fabrics that would look like the stuff on a samurai warrior costume. That’s really quite satisfying to achieve a look in a sort of short-cut way. So that was good fun. I think it’s the creative process – I like being creative. It’s a nice challenge, to have a complicated costume and end up with something someone can wear, and move in, hopefully without too much discomfort. I think that’s why I wanted to work in a small-scale theatre, because you’re involved, you see all the processes. At Polka, you can help out on stage. And in that last week, especially if you’re working incredibly long hours, the team spirit is lovely. We’d be moaning about everything, but it was all part of the process. Moaning about how little time, how little money, but we were all very committed to getting the show on, to the best of our ability, and making it look the best we could. We all get together in the final weeks of make, and it is very special. It’s the creative process, again, where you start with something on a piece of paper and end up with a set, costumes, performers and a show. Which is fabulous!