King Lear - Wyndham's Theatre

Leather

All the belts and cuffs were brand new leather & pleather, so had to be aged & broken down. The leather was deglazed and cracked. They were then hand sanded and painted to accentuate stitching, shape, age & wear. Left to Right - Before & After

Skins

We were given 3 large cow hides to be worn like ponchos. We painted the outsides to show discolouration with age & wear. We scratched them to suggest they had been worn in multiple battles. Once it was discovered that the shine of the hide's underside was too visible under stage lights, they were sent back to us to breakdown too. I worked out a process of using the plastic we had on the table to protect the costumes as an effect. The creases in the plastic were picked up on the leather as I sanded it back, creating an irregular texture. This meant I wouldn't have to go in and add these points individually. The whole underside was sanded down with a block and then darkened by dry brushing a thin coat of leather paint. Left to Right - Before & After

Shoes

The references we were given were Viking-esque style of boot, but we were directed to use more slate & ashy tones in our colouring. These were all hand painted, and required testing and experimenting as the shoes were made of a variety of fabrics. Replicating worn slate, old caked on mud and the effect of weather-beaten leather were key to try and distract from the shoes modern designs and heavy soles.

Garments

The costume pieces we were given were block colour tunics & trousers. I defined their shape by airbrushing up from their hems, cuffs and necklines, and then aged them to fit their character & place in the story. To age them we sanded & grated fabric & painted into these distressed areas to give a feel of worn-in dirt. Left to Right - Before & After

Costume designer- Jon Bausor, costume supervisor- Becky Gunstone, Costume breakdown- Dais Blower & Max Stevenson. Photography by Johan Persson