Behind the scenes with the wardrobe mavens of the Opera
Throughout Calgary Opera’s home the Arrata Opera Centre — a decommissioned historic church — a sense of urgency dominates.
Hisses of steam the whirl of machines and a constant buzz of activity; the sounds of invention fill the costume workroom of Calgary Opera’s production area as preparations are nearing completion for the world premiére of The Inventor .
Under the calm and creative hand of wardrobe head Ansa Schau the sketches of set and costume designer Bretta Gerecke are being realized by the deft fingers of her crew of six wardrobe mavens. Wardrobe has a massive role: creating and sewing more than 300 costumes for 60 cast members including a chorus of 40.
It was only a short five years ago that Calgary Opera found a real home for where its costumes sets props and other show paraphernalia could be created and stored so there are not enough costumes from past shows to modify for The Inventor .
As a result Schau and her crew have whipped up many wonderful costumes from scratch for this production. They’ve also been adding bows collars aprons ribbons galore and making vests for rental pieces.
After approval of Gerecke’s imaginative designs last summer Schau took the cast’s measurements then travelled to Toronto to select costumes from Mallabar’s which has the largest stock of theatre and opera costumes in Canada.
“Mallabar costumes can have things taken off or added but no cuts can be made” Schau says. “An interesting phenomenon is that people have gotten taller — the average height now is five feet eight inches for women.”
Rented costumes are made with wide seams to allow for minor adjustments and all garments must be returned to their original sizes. All Mallabar clothing must be shipped back without embellishments and returned to original sizes — and in this case two days after the last performance . “It is easier to adjust up and down but not in or out” says Schau.
In some cases the custom-made costumes are “broken down” to make them appear older. “We use sandpaper or cut them to pieces or dye them to look dirty.”
“For opera it needs to be quite dramatic. What we do has to be visually available. It can’t be tiny because the orchestra keeps the audience at least 12 feet from the actors.”
For Schau her work began long before rehearsals for The Inventor a new opera commissioned by Calgary Opera composer and renowned conductor Bramwell Tovey and librettist John Murrell. Her process started 18 months ago while she was researching the fashions of the countries and periods depicted in the story of a man who kept reinventing himself with little regard for others or laws.
“I love to piece together things that we have already made and put them together to create something else altogether different to fit the show and the character” she says.
The art school grad and experienced wardrobe creator learned her trade in Denmark before immigrating to Canada as a child. Expanding the life of garments is still a driving force in her approach as revealed in her work.
“It is really important that we are making the actors comfortable in the clothes and helping them to create the character” she says. “We work with the performers too to find out how they see the character.”
Schau accomplishes that by reading the scripts and attending the rehearsals.
“I can talk with the director and designer. The designer gives notes everyday about how he sees the characters and what he wants them to do.”
The Inventor is the third commission for Calgary Opera’s Tovey an award-winning Order of Canada playwright. Tovey has written the music for the opera based on a true Canadian story about the nephew of a successful Maritime brewer. Both named Alexander Keith their paths were quite divergent. The plot covers four decades and several countries and the opera will be sung in a variety of languages with English translation above the stage.
