Sarah McCarroll, MFA, PhD

Big Love by Charles Mee

Costume Design; Georgia Southern University Fall 2011

Charles Mee’s postmodern retelling of Aeschylus’ The Danaids asks a costume designer to explore variations in wedding attire for both men and women. At the center of the story are a trio of brides and a trio of grooms, who are supposed to marry, much to the women’s dismay. They find themselves in a seaside Italian villa, and during the action of the play the violence, passion, danger, peace, and strength of love are explored through the interactions of the six potential spouses and the residents of the villa. Each of the brides and grooms has a strong and distinct character, although the pairs might be described as the idealists, the violently opposed, and the hesitant but ultimately committed realists. This means that nuances of wedding dress and tuxedo fashions must be explored in order to reveal character via clothing. For the final pair, who ultimately find happiness together, I chose a “timeless” Greek-inspired wedding dress, which featured a detachable 6 yard train, and a traditional tuxedo with bowtie and boutonniere. The idealists, whose love crumbles in the face of reality, I thought of in terms of high school prom ensembles; the bride wore a “poufy princess,” as the actress called it, ballgown. The groom’s tuxedo featured a matching pale blue vest and necktie. Finally, the couple who are violently opposed to marriage were costumed with much sharper, modern lines. The groom wore a collarless tuxedo jacket, while the bride’s dress was short, with clean, minimal lines. All of actors in the play were required to commit to extreme physical movement, so one focus of the design and fit of the clothes was to provide the cast with the ability to comfortably and securely move through the show.

The remaining characters in the play are residents of the villa that is its setting. To my mind, all but one of these characters (a man who is long-comfortable with himself, his relationship, and his place in the world) were driven by a sense of appearance. To that end, I grounded their costumes in high-fashion Italian and French resort wear. I hoped for a sense of the elegance and sensuality associated with Marcello Mastroianni and Sophia Loren.