Inside the Wardrobe

Grace Roche

For our TY musical, Grease, I had the opportunity to be part of the costume team. At the start I thought I would have very little to do but turns out I was very wrong and we were always busy.

Firstly, we had to get every body measurements to make sure that all the costumes would fit once they arrived. This was more of a challenge than the first imagined. It was very hard to get everybody because they were so busy learning lines and rehearsing. Also I was put in charge of making sure that all the boys got the same type of footwear. This proved impossible for them, so we ended up ordering the shoes. Worryingly, not all of the shoes came the first day of the show, then the rest arrived the next night. It was very stressful making sure they all arrived on time. When they did it, made the show just right because we all looked the part.

The day all the costumes arrived there was great excitement seeing and trying them on for the first time. It felt like the show was finally coming together and that we were back in the 1960's with all the colourful and puffy costumes. Then we had to make sure they all fit properly or make the necessary adjustments if they didn’t. I relearned how to hand sew and how to use a sewing machine. For the dress rehearsal we had to make sure that everybody had the right props and costume, and if they needed something new they got it. When the show was going on we had to pin people’s costumes to make sure they looked good on stage.

The boys were against the idea of wearing makeup but secretly I think they loved it. Also they looked very funny with all their hair gelled back it really looked like they were from the movie.

Yvonne was such a great help with all the costumes and props and we couldn’t have put it together without her. My favourite costume was the prom because everybody looked great in their suits and fancy dresses. I think that everybody can agree that all the costumes looked great and really brought the musical to life.