The placement has generally felt quite strange. The week prior I was working as a tailoring assistant, being trusted with work for clients and paid for my work then going into the ROH I was treated as someone on work experience. They said they often get students without much tailoring experience but interest so comments were made about being surprised how much I already knew/ hoping I had found the placement valuable.
The ROH has been a kind of personal goal of where “I would work if I could work anywhere” since going on a tour in second year. I knew it would not be perfect but there was a tangible sense of resentment in the tailors towards the head of department, designers and generally senior staff members.
This mostly seemed to stem from a lack of control over their work. For example, the new Romeo shirts being made out of polyester caused a lot of frustration as its so difficult to work with and make look nice compared to the silk versions. The HOD also asked additional shirts to be made without explaining to the team that additional dancers had been cast and needed their own. Feeling like the work they were doing was pointless and unnecessary caused a lot of resentment.
I understand these feelings likely the reality of working for a huge, hierarchal institution vs a smaller theatre. Harry and Kyle at the Lyric had more control over their work, process, hours ect.
