Working – 2024-2025 placement adventures!

ROH Institution Thoughts

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.

Applying to Hercules internship

Ive applied to a wardrobe intern porsition for the new disney musical hercules. The advertisement said to email a cover letter and CV to them so i spent a while researching the musical/ disney theatrical company & drafting my letter (I hate writing ew). 3 days later i was sent a link for the actural application site that didnt require any cover letter :/

UPDATE: I was requested to do a quiz to finalise my application. I didnt mind as i hoped it would give me more information about the role, hiring process or disney theatrical company. Part 1 was a 136 question personality quiz and part 2 was a near impossible picture puzzle 😀

7am me is not a puzzle person

Post Christmas thoughts

Its my 9th week at the studio. I feel very at home and have a good routine for commuting in. Im being trusted with more tasks and knowing how to complete them independently but still feel able to ask for advice to improve my technique. Its refreshing to be so confident in my abilities whilst also learning and improving my dexterity and tailoring skillset. Being paid for my time and work also has had a big impact on me, for the first time I feel my time, work and skills are appreciated and valuable. Accepting payment helps in accepting the responsibility of the work.

However, I feel as though the things I am learning about the industry and my professional development starting to plateau. I gained so much from random chats or even overhearing discussions with people passing through the costume department. It was especially great meeting actors and designers with such different perspectives of costume from me. The set and prop departments were also incredibly interesting to see and I’ve realised how much I miss building and painting things beyond sewing.

At Kingsley’s studio I feel more isolated and I only get to talk with the other freelancer sewers- no actors, directors, designers, supervisors…

Future plans??

Hearing other peoples experiences going on tours and working on cruise ships ect. Im realising id really like to travel in my work in the next 5 years if i can. I see myself really enjoying freelance studio work either part time or maybe 10 years in the future if i were more settled in my personal life. Looking forward; I could learn to dress for film/ theatre and see if i can get a job on any touring productions this summer/post-graduation.

Once, we are finished with Operation Mincemeat in February, I want to move on to a more dynamic work environment, perhaps something less sewing/tailoring-based. My current plan is to look into what skills i have & skills want to learn then research where i could do a placement to develop them.

First week with Kingsley

For my first week, I’ve just been at the studio for 3 days. I had a little tour and met the other people working in the space. Kelsie is Kingsley’s full-time assistant, then he has a few people working on a casual basis sewing; George, Sarah, and Katie. Another costume maker Katy Adeney also uses the studio, they each have half of the room and split the rent + business rates.

The studio is very chatty and everyone has known each other for a long time. George and Kelsie met at uni then Katie and a few others worked together for a season at Dorset Theatre. In contrast, the work is very professional and made to a specific standard.

As a freelancer working for costume supervisors, the costume quality are being judged by costume designers and supervisors, not just by audiences watching them in a show. That means all work produced needs to be of a certain standard of quality, inside and out.

For Kingsley to gain an understanding of my skill level and for me to learn the standard methods used at the studio, I repaired some old corduroy trousers and made a twill pair from scratch. I was at first worried about “failing the test” but quickly realised I’m confident enough in most of the processes and it was completely fine to ask for clarification on preferred methods for specific tasks.

Lyric Hammersmith – Week 4 Log

Monday Chats about networking & finance

Harry and I went through a few of his contacts in the costume industry who he has worked with before and who I could potentially contact about doing a placement. This was so helpful as i find researching and contacting people in the industry so nerve-wracking. It was also great to see the network of freelance costume makers across London as most of my online research into placements came up with more established theatres and costume hire companies than individual makers.

I also had a chat with Charlotte, head of finance, who gave me some advice about expense reports, invoices and when i need to register as self employed. This was great as i had no idea the threshold for registration was as low as £1000 in a tax year and generally has made me feel more confident about the financial possibility of charging for my work/ going forward in my career.

I feel quite frustrated that only now am i learning about invoices and being self employed as i think this financial literacy should have been taught in secondary school or the first 2 years at Wimbledon. Many students i know had already started freelancing or selling their work by year 2 and to leave this essential information out of the course seems negligent to the reality of working in creative industries where freelancing is the norm.

Going into this placement, i thought most people working in the theatre industry were employed by the theatre or tour company but speaking with the plthe wardrobe team for Raisin in the Sun and Charlotte i realised most are on short term contracts and technically self employed. While it seems exhausting to constantly be hunting for the next gig, there are some advantages like being able to move around parts of the uk and Europe by finding jobs in different cities and the strong network of contacts you build from working on so many projects.

Week 4’s other tasks:

I patterned a smock and cloak for Ebonaza’s coronation outfit based on Andrews measurements.
Prepared the fur for the cloak by cutting 12”strips and sewed on the sparkly “ermine tails”
Constructed the smock and cloak ready for a fitting
Jodie and Eman had their measurements updated
Joined a production team meeting – each department shares how they are going and any questions or concerns are raised. Things like adjustments for relaxed performances and closed caption performances were discussed .
Fitted The Ebonaza coronation costume:

Thoughts on the Ebonaza Fitting:
– Overall it didnt go as well as hoped and the energy in the room was very low.
– For the most part Andrew the actor disliked the design. Rather than a coronation robe he felt the fabric choice was giving 60’s mini dress and made some insensitive comments about feeling like a man in a dress and comparisons to Greyson Perry.
– It was difficult to navigate this as we feltthis was an accurate representation of the design and neither of the designerswere present to give their viewpoints. Even though I understood some of the comments It was quite demoralising having such a bad reaction to my work, especially when the notes were not something i as an interpreter could respond to. In the end we completed the fitting and requested a meeting to disscuss with the designers next week.