Here's another design by Caroline Siedle for a gentleman of the chorus. Once again the show is unidentified, but it appears we find ourselves in another exotic locale, perhaps Egypt or maybe Morocco? The sketch is titled: "Saloon Keeper. Prisoner Act 1 Chorus gent". He looks like a prosperous saloon keeper, judging by the glittering rings on his fingers, and pearls on his chest, wearing an elaborate costume in a color scheme of grey, red and white. But he is certainly bound and chained, wrists and ankles, in rather massive restraints!
On the left, a blot of color obscures part of his foot lending a sense of working under pressure. Siedle would sometimes design well over 100 costumes for a show, and claimed she could design an entire production in 3 weeks time - although a month would be better!
The back of this drawing reveals a little more information. This was sketch no. 117 costume no. 40, for Mr. D. Walsh, with instructions for 1 dupe as per sketch & color. Unfortunately I’ve had no luck in tracing Mr. D. Walsh. Siedle often made notes stating that the finished costume was to match the colors of the design; an understandable request, since entire scenes were planned around specific color schemes.
No comments:
Post a Comment