Metamorphoses is a play that was written originally by Mary Zimmerman. However, a different version of the play was produced by The URI Theatre Department and performed in February 2013. The designs of the costumes in the play were by David T Howard. It is imperative to comprehend that the play is staged in a series six sections. In the first part, the narrator of the play prays to the gods for some inspiration. This lays out the theme of the play (metamorphosis). Moreover, the narrator of the play states his intentions to write a single continuous poem. According to the narrator, the poem out to stretch from the origins of the world to this day.
The costumes worn in the play are primarily ecclesiastical garments. The costumes worn by the characters in the play tend to represent gods, animals, and mythological creatures. In fact, some of the costumes have exaggerated body parts such as stomachs, padded bottoms, and oversized phalluses. Most of these costumes were intended to heighten the comic effect.
The concept of the director of the play was to explore different transformations from the literary and oblique to the pedestrian and obvious. There are various metamorphoses that the characters undergo in the play that serves to highlight and clarify an essential quality of the transformed individual.
The other concept that the director tries to pass across is the sadness of love. From the work of Ovid, there seems to be no happy ending as a result of love, for instance, Ovid depicts the disastrous quality of all the romances in the play by depicting that even the god of love is not in a position to find love.
In my opinion, the costumes, hair, and make-up in the play were directly consistent with the concept of the play. The characters who play as supernatural beings wear costumes and have very long hair. Their costumes are set out to depict that these individuals are not from earth. The love story that the narrator tells in the play shows the difficulty that gods have that normal person on earth also face.
The costumes can be said to inhibit and enhance the performance of the actors. The costumes by some of the characters enabled the audience to comprehend the characters. Some actors wore makeup that made them look as if they were dark-skinned.
Some of the costumes that the characters in the play seemed to inhibit their movement on stage. It seems that the dress rehearsals for the play were not quite finalized. There was a need to conduct a costume parade outside the context of the play. This would have enabled the director of the play to look for the effectiveness of the costume regarding the appropriateness of the scene.
The performance of the play was successful. Most of the characters in the play did not forget their lines. Moreover, the costumes that the characters wore augmented their portrayal to the audience. What I would have changed from the costumes and the makeup of the actors is the application of the makeup. The level of makeup seemed low. It is as if the characters put on the makeup on their own. It is the responsibility of the director to ensure that the makeup of all the characters is done by a professional and that the consistency of the costumes and make-up is maintained.
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