Into the wardrobe: discovering costume design for Scuola di ballo

As I wander through the wardrobe department, I get a strong sense of the intuitive ability behind Hugh Colman’s costume designs for Scuola di ballo. While I am mesmerised by the huge rolls of gelati-coloured tulle with names like Apple Green and American Beauty, it is his insights on the design process that have my mind unfurling.

Hugh’s initial inspiration was the Carlo Goldioni play on which Scuola di ballo is based. He feels that its 17 characters are not limited to commedia dell’arte caricatures but resemble “real middle-class Italians” as depicted by Italian painter Pietro Longhi.  The music also gave him ideas for the production’s colour palette and comic flavour. “The music for this one is interesting because although it’s Boccherini tunes from the 18th century, the arrangement giving it its texture and mood is by Jean-Francaix, a 1930s composer. The music sets my imagination going.”

The design reveals influences from both these eras, and what Hugh calls ‘”the X or Alexei factor.” Hugh knew the characters wouldn’t truly materialise until the recent start of rehearsals. He likens Alexei Ratmansky‘s choreography to his design, in that they both reinvent the classic forms and shape them using humour and irony. The comedic element is supported by this contrast. “The comedy will come out of the costumes being more 18th century than contemporary because if you’re in an 18th century costume doing contemporary movements, that’s inherently somehow funnier.”

Photography by Teagan Glenane

Hugh’s passion for fabric becomes quickly apparent. Locally-sourced silk is used heavily in this production – chosen, Hugh says, on account of its ability to light well, its lustre and its perfect weight for dance. Modern touches such as lycra in the males’ britches, gold chains, flashes of bright colour, and an absence of wigs ensure that the audience will recognise themselves in the characters onstage. Streamlining is an important consideration in creating well-tailored costumes that allow for quality of movement, as is a flexible approach to an intensive schedule. Here the highly skilled and hardworking cutters, machinists and the supervisor of fittings are invaluable.

A strong sense of colour is reflected in his evocative description of the design’s palette: “warm Italian rococo fruit; pinks and ripe wheat gold through to a flush of orange; offset with cooler blue-greens for the young student men. The older characters are in bolder contrast, using a range of blacks, greys, olive browns and dusky grape, with hits of very sharp lime and fuchsia.”  Such pure poetry is only rivaled by the names ascribed to the names of many women’s lipsticks.

It is time to say goodbye to my favourite fixtures in wardrobe, a pair of very likable (but headless) mannequins named Gene Kelly and Mr Darcy. I ask Hugh what his trademark is and he’s quick to respond, backed up by the subdued giggles of the woman cutting fabric behind him. “My use of colour. Also the essence of the line – very linear rather than frou-frou and flourishes. How simple can you make it and still tell the story? What can you do without? I think decoration comes in often to hide things. If it’s been beautifully cut you don’t need anything else.” I’m sure Mr Darcy would agree.