Costume in Performance : Materiality, Culture, and the Body

Winner of Best Performance Design and Scenography Publication Award, Prague Quadrennial 2019 This beautifully illustrated book conveys the centrality of costume to live performance. Finding associations between contemporary practices and historical manifestations, costume is explored in six thematic chapters, examining the transformative ritual of costuming; choruses as reflective of society; the grotesque, transgressive costume; the female sublime as emancipation; costume as sculptural art in motion; and the here-and-now as history. Viewing the material costume as a crucial aspect in the preparation, presentation and reception of live performance, the book brings together costumed performances through history. These range from ancient Greece to modern experimental productions, from medieval theatre to modernist dance, from the 'fashion plays' to contemporary Shakespeare, marking developments in both culture and performance. Revealing the relationship between dress, the body and human existence, and acknowledging a global as well as an Anglo and Eurocentric perspective, this book shows costume's ability to cross both geographical and disciplinary borders. Through it, we come to question the extent to which the material costume actually co-authors the performance itself, speaking of embodied histories, states of being and never-before imagined futures, which come to life in the temporary space of the performance. With a contribution by Melissa Trimingham, University of Kent, UK Cover page Halftitle page Praise Title page Copyright page CONTENTS LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS PREFACE INTRODUCTION The immaterial presence of costume Thematic frameworks 1 THE FIRST COSTUME: RITUAL AND REINVENTION Costume and liminality The first drawn costumes Holding the characters: costumes and masks in Ancient Greece The extended, semidivine dancing satyr The satyr and the Baroque masque Modernity, masculinity, and the Faun The Asian turn in costume Re-devising Greek tragedy through borrowed costumes Meanings transferred to costumes in ritual exchanges 2 COSTUMING CHORUSES: SPECTACLE AND THE SOCIAL LANDSCAPE ON STAGE Choruses, costume, and community Mythical warriors materialized through costume Neo-Platonism, and the costuming of heaven on earth The fabrication of wonder through costume Dance, costume, order, and the court Ballet blanc, ethereal bodies of tulle The serially produced female body Costume and community crisis: The Rite of Spring 3 THE GROTESQUE COSTUME: THE COMICAL AND CONFLICTED “OTHER” BODY Which “other”? Greek comedy and the grotesque costume Bodies of mixed parts Arlecchino’s journey from demon to valet The reinvention of the English clown Carnivalesque in Les Ballets Russes A body rediscovered through the mask Costume and resistance 4 THE FLIGHT OFF THE PEDESTAL: A SUBLIME SECOND SKIN Reclaiming the sublime as feminine Flying technology, the beautiful pedestal, and costume Costume as a technology for flight Bare feet and naked skin: orientalist and neoclassical costumes Costume, a second skin that engulfs space Contemporary female costume, through the lens of feminine sublime 5 AGENCY AND EMPATHY: ARTISTS TOUCH THE BODY 6 A DIFFERENT PERFORMATIVITY: SOCIETY, CULTURE, AND HISTORY ON STAGE Between the stage and the everyday Couture costume National identity and historical authenticity in costume Collaborative and material synthesis through history and fashion in costume Costume designers as our contemporaries Conclusion: costume as a negotiation of proximity and distance NOTES BIBLIOGRAPHY INDEX "This beautifully illustrated book conveys the centrality of costume to live performance. Finding associations between contemporary practices and historical manifestations, costume is explored in six thematic chapters, examining the transformative ritual of costuming; choruses as reflective of society; the grotesque, transgressive costume; the female sublime as emancipation; costume as sculptural art in motion; and the here-and-now as history. Viewing the material costume as a crucial aspect in the preparation, presentation and reception of live performance, the book brings together costumed performances through history. These range from ancient Greece to modern experimental productions, from medieval theatre to modernist dance, from the 'fashion plays' to contemporary Shakespeare, marking developments in both culture and performance. Revealing the relationship between dress, the body and human existence, and acknowledging a global as well as an Anglo and Eurocentric perspective, this book shows costume's ability to cross both geographical and disciplinary borders. Through it, we come to question the extent to which the material costume actually co-authors the performance itself, speaking of embodied histories, states of being and never-before imagined futures, which come to life in the temporary space of the performance. With a contribution by Melissa Trimingham, University of Kent, UK"-- Provided by publisher The first costume : ritual and reinvention Costuming choruses : spectacle and the social landscape on stage The grotesque costume : the comical and conflicted "other" body The flight off the pedestal : a sublime second skin Agency and empathy : artists touch the body / Melissa Trimingham A different performativity : society, culture and history on stage. This unique overview of costume for performance explores the ways in which the costumed body is fundamental in the construction of meaning for audiences and performers within a range of artistic, cultural, and historical contexts.