We have many items in our Props and Objects Collection that don’t easily fit inside a box to store, such as the miniature golden carriage is from The Fantastic Follies of Mrs Rich (The Beau Defeated), 2017. The Globe is a unique playing space, with a number of special features which makes it different from a conventional theatre. Therefore these features must be considered when designing a set. For example: At the end of the play in Shakespeare’s time, the company would put on a second shorter piece – a farce or a dance. This stopped the audience going home sad if it was a tragedy! We have a large collection of prop swords, from heavy blunted metal swords to flashy feather-weight broad swords and even the prop sword which King George V used to knight the actor manager Frank Benson in 1916.

Now design your own poster for the play. Remember that your poster will need to be eye-catching and provide an idea of what happens in the play. Don’t discount things because they seem big and impossible; there will always be some big and theatrical way of achieving your design.The Costume Store where they are washed and hired out to film, TV and theatre producers, schools, amateur dramatic groups, etc. Mention the type of play (e.g. comedy, history, tragedy). You may choose to add when the play was written or published. The role of Apprentice Costume Makeris aimed at someone with an interest in period costume and theatre, who is looking for hands-on costume experience in one of the most well-known theatre companies in the world.The two-year programme will work towards the successful completion of a Level 3 Garment Maker apprenticeship.

There are different kinds of characters in the play; soldiers and generals, thanes and kings, ladies and witches, (and a goddess). We would like you to use costume to help to show the differences between these characters. Think about what materials, symbols or accessories you can use to help show the character’s status and personality. We have 13 individual portraits of Shakespeare alone in our artwork collection. Our most famous Shakespeare portrait is the "Flower Portrait", named after Mrs Charles Flower, who donated it to the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre. It was claimed by to be the original portrait from which the engraving by Droeshout in the front of the First Folio was produced. It was quite usual for some parts to be ‘doubled up’ where one person would play two or more characters because they were not on stage at the same time. The plays would be structured to allow for this. Later in Shakespeare’s life he was able to afford more people on stage at once because his company was so successful. In Twelfth Night , for example, nearly every single character is on stage in the final scene, meaning that no doubling up was possible.

You might also like

The audience for this production will be mainly schools and young people. A key consideration for designing these costumes is that the audience must be able to relate to the characters. That means it’s really important to dress the characters in clothes that feel familiar to young people today. Our production is set in the modern period, but like us you can take inspiration from anywhere you choose. We have several Benson Company costumes in the RSC Collection, including Constance Benson’s costume for Lady Macbeth (1902), and the robe Frank Benson wore as Richard II (1900). Significant costumes from 1949 to present day Shakespeare’s company built the Globe in 1599 in Southwark on the south bank of the Thames. It replaced an earlier theatre, the Rose. In 1613 the Globe burned down and the company rebuilt it on the same spot. Leave things open to interpretation – once you have an idea don’t tell people exactly what you are doing but hint at certain things and let people draw their own conclusions. The Globe was an open-air theatre shaped like a doughnut. There were shelters over the seats and the stage, but the middle section was open to the sky. The sun was the only source of light – performances took place during the day, not at night like they do now. The building was made of wood and plaster, like most Tudor buildings, which meant it was vulnerable to fire. No candles!