Fasciantors: Part 1

As part of the rehearsal process the Director thought it best if the characters (Birds) is they started wearing the feather elements of their costumes to get used to the fact they are actually birds. So I started creating the Fascinators.

 

Fascinators are posh (and usually rather eccentric) headpieces usually found on women at weddings or ascot and come in a wide variety of colours, sizes and styles.

 

I have created an individualistic Fascinator for each bird within the cage, focusing on their human characteristics and what actual bird they are based on. As you may or may not recall each character is based on an actual bird in existence that has similarities to human personal of text they speak within the script, if not, here is a list to remind you:

 

• The Wild One  – Eagle (Aguila Chrysaetos)
• The Gloom – Great Thick-Knee (Esacus Recurvirostris)
• The Thump – Bearded Vulture (Gypaetus Barbatus) 
  
• The Guzzle – Pigeon (Columbia Livia)
• The Gazer – Peacock (Pavo Cristatus)
• The Twitting – Canary (Serinus Canarius Domesticus)
• The Gossip – Parrot (Psittacidae Ara Chloroptera)

 

Each of the Fasciantors required for the piece shows the individual colour schemes and the breed etc, but all (except The Wild One’s) has been given a small silver charm. An Eagle charm to be exact.

 

 

This charm, (even though it may not be clearly seen from the audience) has been used for two reasons. The first being the more practical option, is to hide some of the stitching work on the Fascinator base, and the second reason, The Wild One (being an eagle) has tried to leave her mark on the other caged birds, even long after she has been killed off.

 

So far I have made 5 of the 7 because I am still waiting on the feathers for The Guzzle and The Thump, but See Slideshow for Images of The Wild One, The Gloom, The Gazer, The Gossip and The Twitting fascianors that have been created so far.

 

Hopefully, the last load of feathers etc should arrive in the next couple of days, but until then, I will continues designing the costumes and sourcing the materials and costumes. 5 down, 2 to go.