Costumes for Greetings from The Trench

"Mystery is the essence of woman " so wrote Coco Chanel and so we have this exemplified in a smart design for Emma Brown's costume for the ghost story set in the 1960s- my play Greetings From The Trench. Emma plays my character's daughter Madeleine and various other roles in the play and this sketch shows off her beautiful and stylish, authentic 1960's outfit, worn in the play. It is a short chequered black and white jacket with Chinese style collar and an array of ten military style buttons. This is completed with a chic knee length black skirt, stockings and stylish period shoes.

My own costume features smart black trousers with a peach coloured, button down collar shirt, and an old fashioned waistcoat and a black, silk lined, Pierre Cardin jacket. The boots are workaday and the scarf through away creative hinting at old school values coupled with inventive abandon. The butcher's apron is authentic English style with enough apron string to make a traditional front tying butcher's apron. The cane is circa 1950.

 

During the main part of the performance my character, Frank Philips, is dressed as below in trousers, waistcoat and peach coloured shirt.  Image posed with Greetings from The Trench book used throughout the play. His beard is grey and trimmed to be reasonably smart for his television appearance. His sight is poor and glasses are necessary to read.

At the beginning of the play Frank Philips poses in a butcher's apron. This is a BBC publicity shoot because of his famous book and The Two Butchers Poem for which he is well known across the world. Frank Philips exudes confidence outwardly but has an inner fear of failure in his time of greatest need to succeed.