Week 24: Headgear
September 24, 2012
13 April 2012
Head of Wigs Sandra Smith told me that there have been conversations about making a blond wig for me, should I ever have to go on in my understudy role as Sir Andrew Aguecheek in Twelfth Night. Bruce MacKinnon's hair has been dyed for the role, but I didn't think it was mandatory for me to mimic this part of his performance.
As an understudy, my goal is to blend into the show without anybody noticing anything is amuck. I can't think of a better way to foil that aim than to put me, an Asian man, in a blond wig.
Sandra dutifully quoted Shakespeare, saying Sir Andrew's hair is described as being 'like flax on a distaff,' which is why they had coloured Bruce's hair. I argued that, in my case, we should settle for this being a description of texture rather than pigment.
Shakespeare wrote in a time when the likelihood that a man of Indian ancestry would play Sir Andrew was as great as that of Sir Andrew getting to marry Olivia in the play. Four hundred years later, Sir Andrew will never marry Olivia, but I might play Sir Andrew at the RSC.
Our company has been hired through 'colour-blind casting,' meaning that the race and ethnicity of the actors has not been a deciding factor in whether or not they would be cast. In The Tempest, Ferdinand is played by Solomon Israel, who identifies as black British. Ferdinand's father Alonso is played by Kevin McMonagle, a white Scotsman. Black British Cecilia Noble plays Emilia in The Comedy of Errors who is the mother of the Antipholuses played by white Northern-Irish Stephen Hagan and white English Jonny McGuinness.
I support this kind of casting; I think it is reflective of the multicultural world we live in, and is an important tool in opening up classical works to include actors from all ethnic backgrounds. Literalism in choosing the looks of Shakespearean characters has to be relaxed, especially if we want to diversify the face of Shakespearean acting in this country.
Luckily, no understudy wig will be made for me as Sir Andrew. My argument might have carried some weight. But I think it also came down to the fact that it takes an incredible amount of work to make a wig, a burden that seems unnecessary when the department is already stretched to its limit.
However Bruce's blond hair in Twelfth Night had other consequences for me and for Felix Hayes.
Bruce and Felix play the twin Dromios in The Comedy of Errors. The costume department has given them matching clothes, shoes and hats to help with the effect. The wig department has also built a blond coif to pin to the front of Felix's hat that matches the colour of Bruce's dyed fringe.
I understudy both Felix and Bruce in the Dromio roles. The wig department has insisted that I wear an identical blond coif, as it is essential to the theatrical assertion that the Dromios are twins. They're right. Sir Andrew is unique in his look on the stage, but in our production of The Comedy of Errors the Dromios should be as identical as possible.
Since all understudy costumes and wigs have to be completed before opening night, I was sent to the wig department to be fitted for my blond coif.
I imagined there was a high-tech way of making my wig. It turned out the most effective method is low tech.
Supplies: cling film, Sellotape, a permanent pen
Step 1: Wrap the head in cling film
Step 2: Cover all the cling film with cello tape to ensure its shape is maintained
Step 3: Mark out the hairline of the actor onto the cling film with permanent marker, and mark where the hairpiece should sit
Step 4: Cover the permanent marker with cello tape to ensure the markings are not lost
Step 5. Slip the plastic cast of the head
In-house wig experts Laura Odom and Roxy Gattrell will now take this cast and stitch together a coif, one hair at a time.
Photo: Laura Odom and Roxy Gettrell fitting my Dromio wig.
by Ankur Bahl
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