OU University Theatre will open “The Birds” Friday, where actors will debut their performance and costume designers will showcase their creations.
The play is an Indigenous adaptation of a Greek comedy by Aristophanes by the same name. The play, written by Yvette Nolan, follows two characters who leave the modern world seeking freedom and find the utopian land of the birds.
Typically, a University Theatre production gives a drama student with a costume design emphasis the opportunity to design an entire production, or pieces within it. However, design for “The Birds” is a collaboration between three costume designers: Lloyd Cracknell, professor of costume design; Natalie Lane, costume design junior; and puppeteer Afsaneh Aayani.
“One of the reasons why (Lane) wasn't the sole designer was we had to work in conjunction with a puppet designer, which we haven't done before,” Cracknell said. “The puppet designer took the lead on a lot of the ideas that were coming through.”
According to Lane, it was important to have multiple designers for the costumes in “The Birds” to fully differentiate the characters from separate worlds.
“There is the world of the birds and then there is the world of the human characters, and they're so different,” Lane said. “They oppose each other and they also blend together in certain ways, so we thought it would be a great idea to adapt a new designer so that we could each focus on a specific area and how those can really drastically oppose each other.”
Cracknell worked with Aayani through Zoom to design the bird costumes. Aayani created the bird masks, and it wasn’t until they were complete that Cracknell could begin designing coordinating costumes. Cracknell said this process was unusual because he followed Aayani's lead.
Cracknell created costumes that matched the color and texture of the bird masks, but he was also conscious of the bird-like movements actors would make in the costumes and how the costumes would allow and enhance them.
According to Lane, each bird design reflects the individuality of different Indigenous cultures within every nation.
“Each (bird design) is very individual and each one is very nuanced in its own way, …” Lane said. “Every nation is so diverse and has their own traditions and they have their own things that they really cherish, and we reflect that really well.”
Lane was given full creative freedom to design the two human characters. Lane is one of three costume design juniors, and “The Birds” is her fifth design process at OU.
Even though Lane did not work directly with the puppeteer, she said it was insightful to watch the collaboration between Cracknell and Aayani.
“I personally did not work with (Aayani) too much, but I've seen all the great work that has been done and how beautiful all of the puppets are,” Lane said. “I've also seen how (Cracknell) has been able to interact with (Aayani) and how they've been able to collaborate. I've seen a lot of great conversations about texture and pattern, and making that seamless transition from the puppet heads into the rest of the body. I think that is something that's worked really well.”
Cracknell said that costumes add a layer of storytelling to a production by assisting actors with embodying their character without stealing attention away from the performers.
“The whole point about costume is to help promote the story, help the performer develop the character that they're supposed to be,” Cracknell said. “We often find in fittings when people come in to try their costume on, their body changes. They sort of go, ‘I now understand, or this gives me a better idea of the movement.’”
According to Lane, the costumes in “The Birds” are crucial to its storytelling because the costume is the first visual aspect the audience experiences.
“Getting to tell who the characters are before they speak is so important because there's so much visually involved in the show,” Lane said. “There's so much color and there's so much texture and there's so much pattern. When all of those things combine, it can become really congested and really hard to focus. It's been really important that we really decide who these characters are and how that will be reflected so that the audience can really focus on their personality and how they fit within the world.”
The show runs at 8 p.m. Friday, Saturday and April 10 and 11, and at 3 p.m. Saturday and April 11 and 12 at the Weitzenhoffer Theatre.
Tickets are available online with discounts for OU employees, military personnel and adults over 60 years old.
This story was edited by Madisson Cameron and Macey Thaxton. Larkin Bock and Sophie Hemker copy edited this story.
