Costume Clothing is integral to The Admirable
Crichton. Barrie's notes to the play say at the outset:
We have had misgivings ever since we found
his name in the title, and we shall keep him out of his rights as long as we
can. Even though we softened to him he would not be a hero in these clothes of
servitude; and he loves his clothes. How to get him out of them? It would
require a cataclysm. To be an indoor servant at all is to Crichton a badge of
honour; to be a butler at thirty is the realisation of his proudest
ambitions. That cataclysm happens, and the radical change of
clothes goes with the radical change of social roles. For the island costumes,
I had in mind Mad Max and Waterworld, clothing made from whatever
scraps came to hand. I asked the cast to think in terms of "bare as you dare",
and two of the male leads had nerve enough to wear thongs in the island scenes
(hence the reviewer's comment about "brave and unusual costumes"). Even on
their return, however, I had in mind costumes showing that the island had
changed some of the characters: in the final Act, the originally idle Agatha
and Catherine's dresses had been replaced by practical and sporting
outfits. |
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| Agatha and Catherine,
Act 1 |
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Loam and servants,
Act 1 |
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| Island costumes,
Act 3 |
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Agatha and Catherine,
Act 4 |
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