I have designed an opera costume for the character of Papagena (a bird catcher in love with Papageno) in Mozart’s opera the Magic Flute (a favourite opera of mine). My costume for Papagena combines both traditional and modern approaches to opera, given I was bewildered when contemporary opera production designers drastically changed the characters or their costumes within the opera. This idea stemmed from watching Simon McBurney’s production of The Magic Flute at the English National Opera at the London Coliseum, and his dressing of beloved characters like Pamina and Tamino in a bunch of cheap looking tracksuits, that loom as if they were bought from Primark. It simply was a huge disappointment. However, I did find his use of video projections as sets, extremely impressive and I wanted to investigate a costume which showed an appreciation for both traditional and modern approaches to opera. Overall, my costume for Papagena pokes fun at the styling of tracksuits in opera, since it transforms a generic tracksuit into a crazy, surreal and comedic dress.
My intention for this costume was to design it in a way that incorporated the beauty of traditional opera costume making i.e. embroidery and combining that with contemporary means such as video projections. In addition, since opera as an art form is exceedingly expensive, I aspired to create an inexpensive opera that used recycled and cost-efficient materials such as rubber neoprene, spray paint and upcycled tracksuits from Primark, to successfully convey the idea that a beautiful opera costume can be made cheaply and sustainably.
