ROSENCRANTZ AND GUILDENSTERN
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (2013) by Tom Stoppard
Directed by Simon Phillips
Hand-made leather doublet, breeches and codpiece, with eyeleting and lace
cotton/linen shirt and hand-made leather boots.
Made by Joanna Grenke & Martin Roberts; Photo by Joanna Shuen
Tim Minchin (Rosencrantz): "Gabriela Tylesova’s designs were so textural and beautiful, with Nick Schlieper’s beautiful lighting bringing out every strap and fold."
Toby Schmitz (Guildenstern): "I had known of Gabriela’s gifts since NIDA where she had been a minor god.
"Her vision of leather scraps and patches was to allow for all the movement and variety that the play demands, which is basically everything you can imagine, from slapstick to existential terror.
The vents, the laces, the sleeves, the belts, the silhouettes underwent exhaustive tailoring still being refined in previews."
Worn by Tim Minchin & Toby Schmitz; Photo by Heidrun Löhr
Tim Minchin (Rosencrantz): "Putting on those costumes was instantly transporting for Toby and I, not only placing the audience in the right time and place, but placing the actors into the mindsets of R&G. And that’s before you get to the mind-blowing costumes in the court. I mean, Heather Mitchell in that gown! Iconic."
Toby Schmitz (Guildenstern): "Tim and I took a full hour and a half to get ourselves into the complex, pliable, bits and pieces, though Tim arguably spent longer on his hair.
"This was a meditative thing for us in our shared dressing room, affixing, adjusting, strapping ourselves and each other into all that leather, as we ran our lines and discerned what mood the other might be in."
Tim Minchin (Rosencrantz): "I’ve never before or since experienced such artistry in costuming, and I can’t recommend highly enough the experience of being measured up for a pair of bespoke piratical boots."
Toby Schmitz (Guildenstern): "The boots were utter works of art, function and fetish in cahoots."
Made by Joanna Grenke & Martin Roberts; Photo by Joanna Shuen