Theatre Costume, Celebrity Persona, and the Archive

Emily Collett

doi:10.21153/psj2019vol5no2art918

Authors

Emily Collett University of Melbourne, Australia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21153/psj2019vol5no2art918

Keywords:

costume, archive, Deborah Mailman, Indigenous, memory, Shakespeare

Abstract

This essay considers the archived costume in relation to the concept of the celebrity performer’s persona. It takes as its case study the Shakespearean costume of Indigenous actress Deborah Mailman, housed in the Australian Performing Arts Collection. It considers what the materiality of the theatre costume might reveal and conceal about a performer’s personas. It asks to what extent artefacts in an archive might both create a new persona or freezeframe a particular construct of a performer. Central to the essay are questions of agency in relation to the memorialisation of a still living actress and the problematisation of persona in terms of the archived object. Can a costume generate its own persona in relation to the actress? And what are the power dynamics involved in persona construction when an archived costume presents a charged narrative which is very different to the actress’s current construction of her persona?

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Author Biography

Emily Collett, University of Melbourne, Australia

Emily Collett is a set and costume designer whose extensive practice comprises theatre, dance, film, television, and costume research. Emily was nominated for a Green Room Award for Dream Home, Northcote Town Hall 2015, and has received grants from the Ian Potter Cultural Trust and ArtStart. Recent design credits include Control, Red Stitch Actor’s Theatre, 2019; Wild Cherries, La Mama Courthouse 2019; Whale, Northcote Town Hall, 2019; A Little Night Music, Watch This, 2018; and Niche, Elbow Room Productions, 2017. A tutor in design and PhD candidate at The Victorian College of the Arts Melbourne, her research focuses on the topic of costume for performance as a cultural marker, specifically in relation to Australian identity.

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