Costume

A costume is the clothes that an actor wears during the performance of a play. Directors use costumes as a way of communicating things about the characters on stage. For example, a director may want to present a character as dangerous or dark or evil, so may use the colour red or black, or something sharp, in the costume of that character, to give the audience a hint. The costumes each character wears can tell the audience a lot about the setting of the play as well, in particular the country and period of history in which the action is set. COMMUNICATING: GROUP DISCUSSION Look at the pictures below of characters from different plays. Study the costumes and discuss what you can figure out about the characters on stage by looking at what they are wearing. Do the costumes reveal something about the characters’ personalities or background or the era they live in? ©The Educational Company of Ireland