ACCESSORIES AND COSTUMES IN ‘ST. JOAN‘

Evening Star, Issue 21319, 25 January 1933, Page 12

ACCESSORIES AND COSTUMES IN ‘ST. JOAN‘

In last night’s presentation of 1 St. Joan ’ the original scenery and costumes designed by the famous English artist Charles Ricketts, R.A., in 1924 were used. Some of the scenes aie gorgeous, notably that of the ambulatory of Rhoims Cathedral, and Mr Bruce Winston, who was responsible for the making of the beautiful Court drosses and the robes of the high dignitaries, is with the present company as stage director. In a chat with him on matters connected with the costumes in the play he was pleased to tell me something of the history and the making of the robes. The Court dresses are made from plain satin, on which is painted the beautiful brocade designs and heraldic emblems, these being all true to the elaborate heraldry of the period. The beautiful paintings on the triptych used in the epilogue, the picture above . the king’s bed, and the paintings of the stations of the Cross in the cathedral scene are the original work of Charles Ricketts and the personal property of Dame Sybil Thorndike and Mr Winston. Mr Winston is one of the artistic trio —Dame Sybil, Lewis Casson, and himself—who were responsible for the original production of ‘ St. Joan,’ and when not on tour is to bo found in his charming frock shop in Ncu* Cavendish street, London, known to many New Zealanders as “ Thcrisc.” The Costumes. Joan makes her first appearance, climbing up the narrow stairway, in a girdled peasant frock of the period of 1429, made of sombre brown serge, whose simplicity and drabness further emphasise her radiant face.. At the Castle of Chinon her suit of glittering armour over mole and blue velvet girt with her sacred sword s and the fair silken boyish hair that is Dame Sybil s own and her usual manner of wearing it, transform her into Joan the soldier. Wearing a martial cape of wedgwood velvet over her suit of mail, she snoops impatiently to the banks of the river Loire, pointing her attack on the tardiness of the soldiers, emphasising her restlessness at the delay. In this costume she appears in the Cathedral or Rheims after the coronation—the victorious Joan, her promise to the Dauphin fulfilled. A tunic of blue velvet embroidered in flur delis, worn over her armour. There is the foreshadowing of tragedy in her pale, strained face when she, is brought before the Inquisitor. The' clanking of the chains on her ankles precedes her, setting the note for the page’s black suit she wears, dingy and dusty from the dungeon. The fervid brightness of her eyes creates an even greater impression of vitality and power in such a setting than ■ in her former splendour. But it is as Joan the Glorious she lingers iu the mind of both author and public, for it is in her triumphant soldier’s uniform she appears (in the prologue) in the bedroom of Charles VJL, ethcrcalisecl by transient lighting and by her isolation in the grouping. Miss Zillab Carter (a London actress of whom Dame Sybil thinks very highly), who plays the extravagant role of the foppish Gillos do Rais (“ very smart and selfpossessed and sporting the extravagances of a little curled beard dyed blue at a clean-shaven court”), wears brocaded gold and piirticultU l.v effective against a glorious tapestry dividing the ante-chamber from the throne room. In the court scene Miss Kathleen Robinson (au Australian girl, whoso recent dramatic work in and about London prompted Dame Sybil to include her in this company), as the Duchess do la Tromoniile impersonating the Daupliincss, is provided with little scope other than the display of an amazing Court frock and headdress. In this scene a number, of ladies of the Court assist the courtiers in the decorative scheme. Hilda Davies (another London actress with a very beautiful voice) and Phyllis Best (an Australian girl, who did well on the English stage before her marriage to Atholl Fleming) arc pages throughout the play. That is all the opportunities afforded women in the production: but appearing amongst the ensemble in the court scene is Mrs (Hetty) Martin-llarvey, who is accompanying her husband on this tour, which is one of very interested sight-seeing for both of them. Michael Martin-Harvcy (a son of Sir John Martin-Harvcy, the celebrated English actor) plays the part of the Dauphin in ‘St. Joan’ (the comedy relief). The Old Superstition About Peacock’s Feathers. “ Do you believe in the old superstition?” said Mr Bruce Winston, and then he recounted an incident in connection with it. While Mr Ricketts was painting the scenery for 1 St. Joan ho lived in the old keep at Chillom Castle, which was burnt in the time of Queen Elizabeth. The grounds wore beautiful, ami in the old pleasancc there strutted a flock of over 100 peacocks in all their glory on a day when Dame .Sybil Thorndike, Mr Lewis Cassou, and Mr Winston went to discuss the coming production. The visitors wore given a bunch of feathers to take home, and Mr Winston stuck one in the band of his hat. They had gone very little on their way when they were overtaken by a most violent thunderstorm, and laughingly attributed it to - the peacocks’ feathers. As the storm increased in violence they decided to throw the feathers out, and imincdiataly there was: a lull in the storm. “ There,’ said Dame Sybil, ” 1 thought the feathers had something to do with it”; but hardly bad she spoken when the storm came on with renewed violence. They were quite puzzled now, until Bruce" Winston remembered the feather in bis hat. This was thrown out, the weather cleared, and they finished their journey to London. Strange to saj\ it was (luring this terrifying storm that the idea of performing < Macbeth,’ that most tragic of all dramas, was born in Dame Sybil’s mind.