I watched this show caustically, sick in bed with a virus that felt like it was tearing into my lungs. this piece contains spoilers but also I am not gonna spell it out for ya, I mostly wanna talk about the costumes and essence (like theme I mean, gosh dang). it might not make sense if ya haven’t seen it. good job Helen huang.
its so rare to stumble across a project that has space for so much creativity. and a specific type of creativity too. I mean the disparate range of characters, time frames, contexts just allows for the possibility to play with texture and colour to such an extreme extent. and its not pure fantasy either, which is even more rare. What I personally love about a project like this is the realism that persists despite outlandish sets and costumes. we are not following an alien story, or superheroes, just people. people who’s creativity is flourishing. its a story about real creativity.
the contrast of pre-apocalyptic creativity to post-apocalyptic creativity was something for me. watching miranda struggle to finish her project, it sort of taking over her life, damaging her relationships. and on the flip side, the travelling symphony seems to do it with ease, churning out plays on their circuit, finishing things. it made me want to finish my own things. not that finishing things quick is always the answer.
that range I was talking about earlier, those contexts, all still traverse each other. You have post- and pre-pandemic. and then you have shakespearean stage costumes that sort of feel like they bleed into the characters waking life; the actors (I mean the travelling symphony, not the real life actors) are the same as the characters they play, through costume and dialogue. parallels are stressed between the Shakespeare plots and the realities of each character. and then you have the undersea, whose apparel feels weirdly akin to that of the traveling symphony’s, despite their brewing conflict. goes to show they are all in the same boat. the undersea costumes feel like playtime for Helen Huang, like she just got to go nuts with all sorts of materials, getting nitty gritty about it. i’m seriously jealous.
its all trash really, everything loses its connotation and becomes just what it is. meaningless logos, sponges as armour, toilet roll space helmets, literal trash bags turned into crowns. everything is a relic.
on everyday apocalypse wear; I’ve always thought there is something really powerful about a minimal closet. and I don’t mean simple, I just mean few pieces. playfulness certainly arises in these conditions. you don’t worry too much about it making sense. in a circumstance like the one of our characters, you choose wisely which material things are beneficial. Kirsten and The prophet are demonstrations of this. its about practicality, as it naturally would be in a world like this, but its not lacking style or expression.
they dress like kids. you can see the juvenility in both of them, the stubbornness that persists, another relic of the past. an oversized football jersey, overalls, a bright speedo bathing suit. just so playful.
I think the moment where I was truly convinced, scarce for me I must say, was when Kirsten puts on her ophelia costume. at first we get the bottom layer, a girdle, made from bright old tactical belts fastened over a blue Adidas t-shirt, its signature stripes popping out at the shoulder. then, she puts on the neckpiece; baseball gloves in profusion. I was impressed before but damn. it got me.
a couple words on the finale: a sort of chaotic but methodic culmination of trauma getting healed. I was waiting for the other shoe to drop, anticipating this violent thing, and it just never happened. refreshing really. we get reunions, resolutions and the final play simply serves as this mending experience for an estranged family and all the other actors. and fantastic costumes. love it. the whole show really felt like a cogitation on trauma to me, a look at how people who survived the apocalypse deal with their shit. being crafty, I guess.
okay have I said anything? I just know I’ve never wanted to do shakespeare more.