Origins and Significance

Among the elements of playing field, the gussy up is perhaps the actors most knowledgeable physical tool during his performance. It completes the actors timber, depicting his age, gender role, profession, affectionate class, personality, from which he could draw more depth into his performance. And without the actor or narrator verbalizing it, the costume gives information as to the period/era, geographic location, season or weather, and time of day of the performance, thus making the costume an integral classify of an entire production.In addition, the costume helps establish relationships between characters (mother and daughter, or servant and master, for example) and expound a characters emotional state, as in Chekovs The Seagull where Masha wears black to reflect her melancholy (Baranger, 2006). Scenography, a theatre number website, expounds on costumes in theatre as the final jigsaw in a complex character, further detailing that it is the personal expression of a chara cter and within the world of a story it can overly be used to create the collage that becomes theatrical design.The role of costume takes on greater meanings depending on the performance but also becomes office staff of the theatrical picture. The idea of using costumes in theatre can be traced from the ancient Greek times, with only the actor, manager, director, or wardrobe person was liable for clothing worn on stage giving little watchfulness to the unity of visual elements (Baranger, 2006). The use of costumes did not originate in scantily one place, however. In the different parts of the world where theatre is a significant part of the culture, costumes were used to identify the good from the evil, the human from the step or animal.Often, masks completed the costumes. In Ancient Greek drama, the actors wore large masks with misinform expressions. These masks fell into two general categories tragic and comic. In Rome, masks were used in comedy and pantomime. During Renai ssance, the commedia dellarte made extravagant use of half masks lotion the eyes and nose were used (Encarta, 2006). In old Asia, where the traditional pageants employed shiny and colorful costumes to portray the royalty, masks were requi deprivation to represent the kings, princesses and grotesque characters.Japan has assorted and unique types of costumes, sometimes depending on the kind of theatre. In the No theatre, the costumes were intricate, bollock and imaginative, usually bold in color and design, and made for a legitimate actor, and each had specific rules to follow. Kabuki costumes, on the other hand used spacious wigs and many different types of mask styles to match the character (Thinkquest, 2006). In Nipponese theatre, color was used a lot to depict the emotions of a character red for passion and super human power, blue for jealousy and care (Thinkquest, 2006), and so on.In Peking Opera, the actors wear long cuffs called water sleeves which they flick about to express emotions warriors are identified by their heavily embroidered satin coats (Fisher, 2007). In India, several(prenominal) types of dance-dramas exist, the most popular of which is the kathakali, of which plots come from the Sanskrit epics Ramayana and Mahabharata. The performers wear brightly colored paper in symbolic patterns and beards made of paper, and costumes comprised of layered wide skirts and disk-shaped headdresses (Fisher, 2007).Ancient Roman actors, on the other hand, developed a kind of code that would tell the reference about the character just by looking at them a black wig meant the character was a young man, gray meant he was an old man, red wig meant the character was slave a unclouded robe meant the character was an old man, a purple robe meant he was a young man. Color, in the modern theatre, is also used to garnish moods black means depressing or evil white is purity, red is passion or anger, blue is cool and tranquil, magenta means royalty, verdure i s peace and hope (Richardson, 1996).The role of costume in the modern theatre has not changed so much in the overall impact of a production. References Barranger, M. S. (2006). Theater. Microsoft Encarta 2007 DVD. Redmond, WA Microsoft Corporation. Mask. (2006). Microsoft Encarta 2007 DVD. Redmond, WA Microsoft Corporation. Richardson, S. (1996). WPI Technical Theatre Handbook. Retrieved November 9, 2008, from http//www. gweep. net/prefect/pubs/iqp/technical_theatre_handbook. pdf. Scenography. get up Design. Retrieved November 9, 2008, from http//www. sceno. org/articles/costume-design/ Sorgenfrei, C. F. (2006). Asian Theater.Microsoft Encarta 2007 DVD. Redmond, WA Microsoft Corporation. Theatrical Costume. (2006). Microsoft Encarta 2007 DVD. Redmond, WA Microsoft Corporation. Thinkquest. (2006). Japanese Theatre Costumes. Retrieved November 8, from http//library. thinkquest. org/05aug/00717/pages/costumes. html Wikipedia. Costumes. Retrieved November 9, 2008, from http//en. wikipe dia. org/wiki/Costumes. Wikipedia. Costume Design. Retrieved November 9, 2008, from http//en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Costume_designer Wikipedia. History of Theatre. Retrieved November 9, 2008, from http//en. wikipedia. org/wiki/History_of_theatre