When the weather is nothing but gloomy and gray, here is one way to bright up the day: a trip to the Abbey Theatre’s Costume Department Storehouse.
Even though located in a somewhat far away Finglas Business Park, the storehouse is quite easy to access by public transport from the city center. And the roughly 40 min ride is absolutely worth it.
A few posts ago, I’ve already written about my experience doing the behind the scenes tour at The Abbey Theatre itself; this time I’ve decided to take it a bit further. As a member of the Abbey Theatre, I got an amazing chance to visit the costume storehouse and literally touch a tiny part of Abbey Theatre’s history.
The costume storehouse is already of a quite considerable size, but they are constantly expanding. The props storehouse, that is currently located across the road from the Abbey theatre, is soon going to be relocated and part of all the props will be stored in the new building next to the costume storehouse that has been purchased by the theatre. At the moment in the costume department there are two floors absolutely packed with clothes and shoes plus a room full of hats, gloves and other accessories.
The storehouse would be of a huge interest to anyone who has ever seen a play on either The Abbey or The Peacock stage or is in any way interested in theatre/TV costumes and what they are made of.
Abbey Theatre’s Costume Department is most probably one of the biggest places of its kind in Ireland that rents period and stylised clothes. The Abbey’s costumes can be seen not only in The Abbey Theatre but also in such famous TV Productions as Rebellion and Ripper Street. The costumes are also available for hiring by both professional and amateur theatre companies. And the best news is that the hiring price couldn’t be more reasonable and affordable. This allows some of the smaller companies that don’t have a huge budget to be able to stage a quality production.
If you are a usual goer to the Abbey Theatre, then you will be able to see (and touch) some of the most beautiful and carefully hand crafted dresses, gowns and shirts: anything from Hester Swane’s wedding dress in By The Bog of Cats (the pre- and post fire versions) to Dolly’s red tutu in You Never Can Tell, to an almost century old shawl that has been used in every single one of Abbey’s stagings of The Plough and The Stars (except for the most recent one), to Fiona Shaw’s extremely detailed and crafted dress from John Gabriel Borkman to (personally, my favourite) Alan Rickman’s costume from the mentioned Ibsen’s play that he did in the Abbey in 2010.
An amazing experience and just more proof of how much thought and detail goes into each theatre production. A lot happens on stage, there is no doubt there, but even more happens off stage. Abbey’s Costume Department is just a perfect example of this; some of the best designers have worked for the Abbey, including Joan O’Cleary, Peter O’Brien, Joan Bergin and many others.
The Abbey Theatre’s Costume Department is open to the public (by appointment only!) for viewing and also for costume hiring (if you are staging a production not a Hallowe’en party). For more info: http://www.abbeytheatre.ie/about/costume-hiring/
Unforgettable Lines 