Shakespeare In Action

National Shakespeare Youth Festival – Design

From E.L. Crossley Secondary School, Kaitlyn Daw, Katie Galvin, and Christina Picton's work for Hamlet - winners for their costume designs!

From E.L. Crossley Secondary School, Kelly Nori and Axel Kinnear's work for Hamlet - winners for their set design!

National Shakespeare Youth Festival Update – E.L. Crossley

National Shakespeare Youth Festival Update – E.L. Crossley

By: Kelly Nori and Axel Kinnear (designing a set and costumes for Hamlet)

So far our Shakespeare Festival Project has been going very well.  At the beginning of the planning process, Axel and I decided that I would do most of the research and organization projects, while Axel would focus more on drawing. During class time, Axel and I have chosen the characters that we want to design costumes for, and discussed their traits and physical appearance; finally, we came up with certain colours and styles we wanted them to wear.

We also discussed the set, and how to achieve levels and depth, but still keeping it cohesive with the looks of our clothing. I have done some research outside of school about the laws related to clothing in the Elizabethan period, and architecture during that time as well. This research has helped Axel and I get much work done during class, because we know the certain rules that must be followed, and we can design based on ‘what is allowed.’

Axel will do some drawings outside of school in the next few days, so that we are sure to keep the project moving at a steady pace. We plan to have the project completed by at least April 21, so that we can edit anything that we are not happy with and prepare ourselves for the interview on the actual day of the Shakespeare festival.

Overall, we have had a great start to the project and we enjoy working on it. It’s fun to consider characters in a new way and think about what they may wear based on who they are as a person. This project has also allowed us to use our creative minds collaboratively to come up with some good ideas related to Hamlet. I am excited to see some of the sketches being formed, and eventually excited to see the stage layout (considering I am much more skilled with stage management). I think that Axel is enjoying the project as well and looks forward to using his knowledge of art to create extraordinary costume designs that will make the characters come to life. We are working well as a team, and seem to get most of our work done outside of class; overall we are on track for the festival on April 27.