A Christmas Carol is truly one of my favorite shows of all times because it is so versatile. It is still a new and wonderful show every time Charleston Stage produces it. It is always a challenge to provide costumes for some many characters. Given that I have a huge stock of costumes that could be used each time, I don’t solely rely on using them. New costumes or costume pieces are added to accommodate new actors and update the show. Designing for the Spirits is always great fun and challenging because the actor creates the character and the costumes I create have to help enhance the character they have created.
The actor who plays Marley (Gabriel Wright) plays so many characters this year that he is the most challenging and has the most costumes by far. He must be different each time and disguised enough that it is not too obvious that it is the same actor. His pile of costumes, shoes, wigs, hats, props and make-up is quite huge.
In fact, no other actor has as many, but all have changes that add up to approximately 350 costume pieces to clothe a cast of 31. I suppose the real challenge is getting all of them to the Dock.
