Meeting Lez Brotherston

After recent college tasks requiring us to find work experience, I contacted Lez Brotherston in the hope that I may be able to spend some time with him to gain knowledge on what it is like to be a set and costume designer for large productions. I also wanted to find out how he got to the position he is in today, and if he had any advice for young aspiring designers. Lez kindly agreed to meet me for a chat before the Swan Lake matinee that I would be attending that day, in preparation I did some research in order to put together a compilation of questions to ask him. I wanted to make sure that I wouldn't be repeating questions he's answered many times before in interviews, so I made notes from what has already been asked;

• He has Tony awards for Swan Lake and Oliver awards
• Applied to Cenral school of speech and drama to be a stage manager, but after speaking to the stage manager of the youth theatre he helped at, then turned the place down
• He took A Levels and O Levels at the same time after deciding to be a designer
• Went to Central School of Art and Design
• Worked with Christopher Gable of Northern ballet- turned to dance theatre, working on narrative work, as theatre, opera, character and production designer
• First collaboration with Matthew Bourne in Highland Fling in 1994
• Matt and Lez believe "I don't think there are any new ideas; there are only new interpretations of old ideas" "I just think there are ideas floating out there and somehow we all latch onto them"
• Enjoys working on narrative story based work, whether it's ballet, opera or dance
• Costume/prop work at school on The Last Emperor, Highlander
• Would like to do film costume if it could be designed and made by him
• Worked with Adam Cooper
• He claims there is no secret to designing for ballet, there's about 4 things to know
• The most important thing is the idea
• Prefer designing both costume and set, opposed to working with just one or the other

On Saturday 7th we travelled over to Sadlers Wells theatre in London from Shepherds Bush, to see Swan Lake and meet Lez Brotherston. When we arrived I found my way to the stage door cafe to find Lez sitting with Etta Murfitt, Associte Director of New Adventures. Both Etta and Lez were very friendly and welcoming, which was nice as I was feeling a bit nervous about the meeting, unfortunately Etta had to be somewhere so couldn't stick around, but it meant we could crack on with the interview.

Preprepared Questions:

• What made you realise you wanted to be a designer?
• Where did your interest in theatre come from?
• Which A Levels/O Levels did you choose? Did they impact you career?
• Favourite Bourne production you've worked on?
• How do you work past mental blocks, trying to think of something new and original?
• Do you have any regrets, about career choices?
• Do you have any advice for young aspiring designers?

Responses:

•  Lez attended Youth Theatre from a young age into his late teens, this is where his interest in theatre came from, as he got older he was less interested in being on stage, but more interested in the back stage areas of the production, often assisting the stage manager, and creating sets and props.
• After realising he wanted to be a designer he took his A Levels and O Levels at the same time, do a mix of sciences and arts
• At the Central School Of Art he had a small class of 19 people, including the current designer of the west end production of War Horse, and the designer for Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night Time in the year below
• On his course they learnt about the cut of women's clothes opposed to just period wear, this is so it can be applied to any design.
• The next new production is always the most exciting as new designs can be created
• If you get stuck for an idea, always return to the source and reread briefs, as the answer will be there
• The idea of vampire fairies in the recent production of Sleeping Beauty came by referring back to the story and considering how it could work. The prince just appears at the end, but where does he come from? How does he know about the princess? They wanted to make the prince be around at the beginning too, so there is a connection, but then how would he survive for 100 years? Perhaps if he was bitten by a vampire, one of the fairy vampires could keep an eye out for the princess, so keeps the prince alive to save them both for a happy ending.. These were the kind of ideas Lez and Matt brainstorm at the start of a new production.
• When making models or prototypes, use as much detail as possible so that it is easily interpreted by everyone
• Lez has worked on designing and directing lord of the flies, however it is not a New Adventures production it is a Rebourne project, an educational programme to encourage young boys to dance
• When working on large productions, you get to know the dancers and performers through things such as costume fittings, this becomes quite important, in order to know about different dancers needs, e.g heel height
• Many people work on the production and on the design aspects as a team: Production manager, Props Supervisor  and Costume Supervisor, among various makers. Colin Falconer has worked closely with Lez on sets, it's useful to work with people you have worked with before as you can refer back to previous projects for aspects of design or production that you may want to repeat
• Lez no longer makes the costumes or sets, only designs, however earlier in your career you're more likely to do both
• After graduation when looking for a job, it's important to focus on your main skill, as employers will look for specialities.
• It's your own responsibility to make things happen, it's not your teachers, tutors or bosses, take the opportunities and get things done to achieve what you want to
• Employers in the industry hire on ability, not on grades, take a strong portfolio, with proof of your skills

Peace live at Shepherds Bush

On Friday the 5th of December after a long day of work experience at the V&A, I went to meet my mum for the rest of the duration in London at the South Kensington Hilton. We got checked in and went straight up to our room to relax before attempting anything else for the evening. After carefully inspecting the minibar we decided to go down to the bar for a cocktail and nachos before the gig, the drinks were amazing, and the nachos were perfect.

Batteries recharged we headed out into shepherds bush to the O2 empire to see Peace, I had planned to use this opportunity to take some good photos of the performance, however due to the detachable lens on my camera, it was classed as professional, so not allowed in. This was such a disappointment after sending relentless emails to both the venue and band agency, in order to get a photography pass on behalf of a magazine. We handed the camera in for the evening and tried not to let it ruin the atmosphere, I decided to use the opportunity to experiment with smartphone photography instead. 

I've seen Peace before, so I knew they'd be good, but it's always interesting to see how their performance is adapted to different venues. Drenge were supporting, a guitar and drum duo, they were really good, but alot heavier live compared to on their records.

We chose a standing position near the bar on a balcony area by the stairs, we had a fairly good view for when Peace came on, so I took some photos here to start with.

Looking down over the crowd we could see they were getting a bit crazy, but it looked so much fun down there, so we decided to squeeze our way into the dancing mass.

Everyone was singing along and dancing to the flawless music, the band have an amazing presence on stage, it's as if they excert all their energy out through their music into the audience. I hadn't realised how much bigger the auditorium looked from down on the floor, it was so much bigger than I had thought! The band finished on a cover of a Christmas classic, Last Christmas by Wham, absolutely everyone was joining in by this point, and Christmas cheer spread over the audience, a perfect moment that will stick in my mind for a long time.

When the band finished, the hoards left the auditorium feeling Christmassy and pumped, after collecting my camera, we set off on the cold 10 minute walk back to the hotel, after a pit stop at McDonald's for some hot fries. All in all a great day in London. 

http://peaceforeverever.co.uk/

Club to catwalk

During my work experience visit to the V&A I had the opportunity to see the Club to Catwalk Exhibition, photography wasn't permitted, so I spent over an hour looking at the pieces and taking notes.

Katherine Hamnett slogan Tshirts, in response to politics

Worker unform inspired

John Galliano- looking at different tailoring, "Fallen Angel" above right

Vivienne Westwood- electric, pagan, hobo

Westwood + Malcolm Mclaren- Nostalgia Of Mud, punk art motifs, classic drapery

Blitz magazine and Levi denim jackets, customised by 7 designers including Leigh Bowery and Westwood

Evening wear: beads, tailored, classic Jasper Conran, Anthony Price 'Birds Wing'

English Eccentrics- Helen David, large prints

Betty Jackson "Brave new face of Fashion" - large screen prints so no piece was ever exactly the same

Knitwear- punk jumpers in clubs, Sarah Dallas

Catwalks like a whole performance, very dancey

Wendy Dagworthy- Irish tweeds, liberty prints

John Richmond crucifix jacket, skull shirt "Destroy, Disorientate, Disorder"

Paul Smith- "to sell a plain white shirt, it had to have a point of view" "a coloured button or button hole, or piece of liberty print under the cuff. That's really how the Paul Smith style came along"

Zoot suit - Galliano, Betty Jackson

New Romantic and Westwood + Mclaren 'Pirate' 

Blitz club and Taboo- Leigh Bowery- Steve Strange- famous fashions seen here with famous faces

Body Map- monochrome, stretch fabric

Goth- punk, fetish, dressing up

Glam Fetish- Westwood Mclaren- Fetish and Bondage

Customised- punk leather jackets, biker, women's battle wear

Johnsons the Modern Outfitter

Ripped and torn, Darla Jane Gilroy- sexy

Rave - Rosemary Moore- tube knitted seamless fabric, Pam Hogg

Rifat Ozbek- slogans, customised adidas

I absolutely loved this exhibition, it reawakened my love for fashion, I found it fascinating, especially understanding where the fashions had come from. I only wish I was around in the 80's to witness the crazy time. 


http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/exhibitions/exhibition-from-club-to-catwalk-london-fashion-in-the-80s/about-the-exhibition/

Work Experience at The Victoria & Albert Museum

On Thursday the 5th I travelled up to London on the train after college, heavy bag and gifts in tow, I made the tube journey from Victoria to Mile End to meet my cousin. We headed back to her house to put our feet up and chat over a glass of wine whilst waiting for Alex, her boyfriend, to come home from work at the V&A. When Alex arrived home we decided to venture out into the cold of Shoreditch, we got off the warm bus to go in search of Vietnamese food and a nice bar. Having never been to that particular area of London before I found it really interesting to see, it had a really good atmosphere through the streets, with a variety of  individual shops open exhibiting their stock/work , all vastly crowded with young people with drinks in hand. We came across a restaurant they had visited before and thought was good, so with a few beers to share (bring your own alcohol) we sat down and ordered summer rolls and rice noodles with chilli chicken and lemon grass.

Unable to finish the meal, we took the leftovers in a box and decided a mulled cider would be a good end to the night, after a mini tour of Shoreditch we found a small bar packed with people enjoying their friday night. Generally I would choose mulled wine over mulled cider, however I was pleasantly surprised, it was like a warm cinnamony apple pie in a cup, very seasonally appropriate! Glasses emptied we made our way home for a decaf tea and chocolate, in preparation for the early start and long day ahead on Friday.

The day begun at 7am with tea and cereal, we left for the tube at 8.30am to get to the museum by 9.30, rush hour tube take 2 was interesting, again with my heavy overnight bag. On arrival at the V&A I got signed  in, with a brief tour of the Learning department on the way to Alex's office on the 3rd floor. Alex took me to the staff canteen to grab a tea ready to explore the museum, we started at the exhibition 'Tomorrow: Elmgreen & Dragset' created by the Scandinavian design duo, based on the elderly architect Norman Swann, it was a site specific exhibition, shown as his luxury South Kensington apartment.

Walking through the building Alex pointed out various rooms, such as the textiles and sculpture conservation studios, Tapestry halls, and special areas only staff have access to. Walking around it is easy to notice how the building changes dramatically, each section different but as beautiful as the one before, this is becasue the building was built over 80 years, so the architecture of the building from the inside changes throughout. Another interesting point Alex made was whilst walking through one of the larger rooms with columns from coliseums in Rome, he explained that architects and historians travelled the world taking plaster casts of monuments which were then rebuilt inside the museum, however today many of the original monuments have been destroyed or decayed, meaning the V&A holds many of the best versions of the monuments.

I made notes on some interesting points of the museum, these are written below:

•  Lots of courses and events 
• Many studios for workshops and courses
• Resident artists hold courses
• 700 employees, 400 on main site
• Departments and archives are scattered around London
• Many different departments on main site, such as conservation, digital learning, cleaning, exhibitions

Digital Learning Department 

• 40 employees
• Many free events e.g digital design weekend, digital kids, digital futures, digital design drop in
• Courses to create income: soft circuits, toy hacking, fashion photography, iPad and smartphone photography

Events happening on the Friday included a workshop on how to use a Rasberry Pi, a small simple computer designed to work with a tv and keyboard on electronic projects. Whilst discovering the Rasberry Pi, Kickstarter entered the conversation, I'd never heard of Kickstarter before then, but I found the idea really interesting. Kickstarter is a website set up to help fund creative projects, anyone can start a project and apply for funding on the site. It works by creators asking for backers to pledge money to enable their project to succeed, a funding goal is set which must be reached for the project to receive any money. Kickstarter would be something to consider for unemployed artists or creative entrepreneurs. 

Other events I had the chance to experience were the amazing Club To Catwalk exhibition of 80's fashion, and Fashion in Motion: Meadham Kirchhoff fashion show. I hadn't expected to see either of these events, so I was thrilled when Alex offered me the opportunity, knowing that I have a large interest in fashion.

Overall my day at the V&A was incredibly eye opening, I felt I learnt alot about how things work behind the scenes of large organisations, also gaining an insight into what it's like to work at a prestigious museum and to have a managerial role.

http://www.vam.ac.uk/

http://www.vam.ac.uk/contentapi/search/?q=digital+learning&search-submit=Go#?q=digital%2Blearning&search-submit=Go
http://www.kickstarter.com

The Quince Tree Sun

Screened last week, The Quince Tree Sun is a film made in 1992 about a Spanish artist who aims to paint a quince tree in his garden every year. The film is incredibly slow paced, by the end you feel yourself yearning for the artist to finish his work, but he never quite makes it. This film requires alot of patience, which is reflected through the anxiety caused in trying to achive precision and perfection, the artist struggles with this in waiting for the exact light and angles over and over again. Throughout the film, the artist marks the fruit and background walls to record how much the fruit has dropped each time he returns to paint the quince tree. Also featured in the film are a group of builders who are working on the house next door, the builders are very contrasting to the artist, where they work quickly and efficently, focusing less on the precision and detail in the work, where the artist query's over every aspect.
This wouldn't be my first choice of film, and very different to what I may usually watch but it was interesting none the less, however I don't think I'll be queueing up to watch it again any time soon.

Southampton Solent

On Saturday 30th of November was Southampton Solent University open day, I travelled up with my mum to look at the Fashion, Graphics and accommodation. We attended the open day last year, but after completing ALevels, I decided to do a Foundation course, so couldn't remember much about the Solent courses and thought it best to look again. I really like Southampton, visiting my brother and friends there more recently whilst they study at Warsash, the city has become more familiar and homely to me. The university itself is nice, situated opposite a large park right in the centre of the city close to the Guildhall, shops and restaurants. We managed to see one accommodation of 6 different buildings, I would have like to have seen another, as they are all different, with varying lay outs. For each course I attended talks and tours, notes I made are written below:

University and city:

• Main campus in city centre
• Good high street and West Quay shopping centre
• Good night life
• Not too far from home, or friends and family in Southampton
• Okay accommodation
• Most places within walking distance
• Parks
• Lots of music venues

Graphics:

• Final major project is a book
• 1 day a week technical computer training
• 14 hours contact time
• 27 hours suggested home work - 9-5 everyday
• 4 days a week
• Encouraged everyday make 3 mistakes, to learn
• Buildings open until 9
• Portfolio: creative, evidence of hard work, range of work
• 400 applicants for 50 places
• Encouraged to read about graphic design, to answer, why? what? questions
• Links with Industry
• Course leader: susie.smith@solent.ac.uk
• 3rd year profession context unit for entering competitions
• No holiday projects, but encouraged to keep working/creative thinking
• Really nice open studio
• Good equipment
• 10 minute walk from main campus

Fashion Design:

• Head of fashion - Pascal Mathias
• Focusing on how to communicate
• Yr 1: - Illustration, mood/trend boards, CAD, pattern cutting, garment construction, creative process
• Yr2: - deconstruction project-anatomy, live project for industry-high profile brands, menswear, childrenswear, work experience-Topman TedBaker FatFace, dissertation research
• Yr3: - final major project- either made or 2D, professional portfolio
• Lots of trips to London- every 6 weeks
• Collaborations
• Trips abroad
• Good facilities, workshops and machines
• Framework given for long holidays, not marked projects
• 12-15 hours contact time
• 1:1 tutorials
• Macs available, studios open late
• Library open until 12, 24 hours over exam period
• 50 places, 200 applicants

After each talk I had a little chat with the course leaders, with the opportunity to ask extra questions and find out a bit extra about the courses and university, both teachers were extremely helpful and really approachable. In particular after the fashion talk, Pascal took mum and I on a mini tour to the fashion department, as we hadn't had a chance earlier in the day. We were shown where you could rent out equipment such as professional DSLR and film cameras, on the way to fashion, here we looked at the studio space and students work. Talking to Pascal we discussed various elements of fashion and further education, which I found very insightful, he asked me a few questions such as, "why do you like fashion?" I'd never really considered this before, but since then I have been thinking about it a lot and await answering the question properly if I get an interview. I hope to apply to both courses.

The Matrix

On Wednesday we were shown The Matrix, a famous 1999 action sci-fi movie looking at reality and simulated realities. The story follows a computer hacker named Neo, who is found by a group of rebels who jump between reality and the simulated world, which created by machines to feed off humans energy, known as "The Matrix". The rebel group aim to free the minds of the human race, however they are in search of "the One" the only person capable of overthrowing the machines and agents within the false reality, they believe this to be Neo.
The interesting part of this film was in the confusion of reality and dreams, never quite knowing, until your mind is awoken to the true reality. I found the dream aspect of the film similar to Waking Life by Richard Linklater, an animated film about lucid dreaming, both films struggled to differenciate between dreams and realities, searching for answers about life and reality.
How do we know that we are not dreaming, and how do we know when we are? If you have as much control in your dreams as you do in reality how do you tell the difference? If you have a memory, how do you know whether it was real life or just a vivid dream?
My dreams are often very realistic, so I find myself asking these questions occasionally, especially when trying to differenciate between memories of dreams and memories of life.
The film was quite different to recent films screened, but quite enjoyable, I'd seen half the movie before, so I had a vague idea what it was about, however this time I followed the film more successfully and gained an understanding for the concept being portrayed.