by Priscilla

Jul.22, 2010, under Backstage Blog

I do probably about 9 or 10 washes a day in the machines and probably about an hours worth of hand washing. After that there’s the tumble drying and for the things that are too delicate to tumble dry we have a hot box, which is like a large heated wardrobe. This room gets very hot.  

Wardrobes backstage

The costumes get staggered over the week. There is a list on the wall for the dressers and they bring us certain costumes on certain evenings. For example, on Saturday night I will be having the country boy shirts for washing on Sunday. The gloves are some of the trickiest things to clean, because the easiest way to wash them is to actually put them on and then rub the detergent into them. The flip flop dress is also difficult, because you can’t get the flip-flops wet. The Venus harnesses that the boys wear look great, but are time consuming, there is an inner liner in them which has to come out and the harness part has to be sponged and then it all has to be put back together again.

I also make repairs to the costumes. We have a rail that has everyone’s names on and the dressers come and collect the costumes that they need from that. Outside the dressing rooms, each actor has a box to put his or her clothes into. I previously worked for the Royal Opera House for 8 years and on Mamma Mia! for 3 years before that.

Priscilla is such a fun show. All the cast and crew are always in high spirits and it is really fun to do. In a costume sense it’s the biggest show in the West End. You just have to get into routines to get everything done. My favourite part of the show is Venus. People should come and see Priscilla because it is a fun upbeat show and there are big gorgeous men in tights.