Eurydice Cage Concepts

After researching visuals of cage fashion, I doodled up some concepts of my own. I used a simple silhouetted style to draw in for now, as the costume will probably be minimal in detail itself to support the time frame and budget for the project.

The performance requires the other characters who are dancers in the scene to walk with chains or ropes around Eurydice supporting the imprisoned theme, so this choreographed choice has been relayed into the designs.

1. This design displays a simple caged skirt that could be made from boning, fabrics or ribbon. The chains would be attached to a loose neck piece. The chains for now were just drawn as thick lines to make their positioning clear for simple doodles.

2. The cage aspects for this concept are are a half head and shoulder pieces. The half cage frames the head creating a halo, possibly representing the innocent and pure nature of the character. The shoulder pieces are to reinforce the caged theme, and the chains would be attached to the wrists instead of the neck; I'm concerned about putting anything around the neck of an actor for obvious health and safety reasons. However, wrist placement may mean the Eurydice has to turn with the dancers pulling on the chains, instead of being able to independently move.

3.  This design was more to experiment with a full head placement of the cage, as inspired by Alexander McQueen, as well as safer and easier positioning of the piece that is connected to the chains: A belt with connections to be clipped into seems safe and easier in terms of choreography, as the belt would move independently of the stationary actor so they may remain facing the audience and there's no risk of a choking hazard.

4. So far this is my favourite design as I think that having the head fully encased by the cage is the most effective way of conveying the theme of imprisonment, as opposed to a caged skirt or shoulder pieces where they may be a danger of it looking too 'fashiony'. The body harness would be stiff and used as the connection for the chains, maybe created out of a thermoplastic like Worbla and foam, as I think boning and fabric would be too weak or thin. The hands are also tied in front of the actor here to further the trapped topic, but with pearls instead of shackles as suggested by Joy in the meeting with the Performing Arts students.