Seamstress Kate flies off to join the circus – in Beijing

Apr 26 2008 by Barbara Hodgson, The Journal

Making costumes for a circus means more than a big top. Barbara Hodgson speaks to Kate Collins.

AS far as costume making goes, she’s already spanned centuries and fashions. And now Kate Collins is off to join the circus – in a manner of speaking – to dress contortionists and acrobats for a lavish culture-clashing show which debuts in China before coming to Newcastle in July.

The 28-year-old from Wallsend flew to Beijing yesterday with two suitcases of newly-made costumes, to oversee a few last-minute alterations before the Flying Dragon Circus – a high-speed and humorous fusion of British and Chinese acts – opens next Thursday.

Kate, who has made historical costumes for Glyndebourne Opera Company and elaborate outfits for Northern Stage – including for A Doll’s House running there this week – loved the challenge of the circus outfits.

“There are about 50 costumes so it was quite scary,” she says.

She has made about 30 of them herself and supervised the making of the rest.

“I’ve just done five frogs and a contortionist,” she adds. “That one had to be simple so the contortionist could bend at angles.

“And there’s a ‘rope drop’ act so I had to make sure that one was very tight without frills or anything which could get caught in the rope.”

The show is being produced by Pierrot Bidon, creator of the legendary Archaos – a French alternative circus without animals but with a spark of danger in its chainsaw juggling, fire breathing and wall of death stunts.

“I’ve always been interested in circus but I’ve never had much experience of designing for it,” says Kate.

“It’s amazing. You’re not tied to any particular period or timeframe and you can also be quite wacky. The director Pierrot is great – I’m sure it will be a mad performance.”

Kate, originally from Blyth, gained a degree in costume making at Wimbledon School of Art.

“My course was excellent. I gained knowledge of period costumes and the different techniques of cutting costumes of various periods and there was lots of information on fabrics.”

It set her in good stead for her first job: during a season at Glyndebourne Opera Company she could indulge her talents in making detailed historical costumes.

“It was really good fun – and it had a massive budget,” she says. “You could spend three weeks on one costume.”

She laughs: “Now you’re lucky if you get a week.”

The “now” sees her back in the region where she works mainly freelance – often on more than one project at a time – as well as developing a bridalwear business, both designing and making wedding dresses.

She said that despite the attractions of the capital – and London’s greater number of work opportunities in film and theatre industries – she “just missed the North East”.

Her first job on her return in 2002 was for the Christmas season at Northern Stage for which she still regularly works, mostly in costume making but also expanding more into costume design.

Her biggest project to date, she says, has been Enchanted Parks, the performance art part of the NewcastleGateshead Winter Festival in December.

That project – through the NewcastleGateshead Initiative – led to this circus job, with its mix of Chinese and British cultures and modern and traditional disciplines adding an extra dimension of interest to her work.

Kate travelled to London to speak to the British acrobats about their costume needs and the popular Newcastle-based The Baghdaddies – who will perform the show’s new score alongside Chinese musicians – were also among her clients.

“Another part of the job was buying a lot of clothes and The Baghdaddies were great – really enthusiastic about what I took to them.

“It’ll be a mix of Romany Gypsy, like their music, and a little bit of vintage as well – and pork pie hats!”

She adds: “In the first half of the show there’s a bit of a ‘feud’ between the English and the Chinese and there are ‘punks’ in white leather and skinny jeans and trainers. The colours are quite muted.

“Then in the second half it’s more formal with a unity of the two cultures, mixed elements from Chinese dress and English and bolder colours.

“There’s a Chinese kung fu troupe of four and the British acrobats are aerialists and trapeze acts.”

In Bidon’s trademark style, the result promises humour, invention and non-stop action, from the explosive Kung Fu Shaolin warriors to the graceful elements of the Chinese circus tradition and the flying trapeze and ‘cloud swing’ of British aerialists.

Kate will spend the first part of her week in China putting the finishing touches to their costumes and “pulling it all together”.

“There are still bits and pieces to buy so I’m hoping there’ll be someone able to take me to markets,” she says.

Taking two large suitcases of outfits over with her – “it’s the best way; when the musicians sent over their instruments they were delayed a week” – she will also be keeping a close eye on them during a run-though of the show to make sure the costumes “perform” as well as their wearers.

But any nerves will be more to do with the approaching opening night, not least because it takes place before a huge audience in the theatre of Beijing’s enormous 21st Century hotel complex.

Flying Dragon Circus will have its European premiere at the Theatre Royal, Newcastle, from July 15-19.

For more information on Kate Collins visit www.katecollins.uksite.biz or www.kate-collins.com