5 minutes with costume designer | Angelica Rush

Designing the costumes for A Child of Science...

In our play A Child of Science there are 54 costumes, 34 characters, all played by 11 actors. The time period spans between 1958 and 1978 across London, Cambridge, North West England and San Francisco.

I worked really closely with our set designer Anna Fleischle to create costume designs that co-existed and at the same time contrasted with her set design. It was important to have historically accurate costumes because this is a real story about real people. It allows us to follow this passage of time and invites us into the world where this story takes place.

I spent a lot of time researching  Robert Edwards, Jean Purdy and Patrick Steptoe – the scientists who pioneered IVF. I really love designing for characters based on real people and the process of discovering who they were, what they wore at home or at work, who they surrounded themselves with... this all contributes to designing the costume.

I really enjoy moving from designing on the page to then working with the actors; how does our actor move? what physical characteristics they bring to the fittings? We continue the process of building character in collaboration.

A lot of the research came from street photography taken in the 1950s, 60s and 70s. Particularly in Oldham and the surrounding areas which is where the women who were the first trial participants were from.

The filmic characteristics and hues of these photographs inspired the colour palette and arc of the costume design. The greys, blues and browns that we see in the buildings and infrastructure around NW England began to run parallel in my mind to the monochromatic tones of Anna’s set. I loved how what the women were wearing in the photographs popped out against this landscape, in all their bright colours;  and I wanted to celebrate the women in ACOS of whom so many of their stories were untold, through these bursts of colour.

A Child of Science plays 5 Jun – 6 Jul