A View of A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE with Costume Designer Carl Ramsey

Today we spend a few minutes with Costume Designer Carl Ramsey as he talks vision for Artes de la Rosa's A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE.

The vision for Arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge, is an exciting venture, not only because we have set it in one of my favorite time periods, the late 1950's, but also because, working with Director Adam Adolfo, it offers the challenges necessary to grow and experience the design process with a professional company, well equipped for the task at hand.

When meeting with Adam, it was important to discuss the concept for the show in immense detail. I am learning in this field how crucial it is to communicate, to exchange ideas, and to make sure that both director and designer are both 100% on the same page. It is easy for the slightest ambiguous idea to transform the concept of a show in a different way, which is not necessarily bad, but perhaps undesirable by either party. So especially for a production with this kind of intensity, it was important to get all the details right.

In discussions with Adam, he wanted the heightened sense of drama found in opera; the set design especially offers this drama, with its grandiose scale. But in a conceptual set design how do you match the dramatic scope with costumes while still maintaining the dignified 50’s look? At the same time, the challenge comes to create costumes that are, well…not costumes at all. They are real clothing that real people would have worn at this particular time period.

The answer to such questions, after much discussion, is this: clean cut silhouettes and maintaining true to the period. Nothing should suggest an ambiguous design; nothing to sway or create uncertainty of the moment marked in time. ‘True to period’ is certainly not a new concept, but many designers may justify their cause, saying that because it ‘looks’ period, it must ‘be period'. Another justification is that budget and time may chop away at the designer’s definitive concept, and one sometimes has to resort to such an option; it may not be a bad idea in some cases. But if the costumes, as previously expressed, are to be apart of the dramatic influence of the play, the clothing must be spot on in quality.

Texture is another key player of the drama. Especially if we are in the 50’s we are free to play with many different types of fabrics. The texture should appeal to the audience, to tease them, as if people should want to reach out and feel what the actors are wearing. Texture in a sense, becomes its own character, apart of the play itself.

Adam and I are particularly fond of using color for dramatic effect, and in typical Adam Adolfo form, he is pushing me out of my comfort zone. I fight and insist that my colors are quiet enough, but he is adamant that they are still too ‘hot’. After all, colors like dull mustard never comes off as hot in my opinion, and the fear creeps up as the costume designer that the color palette may come off as boring and uninspired (perhaps the designer’s worst nightmare!) However, after a long discussion, and after providing more examples of his vision, he leads me to confidently agree that the play deserves an all over cooler color palate. The color still pops if presented in front of an even quieter neutral scheme, and the overall effect is one that not even the brightest colors can compete with, in terms of this dreary, rainy world that these characters inhabit.

Overall, this production provides the perfect opportunity to grow as a designer, and learning to communicate in this process has become the key feature in creating a successful production.