Hamlet in China

Here are components of Hamlet's costume and the actor being fitted . I took some photos with a black ruff around the neck and he wasn't working as Hamlet, so I decided he needed a more complete (less lazy) costume to work in the part . I looked on the web for toy theatres today, and found some quite wonderful things:

A video from Naomi Guss in Melbourne on how to make a toy theatre (parents - something to do on Spring break in the event of rain!).

A post about a toy theatre from a theatre director at Enchanted Revelry (Piaf advisory). A very upbeat blog, with sensibility to spare.

This remarkable work at Mike Healey's Artstore and Gallery (he takes commissions)

It is my intention to make a small printable theatre to download to promote this venture, but for now, I'd better get stitching. 

DIY anemone costume/lamp enhancer

This is a costume, believe it or not. Poet Laynie Browne wrote a play about the reproduction of sea anemones a few years back (her husband is a marine biologist) for which I did the costumes. Sea anemones can reproduce both sexually and asexually, and this particular kind changed gender in the course of its maturity (I'm going to ask Laynie to review this, because I'm sure I'm not remembering this quite correctly).I asked everybody to wear dark clothes, and for the anemone princesses I made these neckpieces from a wire bent into a circle, with curled pieces on the end for a clasp. I wrapped the wire in yarn, and then attached strips of torn light cloth (I used an old silk shirt from the Goodwill) and yarn. At present this sits around a very boring Ikea floor lamp and makes a nice peach-colored light in the evenings. I'm sure there are probably a hundred household uses for this...what do you think?

Here's what Laynie said:The species in my play, Zoanthina and Zoanthella, were hermaphrodites- and did a big group spawning (or as in the play, orgy). We interpreted the orgy by throwing confetti around as a representation of gametes, if anyone is thinking this is one of THOSE plays.