Director Lindy Hume and designer Melanie Liertz are collaborating for the first time on our production of Handel's Athalia. They recently presented their concepts for the set and costume design for the production.

The pair see the story of Athalia as a construction of opposites- good and evil, innocence and guilt, sensuality and puritanism. The heavy, imposing structure of the set contrasts with the earthen costumes of the characters in this way.

For this production, the chorus is designed to be seen as a crowd and not as individual characters- in this way, the chorus should form an extended part of the architecture. Their costumes are modern and minimalist, understated in their construction and in deep earthy tones.

Here is a collection of images showing the inspiration for some of the costumes, and some preliminary design sketches for our costume team. According to Lindy and Melanie, the idea behind the costumes is that they will be ‘theatrical, but not in an overblown way, except for one’. See if you can guess which costume is the ‘overblown’ one…

Click on the images below to scroll through the slideshow.