Simona Mamo, who is creating the dame's costumes for this year's Masquerade panto Alice in Wonderland at the Manoel Theatre, would choose creating fantasy clothes over ordinary fashion any day - deeming the latter somewhat bland in comparison.
"The dame's costumes are much larger than those for any other characters, and usually require about double the amount of material. Pantomime costumes are a lot more colourful and cheerful," she told me, as we sat in her sewing room in Sliema, where all the costume creation magic happens.
Just walking up the staircase to the room half-an-hour earlier was testimony to that. A bright lime green dress, larger than life, was resting on the banisters. With orange buttons and shimmering sequins, it would have seemed out of place anywhere other than in the workshop of a panto-costume designer.
"When you are creating fashion for a period piece, you need to research and specifically keep to the styles of that period. When making ballet costumes, set rules are needed in order to facilitate the dancers' movements. In panto, however, there are absolutely no rules," said Simona, who has been creating costumes for all types of performances for the past 25 years.
With normal fashion, she explained, you use fabric from the fabric shop, basic zips and buttons and you can make a dress in a day, whereas with panto, "there is nothing in this room that you can't use." In fact, keys, goggles, chains, cogs and wheels will all be featured in the costumes for this year's Alice in Wonderland panto.
With the dame having a grand total of eight dress changes, and within a context where there is no such a thing as colour-clashes, it is reasonable to wonder how the extravagant dresses are designed and what thought process is behind the creations.
"First of all, I speak to the writer of the pantomime, who in this case is Malcolm Galea," Simona explained. "Very often, he has a preconceived idea about how all the characters should be. He won't give me a specific look, but he'll say, for example 'this character is a bit scatty' or 'a bit bossy', and from his description of how he sees the character, I then develop the concept for the costume. I also take into consideration what the character is getting up to at that point in the script." ▶
If the character in question is a bossy woman, for example, Simona would do everything in her power, through the art of costume, to make her appear so.
"I would probably emphasise the bust, and put a bustle at the back to make her look big and domineering, and I'd also use appropriate colours, in this case probably red, which is more of a forceful colour." Simona also likes to research her characters for inspiration. For example, this year's Alice is very much inspired by the female protagonist in Hullaballoo, a steampunk animation.
With costume-production time going over the timeframe of a 40-hour working week, Simona explained that, to her, the work takes on more of a hobby status. "One single ballet tutu often takes more than 40 hours to sew to perfection," she explained. "If I had to charge for what I sew by the hour, the items would be much more expensive than what I actually sell them for. But I do it because I love it, so I don't mind going over 40-hour-work-weeks". Referring to it as a therapy of sorts, she went on to say: "When you are sewing, all your problems fade away."
Once the last curtain falls and the pantomime season ends, the costumes make their way into the company's wardrobe and come the following July, discussions on December's costumes begin again.
"Masquerade has a large wardrobe which includes costumes from all of the productions," Simona explained. "Some of them are used again, usually those of the chorus." "Very often they are cannibalised, so you would use parts of them to make other costumes, in order to keep costs down."
Beyond the dame's eight dress changes, the 16 members of the chorus each have their own eight dress changes, meaning a total of 120 costumes - which are often quite time-consuming to put on - have to be created just for the chorus. In fact, the costumes are entrusted to the hands of about four costume-makers, sometimes with additional help. Simona explains that she and Carmen, a costume maker who works alongside her, tend to do more of the specialised costumes.
Asked about the struggles costume-makers can come across, Simona and Carmen both listed creating elaborate costumes with a given budget, as well as making people understand that some ideas are impossible to turn into costumes, and therefore some expectations can be dampened.
When all the work is done, and the stage lights are pointing towards the costumes, Simona says it is 'fun' to see them complete and connecting with the set as a whole. And really, there could not be a better word to describe everything panto-related.