A Visual Feast: The Fantastical Wigs, Makeup and Costumes for ENB’s New Nutcracker
As English National Ballet debuts its new Nutcracker this month, the designs are taking center stage. Choreographed by artistic director Aaron S. Watkin and Arielle Smith in honor of ENB’s 75th anniversary, this production is a visual feast, with sets and costumes by Dick Bird that include elaborate wigs and makeup.
“We’ve set out with so many ambitions,” says Bird, whose main goal was to transform the theater and take the audience on a journey with Clara. Countless hours of effort, both artistically and logistically, went into getting everything just right for opening night.
When drawing up plans for the wigs and costumes, Bird wanted to refresh the idea of the second act. “The diverts were originally based on sweets and luxury goods like tea, coffee, and chocolate,” he says. “These were big things in those days; not everyone had access to them. Today, however, it no longer has the same sort of charmed appeal.”
Bird wanted to create a link between the first and second acts, with sweets and delicacies from around the world. (They are introduced in sweet form in Act I and reappear as dancers in Act II.) He features some that are familiar to the UK audience, like liquorice allsorts, and some that are unfamiliar, like sahlab (an Egyptian drink made with powdered orchid root, warm milk, and cinnamon) and tanghulu (Chinese candied hawthorn berries).
ENB’s wig supervisor, Amelia Carrington-Lee, has been working on this vision since February in close collaboration with Bird.
For the run, Carrington-Lee has made all but two new wigs herself. “There are 48 wigs that have been created for the production, but there are about 25 wigs onstage at a time,” she says. One of her favorites is ENB’s version of “Waltz of the Flowers”—with Buttercream Roses. Making a single Buttercream Rose wig, with all the sewing from start to finish, takes about a week of eight-hour days, working nonstop.
Each wig in the ballet has been designed to suit different hair textures and skin tones. There might be one wig that a couple of casts share, and then a second version for a dancer of a different ethnicity. “We wanted to make sure that we had something that works for every dancer in the company,” says Carrington-Lee.
Designing conventional wigs for ballet is quite exacting. “You don’t want the wigs to be too large; there has to be an aesthetic silhouette,” she explains. “They have to also be light and comfortable, as you don’t want the balance of the body to be tipped in any way.”
To make the silhouette for the Buttercream Roses look like a cupcake, Carrington-Lee used a cage, or netting on wire, inside the hair to hold the intricate shape in the lightest way possible. The white, synthetic hair was sourced online, and it required repetitive steaming to make it easier to manipulate and put into place. (The wigs in ENB’s production are 50 percent human hair, 50 percent synthetic.)
Carrington-Lee also brought outside specialists into the project. Makeup artist Rose Williams, for instance, created elegant looks to match the glamour of Act I’s lavish party-scene costumes. Dita Garbo, a star of “RuPaul’s Drag Race UK,” designed more of the dramatic-character makeup in Act I and the snow scene, using her creative flair from her work in the drag world to bring the theatrical characters to life.
Bird wanted the Snowflakes to look as if they were encrusted in ice, with ice crystals coming down their foreheads. To make this a reality, Phyllis Cohen, a celebrity makeup artist who’s worked with stars like David Bowie and Tina Turner, was brought in to develop a rhinestone face-lace that mimics ice.
While Carrington-Lee and her team affix the wigs, the dancers apply the makeup and face jewels themselves. “We had some sessions with Dita, Rose, Phyllis, and the dancers throughout the year,” Carrington-Lee says. “They demonstrated what had to be done for each of the characters.” For Cohen’s jeweled lace pieces, the dancers gently peel the lace off their sheet backings and stick them around their eye and cheekbone areas, handling them with care so they can last a few shows. “We’ve given the dancers the information, and they now have to be self-reliant,” says Carrington-Lee. “We are really lucky that they fully embrace it.”
Carrington-Lee has loved witnessing the culmination of their work. “Seeing Dick Bird’s designs onstage and my input—both creatively and practically—makes me feel very proud to work at ENB. This project has been such an incredible opportunity.”
