Hit The Baby, Natasha!
To celebrate the first public performances of Hit The Baby, Natasha! in May 2009, The Happiness Patrol hosted two exciting Chekhov-flavoured events at the Old Joint Stock Theatre.
Chekhov Costume Exhibition
We held a very special exhibition of costumes which have appeared in recent Chekhov productions at Birmingham Repertory Theatre, generously supplied by Ruth Bagnall at Costumia and supported by Birmingham REP and the Sir Barry Jackson Trust. We are also deeply indebted to Stewart Snape at the Crescent Theatre for his kind loan of mannequins for this exhibition.
Featured costumes had appeared in Bill Bryden’s 1998 production of Three Sisters, Rachel Kavanaugh’s 2007 production of Uncle Vanya, and Paulette Randall’s 2006 production of Mustapha Matura’s Trinidad-set version of Three Sisters.
Production photographs drawn from the REP’s archive were displayed to capture key moments of Chekhov in performance, showcasing the work of some of the country’s most talented designers and of the REP’s superlative Wardrobe department.
But they weren’t the only costumes on display that week…!
Peg Dolly Competition
We received 24 gorgeous entries for our Peg Dolly Competition, all vying for the coveted crowns as our Three Peg Dolly Sisters! The judging process was hard… But we got there in the end!
Our three joint First Prize winners were:
Dolly #1 — designed by Barbara Nicholls, chosen by Laura Ellison (playing Olga)
Dolly #2 — designed by Margaret Mortimer, chosen by Hannah O’Leary (playing Masha)
Dolly #24 — designed by Ian Craddock, chosen by Natalie Wilson (playing Irina)
But because the standard was so high, we couldn’t leave it there… So we selected three Highly Commended dollies as well! The winners were:
Dolly #23 — designed by Rob Fisher, chosen by Dan Handscomb (playing Andrei)
Dolly #17 — designed by Hayley Seddon, chosen by Catherine Boot (playing Natasha)
Dolly #22 — designed by Ruth Bagnall, chosen by Philip Holyman (director)
We would also like to say a big, big thankyou to everyone else who went to the effort of making a Peg Dolly — they were all so lovely that it was a source of real heartache having to single any of them out! Huge thanks and hearty congratulations are due to Sandra Bayliss, Brenda Bradley, The Sisters Dolby, Elaine Fisher, Mary Gordon, Val Holyman, Jill Hughes, Megan Layton, Ruth Morgan, Amanda Munday, Valerie Munday, Julie Plumb and Chris Tuckley.
You’ll shortly be able to see the full parade of beauties when we unveil our Peg Dolly Hall of Fame on this website and on our Facebook group page. As we were preparing the first performances of Tales of Terror at the time, each of the winners received a copy of The Ghost Stories of MR James, featuring a collection of thirty of his most famous spooky tales.
We would like to thank some very special people for making the Chekhov costume exhibition possible:
Ruth Bagnall at Costumia
Vicky Price
Clare Jepson-Homer and Sue Nightingale at Birmingham Repertory Theatre
Stewart Snape at the Crescent Theatre
Ian Craddock at the Old Joint Stock Theatre
Gareth Nicholls at Little Earthquake
