Costumes & Props: The Map

Had another good meeting with Melissa today. We talked about the function of costumes in the first scene, and found an intriguing way to potentially blend the costumes, props, and shifting power dynamics into one simple device.

Lear's first command (after "Attend the lords of France and Burgundy", which I've cut) is "Give me the map there." He uses a map to delineate the rewards of the first two sisters:

"Of all these bounds, even from this line to this,
With shadowy forests, and with champaigns riched,
With plenteous rivers and wide-skirted meads,
We make thee lady."

At first, I'd just assumed that the map would be a simple prop: something for Lear to point at, maybe something to throw or kick when he got fed up a little later. But Melissa and I were talking about costume items which could illustrate the newly bought status of the two elder sisters (crowns? coronets? sashes?), and my mind kept coming back to the map. How could we tie the two things together?

"Of all these bounds, even from this line to this." So there are already lines on the map (rivers, maybe. Or territories?). What if they were ribbons, not drawn on but pinned somehow, so they could be moved--or bestowed. What if they were held on with badges, or with intricate brooches with heraldic symbols which stood for the various regions of the land? Then, when Lear bestows the lands upon his daughters, he (or his servants) literally attach the badges of power onto them. They become the incarnations of those lands.

Another nice bit: if they are connected by sashes, then when it comes time to divide Cordelia's territories ("With my two daughters' dowers, digest this third"), the sash can be split between Goneril and Regan--torn apart onstage. As Melissa said, "Ripping fabric sounds cool."

It occurred to me later that the brooches might actually come off of Lear's clothing, not off the map. That would be a more direct illustration of Lear's abdication. But where this all really pays off, costume-wise, is watching the power of the two daughters grow in the subsequent scenes. Having been given one or two ribbons of fabric apiece--say, blue for Goneril and red for Regan--then each time we see them afterwards, those colours, and the designs on the brooches, will be larger, brighter, stronger, more decisive. The "busyness" and complexity of their costumes might diminish, but we'll get to watch as their single-minded drive for power increases.