But her involvement goes back even further, to 1972, when she joined the Society at its foundation. She was cast as Juliet in ‘Romanoff and Juliet’ – ‘in the absence of anyone better’, she says modestly – and, being a keen seamstress, she also offered to lend a hand with costumes.
Since then she has acted and directed on occasion, but for over fifty years she has been the moving force behind the exceptional quality of costumes which has become a hallmark of SUDS productions. She resists the title ‘Wardrobe Mistress’ but has created innumerable gowns and outfits to dress a wide range of casts, from Shakespeare to Twentieth Century, from tragedy to comedy and everything in between. Today she curates a costume collection which is the envy of theatre groups in Sheffield, some of whom borrow items on a regular basis for their own productions.
But back to ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’. After half a century of creative costuming, will Julia be giving herself a break and re-using the costumes she devised for the 1989 production? ‘Oh no,’ she says, pointing out that average shapes and heights of people have changed a great deal in the last 36 years. Every production is a new beginning for Julia. She still takes pleasure in creating costumes that make people ‘look better’, as she puts it. She loves to see how her handiwork flatters her actors, helping them to carry themselves in a particular manner, in keeping with the period or milieu being depicted. And Oscar Wilde’s play is a case in point. ‘Elegant deportment’ serves to enhance the sparkling wit of this stylish comedy of manners – and Julia and her team are already busy sewing.
The play runs from April 9-12 in the University Drama Studio, Shearwood Road.
Tickets are available at https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/suds
