Amanda Rathney-Quinn

A stunning bejeweled bird with jewel tears by second year ECA performance costume student; Amanda Rathney-Quinn.

"The nightingale is a minor character from the 1925 Colette and Ravel Children’s opera; L’enfant et les Sortilages. She is a frail and fragile character who sings for the dragonfly’s loss. She is specified to be played by the same actress as the princess.The unitard and cap portion of the costume is made up of a grey one-way-stretch polyester velveteen, heated from the back to created a crinkling texture across the areas of the costume I wanted to draw attention to, such as the calves and the head. The beading is made up of apatite, amazonite, pale rose quartz and opalite chip beads along with 1mm clear and peach seed beads. 34 swavorski sun-catcher are used across the torso under the ruff and at the end of the tears. The whole costume is covered with 4mm flatback iridescent plastic gems and 5mm flat back mock-pearls in iridescent pale blue and white. LEDs are used behind the eyes to give the character a slight sparkle. The overall style of the costume is based off traditional commedia dell’arte style theatre blended with a stylistic but non-abstract interpretation of a Chinese nightingale. I think the most important aspect of the costume was that it read very clearly as a bird since the opera is intended for young children, but also that it communicated the character as a pretty, sensitive and feminine figure in the opera." Amanda Rathney-Quinn.