Wonderful colours and elaborate detail – costuming Tom Jones for the Festival of Chichester

New Theatre Productions’ staging of Tom Jones (July 3, 5, 9, 11 and 13 at 7.30pm in the Pergola Open Air Theatre, West Dean Gardens, PO18 0RX) for the Festival of Chichester is going to look an absolute treat.

Margo Dodd is in charge of the costumes, a task which she is loving: “Peter Breskal (who runs the company and will be directing Tom Jones) made it clear that the production should be about the visual and about the glamour of the costumes and using the beautiful backdrop that we have got at West Dean Gardens rather than elaborate sets.”

Margo is promising some fabulous colours including orange, purple, blue and turquoise plus jewel colours.

“But it is quite a project. I was asked to provide the costumes for a cast of 17 but a number of the characters are playing slightly different roles and so are doubling up plus some of the ladies require three dresses each so I'm guessing it's about 25 to 30 costumes in all.”

Then again this is exactly Margo’s speciality: “I have always been interested in theatre all my life and performing and singing. Costumes and choreography have really taken over in the last 15 years or so. When my children were at prep school, like many mothers, I became involved in the make-up and hair for the school productions but then there was a pivotal moment when my son was playing Oliver. There was no one looking after costumes and the school mums were just asked to source something. I watched the dress rehearsal and I thought ‘This could be improved!’ It always surprises me how little people know about that period. It was even ballet shoes for Nancy! I thought I've got to do something about this and so between the dress rehearsal and the first performance I went home and came up with a load of things and just issued more appropriate pieces to the children from my own wardrobe.”

It was the start of something. For the next 12 years at Westbourne House School Margo looked after the choreography and costumes: “I left in 2020. It is now a very high-flying place for drama but in the early days it was just scratching around but now it has really built up its reputation.”

Margo continues to work as a freelance production manager, wardrobe, props and choreography and has enjoyed a long association with New Theatre Productions.“Tom Jones is Georgian. It is set in 1749 and it really is such beautiful costumes which I really enjoy because I just love that style. It's nipped-in waists for the ladies and paniers for the dress skirts and I'm also doing the wigs. You can't have these Georgian costumes without the hair looking right. Most of the cast I've sourced wigs for. I have a lot of contacts and I'm able to source things but I'm lucky that most of the costumes have come from my own private collection. Some of them have not been off the rails for years. They've just been sitting there! I don't make from scratch. I'm no seamstress. I source and I adapt and I make hundreds of alterations.”

Completing the plays at the Pergola Open Air Theatre, on July 4, 6, 10 and 12 at 7.30pm is Mixed Doubles, an entertainment on marriage. Tickets £10 from Festival website.