Fringe Costume Thoughts: A Day in the Life of Miss Hiccup & The Duck Wife

Shoshinz photographed by Charlie Kawamura

OK, it’s official: I have seen my favourite costume.


And it comes to us courtesy of Japanese clown Shoshinz.


A Day in the Life of Miss Hiccup  is an absolutely charming piece of nonsense theatre, with sweet, poignant, funny moments liberally scattered throughout. But the costume, the costume is amazing.


I had an opportunity to speak with Shoshinz after her first performance about her costume, which she told me was entirely made by her and a friend. What you can’t see under that fantastic yellow skirt are a pair of blue bloomers and a pink crinoline.


This costume is a riot of colour and has inspired me to combine yellow, red, emerald green, and white into one outfit this summer.


A Day in the Life of Miss Hiccup is playing for four more shows, today through Sunday, in the Arts Court Library. Check the Ottawa Fringe website for show times. Once again, $10.00 at the door with your Fringe button. See this show.

Jenn Doan photographed by Tristan Brand

But for now, it’s time to move on to The Duck Wife . I met a few of the performers before the show sitting on the steps of Arts Court (a Fashion of the Fringe feature is going to be coming up about one of them soon), and looking at them gave me a pretty good idea of what to expect from the aesthetic of the show.
I was looking for American Apparel meets DIY cool, and that’s exactly what I got. (I actually made a note in my book that reads, “Show or AA Fall 2010 runway show?”)


While there was the typical problem of unfinished edges and the inscrutability of a couple of the male dancer’s costumes (was that recycled from a production of Alladin?), a few shining elements were standouts. To transform into “ducks”, the female dancers added small strips of feathers and bustles made of layers of taffeta and tulle. With a change in posture, they really did become birdlike.


While I didn’t fall in love with this show like some of my fellow (I must admit, younger) theatre-goers did, it was definitely a visual treat.


There are three more shows left, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, all at different times, in the Arts Court Theatre. Tickets for this one are $12.00, so go get yourself a little treat.