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Yasmin Pettigrew, Pam Obermeyer & Sue Blane
Costume Superviser RHS, Transylvanian RHPS and Costume Designer RHS/RHPS

On stageWe were joined on stage by original Transylvanian Pam Obermeyer, Costume designer Sue Blane and costume superviser Yasmin Pettigrew for a few questions from the audience.

Griffin(Audience) "Pam, do you ever happen to drop into conversation that you were a Transylvanian, does it give you street cred now?"
(Pam) Shakes head "Street cred? Street cred now? I think you all look amazing! The only reason I am here now is that I was in the film. Because of that I'm part of something like this, it's fantastic. Street cred? I don't know."

Griffin(Audience) "Sue, what is your favourite costume from the current production?"
(Sue) "Probably the Phantom Janet costumes"

SueGriffin(Audience) "Sue, is it true you found the original Frank 'N' Furter costume in Glasgow at Paddy's market, is that true?"
(Sue) "Part of it is true, it wasn't Paddy's market. It was in a draw at the Citizens (theatre). It was used by me on Tim Curry for a production of 'The Maids' which Lindsay Kemp directed. When we did Rocky we had a 200 pound budget so I phoned the Citizens and asked then to send it down."

Griffin(Audience) "In the states when we all try and mimic the costumes exactly, did you ever think that if some one tries to mimic the costumes what a pain in the arse time it would be? There is so much detail they're hard to copy."
(Sue) "Of course I didn't think of it at the time. It's always very difficult to copy costumes as they become part of the person, to recreate that is very hard. I have enormous respect for how you take the best parts of the characters for your costumes"
(Yasmine) "If you're on a short budget, you have to let new actors bring something of their own ideas to the costume. Sometimes it doesn't work, you have to get a blend going."

Griffin(Audience) "How much say do the actors have in their costumes?"
(Sue) "In Rocky, the track record is so well know, most of the cast get right into it straight away. In other shows, you can get right to the last rehearsal and the actors want to change something, of course you change it and make the actor happy."

Yasmine Griffin(Audience) "How would you suggest someone starts in Costume?"
(Sue) "I'd recommend you do a course. It is a very serious business now, when we started it was easier."
(Yasmine) "I think you should try and get into a theatre, working as a dresser. It's whether you want to do it as a working career or just want to dress people up."

Griffin(Audience) "Sue, you said once that Eddie was your favourite character, also what was around Eddies neck in the movie?"
(Sue) "I think it was a spanner wrench, but I'm not certain. As to the first question, I did say that, I love the character of Eddie in the show. I adore his relationship with Columbia, it's probably the only relationship in the whole show that could have worked, and then it's cut short."

Griffin(Audience) "How did the whole American Gothic look in the wedding scene come about?"
(Sue) "You might ask Richard that, I think it was his or Brian Thomson's idea. I have to say until I was told about it I hadn't seen the painting even."

PamGriffin(Audience) "What have you being doing since Rocky?"
(Yasmine) (said with a wry smile) "Well I've had about ten years of therapy. Now I'm actually a reflexologist. I love that as it is very fulfilling. Showbiz wise, after Rocky I did one woman shows for a while. There have been a lot of films and television."

Griffin(Audience) "Will any of you be involved in the 25th anniversary celebrations for RHPS?"
(Sue) "If Richard would like to ask us, we'd love to."

Griffin(Audience) "Do you have any memories of the filming of RHPS?"
(Sue) "It was long hours and many nights spent alone at the studios making costumes, I was rarely able just to watch a shot"
(Pam) "I remember Peter (Rocky) was like a god. I remember Meatloaf having to go around the ramp to us all and falling off. We did have a lot of fun on the shoot."

Sue then stayed on stage for the costume competition and Yasmin and Pam kindly signed a few hundred autographs.


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