Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Costumes fly off the rails as Perth Theatre opens wardrobe to buyers

Laura Edison from Largs Players. Cinderella's dress will be reborn as Belle's wedding dress in the theatre company's Christmas production of Beauty and the Beast.
Laura Edison from Largs Players. Cinderella's dress will be reborn as Belle's wedding dress in the theatre company's Christmas production of Beauty and the Beast.

Amateur theatre groups from Scotland made a beeline for Perth Theatre’s costume department for a unique opportunity to secure a piece of stage history.

The opportunity to browse through and buy thousands of costumes from all eras and productions instantly grabbed the attention of directors and actors.

As we reported, the theatre is putting thousands of its older costumes up for sale this week.

And one of the first items to go was the wedding dress worn by Cinderella in Perth Theatre’s 2013 pantomime.

Like many of the items it had not seen the light of day for some time, but with a new owner, the gown will make an immediate return to the stage.

“Our Christmas pantomime will be Beauty and the Beast and the dress will be the start of Belle’s wedding dress,” said Laura Edison from Largs Players.

Laura and her wife Lindsay were among the first through the door to secure much needed costumes for the group.

Laura and Lindsay drove for two hours and arrived early to make sure they had the pick of the costumes.

“We drove for two hours to be at the sale and it’s been fantastic,” Laura said.

“We need a lot of nice costumes and the number and quality on offer here is incredible.

“This is a pretty unique opportunity for us and great that everything is at an affordable price for amateur theatre companies.”

With one third of the theatre’s costumes up for sale, there were items to suit almost all requirements.

Perth Drama Club sent an eight-strong team to the sale to secure costumes for its up-coming productions.

George Hutchison, 67, was on the look-out for finery suitable for a panto dame for Mother Hubbard, which he has written and will direct.

Perth Drama Club was well-represented at the sale. Christine Aston, George Hutchison and Susan Corbett (with Widow Twankey’s costume) were among the bargain hunters.

He left with a costume once worn by dad’s Army favourite Ian Lavendar, who once graced the Perth Theatre stage as Widow Twankey in Aladdin.

Also up for sale, though not bought by George, was another outfit from Aladdin, showcasing panto’s traditional foray into the topical – a replica of the meat dress worn by Lady Gaga.

George said: “The sale has been brilliant for us. We’ve had a whole gang picking through the rails and it has proved to be a real treasure trove.”

One of the biggest buyers on the first day of the sale was Liam Black from the Cowdenbeath-based Liam Black Theatrical company.

Liam Black, who has a huge interest in stage history, was one of the biggest buyers on the first day of the sale.

He secured in the region of 100 costumes to be used in all manner of productions, from magic shows to variety shows and dramatic productions.

Liam was found clutching a measuring tape and explained that the actors of the past were a very different breed.

“Back in the Victorian days of theatre the average man had a 36 inch waist and was around 5 foot 5 inches in height and women were also much smaller, often with tiny waists.

“You need to be careful when looking at some of the older costumes as in some cases though they were made for adults you might struggle to fit someone much younger into them these days.”

The items on sale were selected from Perth Theatre’s vast wardrobe collection by head of costume Louise Robertson and her team.

They singled out a wealth of items they believed deserved further outings in the hands of local groups and individuals rather than staying in storage.

Clothing, accessories, hats and shoes from all eras and productions and even items from Perth’s famous pantomimes are all up for grabs, with the collection representing every decade of the last 120 years of theatre in Perth.

The sale runs at the Perth Theatre Scenic Stores on the Inveralmond Industrial Estate until Wednesday, between 1pm and 6pm each day.