I, Peaseblossom: designer's notes
Costume
Graeme found that with I, Peaseblossom, Tim's vision for the set was a little less defined than in I, Banquo . On first reading the play, Graeme took Tim's notion of Peaseblossom as childlike and made an image of him as Christopher Robin in Cagoule, shorts and wellies. This is a very early drawing Graeme made of the Peaseblossom costume. You will see from the play that this early costume design has stuck!
"The cagoule and wellies were a pretty obvious choice, as the play is set in the middle of an interminable rainstorm." says Graeme. "Tim is a big bald bloke and it is quite interesting and incongruous seeing him performing amongst children dressed as a child".
This is taken a stage further by Peaseblossom's teddy - played by Pinkpants, a much loved, knitted blue creature stolen from Tim's daughter, Nell (don't worry, she's sixteen now and she said he could have him). The play is all about sleep and dreaming and it seems only right that Peaseblossom should curl up with his bedtime cuddly.
The design is quite a long way from a traditional notion of a fairy, but Graeme has added wings in case anyone was in any doubt "I wanted the wings to be obviously fabricated - a bit Heath Robinson, as if a boy had built them himself. Originally I built them out of meccano covered in cling film as this early image shows" (this picture was created by Graeme for the Brighton Festival programme)
"Sadly they were both too delicate and too cumbersome for Tim to use on stage, so I reworked them out of wire, cling film and elastic bands sewn onto rucksack straps. Not only do they tell the audience that this is a fairy, they help them understand the storytelling: by pulling a string, Tim makes them flip up and stick out when he is being Peaseblossom, and they are down when he is being someone else."