Marg Horwell, multi award-winning set and costume designer of “The Picture of Dorian Gray,” chatted about being a part of the latest production for which she won the Olivier Award for “Best Costume Design.” She also opened up about working with Emmy winner Sarah Snook.
Background on Marg Horwell
Horwell has an extensive list of design credits spanning theatres across Australia. For STC, Marg has designed for The Picture of Dorian Gray, Avalanche (with Barbican Theatre), How to Rule the World and The Histrionic (with Malthouse).
As Costume Designer, she also worked on STC productions of Lord of the Flies and The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui.
Horwell has worked on a wide range of productions for Malthouse, which include Because the Night (interiors), Blasted, Melancholia, Bliss, Caravan, The Testament of Mary, The Real and Imagined History of The Elephant Man, Revolt She Said Revolt Again, The Homosexuals Or ‘Faggots’ (with Griffin Theatre Company), Edward II, I Am A Miracle and The Good Person Of Szechuan.
Horwell has designed for many other leading theatre and opera companies including English National Opera, Opera Queensland, Victorian Opera, Melbourne Theatre Company, Bell Shakespeare, Belvoir and Griffin Theatre Company.
Horwell has also worked with Circa, Performing Lines, Dee and Cornelius, Angus Cerini Doubletap and Chunky Move.
Her awards include 2005, 2007, 2009, 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2019 Greenroom Awards, and 2013 Sydney Theatre Awards.
How did it feel to do the costumes for “The Picture of Dorian Gray”?
“The Picture of Dorian Gray” is an incredible gift of a project for someone who loves theatre, costume and fashion as much as I do.
It is the story of someone who, increasingly obsessed with aesthetics and appearance, shapes their image in a world where they do not age.
How you dress someone who, through both ego and insecurity, manufacture their image to reveal and conceal their true self, is an incredible provocation for a designer.
When approaching the work I wanted to assume this influence could span centuries and borrow from fashion throughout history, from the cinched coats and corsetry of the late 19th century when the original book was written, through to fashion walking the runways while we were constructing the show.
Then there’s the best part which is you get to create 26 personas for a single actor, working with a performer to make them look as wildly different as possible, older, wrinkled, with bad teeth, masculine, feminine, handsome. I adored costuming this show.
What’s it like working with Sarah Snook?
Sarah is like a theater athlete and approaches each performance with the precision and tenacity of someone training for the Olympics.
She’s incredibly detail oriented and it is a gift to work with someone like that on a production where every millimeter of the design is interrogated under close up camera.
Sarah is also really playful with a great sense of humor, in our first round of make-up tests we shifted the original design for a character because she can create the most incredible double chin, it’s like her face disappears into her neck, she said “is this helpful?” and completely changed the shape of her face, I laughed and said “well we’re definitely using that.”
What motivates you each day?
It’s the nerdiest thing to say but I love working so much, I adore my job. Not all of it and not all the time but I feel like I’m at my absolute best when I’m working on something and planning the next thing at the same time.
I am fortunate to work with a range of incredible collaborators who are relentlessly ambitious in the type of work they make and also insistent that the works are relevant in some way to the world we’re living in, that they’re politically awake to what is happening now.
Being in the very present, in the today, motivates me a lot.
How does it feel to be a part of the digital age? (Now with streaming, technology, and social media being so prevalent)
I love the access we have to things, now, that I could never have imagined even ten years ago.
I love how easy it is to communicate with people and to share visual information and I’m fascinated with how the face of fashion has changed through the influence of TikTok and Instagram.
I love including contemporary references in my work so this is now like a massive playground for what is popular or relevant or shocking.
AI access is a much more complex concept and the way in which it is infiltrating the arts industry feels like a potential opportunity but also a huge threat.
How the arts industry navigates this next period of artistic practice is going to be really complicated.
How did it feel to make your Broadway debut with this show?
I grew up in a small town in Australia and so making my Broadway debut feels like the most amazing and improbable thing.
We made this production coming out of the pandemic when a lot of shows and organizations were thinking, go smaller, tread lightly, and this team of people pushed hard to make the most incredibly ambitious show out of the most uncertain time.
I’m really proud that it’s this show that makes my Broadway debut, it feels bold and smart and completely of its time. I’m really excited to be here… I bought souvenirs, like a total tourist.
How did it feel to win the Olivier Award?
Honestly winning the Olivier award was so surreal – I don’t often use that word – it was so incredibly unexpected that it was genuinely enjoyable to be there.
Edward Enninful presented my award and I completely lost my mind, if i had a list of celebrities or public figures I’d lose my mind meeting, Edward Enninful would be right up the top – so surreal!
It’s humbling that this work has resonated with such a large international audience and really thrilling to be recognized in that way. Amazing!
What is your advice for young and aspiring costume designers?
I didn’t train as a designer, I kind of barrelled into it backwards at top speed so I think I’d say studying is wonderful if it works for you, but it isn’t the only way. I’d say see as many things as you possibly can, even things you think you won’t like.
See theatre, concerts, opera, festivals, films, art exhibitions, be aware of what’s happening around you.
I’m inspired by the most surprising things that often seem to have nothing to do with what I’m actually working on, be open to things outside your research.
A director told me a while ago that they read every review of their work and I was surprised, I thought it was unusual for people to do that (or admit that).
She told me that you need to be aware of the context in which people see your work. She told me you have control over the way your work is contextualized to the public and this was an incredibly eye opening concept to me.
Give audiences the chance to understand your work, it’s okay to explain what you mean in interviews or in program notes, it doesn’t need to be a puzzle for them to figure out.
What does the word success mean to you? (My favorite question)
That is such a huge question! I think success to me, as a child, meant that I would be visible and popular, that people would see that I was successful.
Success to me now means choosing my own projects and those productions being the most creative and suitable to my aesthetic and process.
It means I can plan the next five years with some level of certainty. It means not being terrified all the time.
What’s the one thing you want our readers to get out of “The Picture of Dorian Gray”?
“The Picture Of Dorian Gray” is, to me, a single portrait of the many many facets of a human being.
Yes, Sarah looks like many different people but they are all versions of her, some voluntary constructions of self and others involuntary judgements.
We are complicated beings and denying or concealing parts of ourselves is damaging and such a lonely thing.
I want people to have a great night out in the theatre and to interrogate how we curate ourselves in this world.
To learn more about costume and set designer Marg Horwell, follow her on Instagram.
For more information on “The Picture of Dorian Gray,” check out its official website.
