Lend Me A Tenor

Interview with Makeup Mastermind Anna Rudschies

Posted by katrinf on

Meet the lady who is responsible for the play’s glamorous 30s makeup! Anna Rudschies tells us why she was very happy to join the Lend Me A Tenor-Crew and which particular challenges the play holds in store for her.

Have you done makeup for a play before?

I have indeed done makeup for plays before, most of which were Entity plays. I’ve been the head makeup artist for Murder in Mind and Kevin back around 2005/2006 and then again for Memory of Water, Murder’s in the Heir and the Aladdin panto. I’ve also helped design some of the makeup back around 2006/2007 and have contributed a makeup “booth” for two of Entity’s 24hr Festivals. I’ve also done two makeup workshops for Entity members and I am hoping to offer more in the future.

Why did you decide to join Lend Me A Tenor?
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First and foremost, it was the amazing crew we have and the way they are approaching this production. I have worked with Bogdan before (I’ve turned him into a Tom Cruise-style TV doctor for Memory of Water and a cocaine-loving theatre director for Murder’s in the Heir) and admired his directorial debut Numbers, so it was clear for me that working with him would be great. I’ve also known, worked with and admired Christine, Tom and Katrin (to name only a few) for several years and know that we are on the same wave-length. The other thing that made me say yes to this play was the special challenge of the blackface problem that Lend Me A Tenor has always had. I’m a bit of a human rights activist and have a perspective that I can bring to this play which will hopefully help clean it up where it needs it. If we succeed, we might actually be the first (or at least, one of the first) production to do LMAT in a clean way. We are all giving 150% to make that happen, both the crew and the cast.

Is there a special make-up challenge in this play?

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There are two, really. The first is that, traditionally, this play has relied on blackface makeup to make the switcharoo elements work and be funny. But blackface is not funny, and never has been. It’s a deeply racist tradition and the only reason it became a theatre and film tradition for so long is that no white people cared about how deeply offensive and discriminatory it was to people of colour. White people often think that there was a time when blackface was normal and acceptable and that we’ve just become overly sensitive in hindsight and over time. That’s not true. Blackface (along with horrid, clownish afro wigs) was and has always been an extremely cruel practice and it hurt a lot of people of colour. It hurt their representation and their careers and helped perpetuate the toxic environment they were living in. It’s just that now, we fight against the racism blackface expressed and perpetuated, we don’t accept it anymore and we don’t dismiss those feelings. We try to be better than we used to be.

The second challenge is getting the ladies’ 1930s eyebrows right!

How will you deal with the Otello makeup?

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Bogdan (director), Alex (costume design) and I decided on our Othello together. We all came up with ideas and thoughts and I think I can say we ended up picking the best ones and put them together to represent Othello in a way that is both plausible for what a 1930s stage-Othello might have been and for what the actual Othello might have been. We’re keeping his appearance a secret for now because we want the audience to be surprised. What I can say is that there will be no blackface or afro wigs anywhere near our production and that his costume will greatly help in making the suspension of disbelief easier. It’s amazing-looking!

Character Sketches: Anna Rudschies
Photos: Katrin Fegert