The curtain rises on a new play which opens at the Bermuda Music and Dramatic Society this evening.

The play ? ?Boston Marriage? ? is written by Pulitzer Prize-winning author David Mamet.

The play depicts the lives of three Victorian women: Anna, played by Jo Shane, Claire, played by Jeanne Butterfield and the Scottish maid, Debbie Pharoah.

The term ?Boston marriage? was used for households where two women lived together, independent of any male support and it came after Henry James? book ?The Bostonians?, which detailed a marriage-like relationship between two women who were independent, not married and self-supporting. Sometimes this meant meant living off inherited wealth, making a living as writers or other professional, educated careers.

The play is being directed and the costuming is being created by Barbara Jones.

?Costuming is one of my loves ? certainly historical costumes,? she said.

?One of the attractions is the period costumes.?

Ms Jones began sewing when she was only three years old, she said.

?I have been sewing for well over 50 years,? she said. ?When I was younger I made everything that I ever wore. Then I got into amateur theatre at university and they were looking for costume makers.

?It is just so interesting because the costumes just lift a play up and out of the ordinary. If you go into a play and everyone is just wearing ordinary clothes then the play itself has to lift itself off the stage, whereas when the actresses walk onto the stage it is a statement and that is just fun. I enjoy making them.?

Of the costumes, she said: ?No one ever wears anything like this anymore ? it?s just a t-shirt and jeans.

?And I have did everything from the corsets up because otherwise they don?t sit right. The long skirts and the petticoats and just this morning I was starching petticoats.

?There are no zips, it?s all hooks and eyes and buttons, nothing that would look wrong on stage.?

The Victorians were elaborate with their costumes, but this is a stylised Victorian look.

?David Mamet wrote this play in 1999, but it is set at about 100 years earlier,? she said.

?I?ve actually chosen 1895 as my specific year partly because fashion-wise they had the biggest sleeves. So they are always fun for the dramatic impact.

?It certainly alters the way they sit and how they can move,? she added.

?I brought in all the steel boning for the corsets, so it is the real stuff. Once they are in that they have to sit up.

?It also adds a whole lot to the show and also how long it takes to get onto the stage. It takes about a half hour to get dressed beforehand.?

But acquiring fabrics on Island is becoming a difficult task.

?Of course now Gibbons Company doesn?t sell fabric and I do go to Qui-Ja Fabrics, but when I have a show coming up I go to New York.?

She said each outfit can take about seven days to complete.

?For one of these outfits, the bodice and skirt it?ll take about a week,? says Ms Jones.

?Normally when I am costuming I sew every day and night, but this time I am directing every night.?

Many do not realise what goes into the art of costuming, she said.

?There are two real aspects of costuming, one is the physical sewing,? Ms Jones said.

?And making costumes isn?t the same as making clothes. They all have to be lined and backed, and made stronger in many ways.

?But then you can get around in other ways because they don?t have to be finished in quite the same way. Although in Daylesford (Theatre) the audience is so close to you that in a sense, you pretty much have to finish them off like street clothes.

?The other aspect of costuming is the design, not only must the clothes look right for the part, but an actress or actor should never have to fight with a costume. It should make him or her feel the part, it should enhance, it should suit them, it should fit them, and it should enhance their characterisation so that when they walk on stage and before they even open their mouths you already have a sense of who they are and what they are playing.?

She said that part is actually quite difficult.

?Either you have to have a director who knows a great deal about costuming or costumier who can read the script and analyse what is required for the characters.

?Because if you don?t understand both aspects it is very difficult to achieve that. You can say to someone, ?okay, I need three Victorian dresses?.

?But they have to be the right colour scheme, have the right silhouette, be of the right social class, are they day or evening? ? all sorts of things.?

During intermission there will be a full costume change.

?Some might say ? why bother? But it is the next day and these are ladies of fashion. In fact one of the problems throughout the show is that they don?t have enough income for their requirements of the dressmaker.

?Having established that in act one, they could not wear the same dress two days running. Absolutely not!

?The maid?s outfit is black for the period and all domestic staff wore black because it didn?t show the dirt. She has a white apron and they had to be laundered frequently, bleached, starched and ironed and all of this without electricity.?

Ms Jones is in charge of the wardrobe at BMDS and when they are finished with these dresses they will go into the wardrobe and a Victorian dress is needed again they will come out.

Unlike the last BMDS play, Ms Jones, who has also designed the set, said: ?This play is in contradiction to the last play we did.

?Historically my preference has always been for minimalism and to the modern eye a Victorian drawing room (living room) would be smothering and jammed full of stuff and since this play is about word play, word jokes and humour in words I have chosen to go with an absolutely minimalist stylised set.

?There is a back wall ... we just painted it the right colour. I have created the sense of the drawing room within that and I have a couple of screens with fabric tossed over them, bits of furniture, it is lit and there is what you need for the action.

?There is a writing desk, the chaise, the mirror, and really nothing much else. You can fill all the rest in with your mind?s eye, which I much prefer and it is another reason why they costumes must be sumptuous ? there they are, they make it.

?It looks very elegant, but don?t come looking for an accurate interior ... because it would detract from the play.?

With her director?s hat on, she said: ?It is an interesting play, Mamet originally wrote it for his wife and it was written for three women.

?But nearly all his other work is written for men or a man and a woman.

?So these are three women, probably set in 1895, somewhere in New England, but the exact geography doesn?t really matter.

?It set in the drawing room of the town house of the main protagonist, which is Anna. She is a lady who lives just a little bit on the edge of society although she has an independent income, but it is not very large and she struggles a little to make due.

?Clearly in the past she has had a relationship with her friend Claire ? a very close relationship ? and as the play opens it is very clear that they have quarrelled and they have been apart for several months at least. ?When the play opens, Claire comes waltzing into Anna?s drawing room as though she never left.?

Ms Jones added that the play is essentially about how Anna tries to regain Claire?s friendship and the compromises that are required within relationships ? the give, the take ? and how in fact those sides in the end have to give and take.

?But then there the poor long-suffering maid. She is Scottish, but both Anna and Claire constantly refer to her as Irish because of pre-conceived notions.

?It is actually Mamet?s way of addressing racism and classism. He points out in a humorous way that the upper classes historically had appalling preconceived notions about their servants. Anna just assumes she is Irish and calls her Bridie and Mary and all sorts of things ? she doesn?t even bother to get to know her name ? she is just the servant, which is funny in the play, but it does remind one that it really wasn?t much fun.?

?Boston Marriage? opens tonight and runs until June 17, and then runs from June 21 to June 24. The curtain rises each night at 8 p.m. at the Daylesford Theatre. Tickets $20, telephone 292-0848, visit www.bmds.bm or in person at BMDS one hour prior to performances.