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Making a Wig. Sometimes an actor wears a wig in a play to
make them look different. This wig is worn by Roger Lloyd Pack who plays
the role of Sir Andrew Aguecheek in the play Twelfth Night.
In Shakespeare's time the colour and style of the wig an actor wore showed the age and status
of their character. The wig maker starts by tying knots in strands
of real hair along a piece of wire. She pulls out a few hairs at a time and ties them together.
It must take the wig maker a very long time.
Once she has tied hair lots of different pieces of wire, she uses a block in the shape of
a head to help make the shape of the wig. The wig maker sews pieces of cloth together
to make the edge of the wig. This supports the crochet base which is put on top.
The crochet looks a bit like a net doesn't it?
The crochet base fits tightly over the top
of the head and is stitched to the edge. The strips of hair are pinned in place and,
when the wig maker is happy with the shape, the hair is sewn to the base.
It doesn't look much like a wig yet.
In Shakespeare's plays, if two characters
wore the same make up and wigs you knew they were twins, even if they did not look alike.
All the different pieces of hair are layered on top of each other and sewn.
It's starting to look like a wig now. The hair is then tidied to make sure it covers
the head evenly. The wig is then ready to be worn.