The Gods Costuming

In Literature and Performance class, we began to read "My Love, My Love." This is a novel by Rosa Guy based on the original tale of "The Little Mermaid" and was adapted into the stage musical Once On This Island. The novel is set in modern times on an island, the Jewels of Antilles, ruled over by four gods. These gods are Agwe, the water god, Aska, the earth goddess, Erzulie, the goddess of love, and Papa Gé, the god of death. These four characters are highly important to the story, as they control the story's outcome and also directly interact with some of the characters. Their costuming also plays an important role in a potential adaption of the novel into a play or musical, as they help separate the gods from both the other characters and the other gods to the audience, while also

Agwe is the water god, which would be heavily reflected in his costume. He would wear a loose fitting deep blue robe. Some sections of the robe would have some pale blue glitter on it to provide a mythical element to his appearance. This rode would be designed to look like water.  His makeup would involve a large amount of blue or green. The color of his makeup would depend on the lights used, as blue would be preferred, but it does not look good under some types of stage lights. An alternative option may be to use blue face pint

Green and brown would be the dominate colors in Aska's costume, as they represent the earth. She would wear a green ball gown with specs of brown glitter on the outside layer of it. The free on her dress would be a symbol of the Earth's grass, while the brown specks would represent the dirt. She also would wear a bronze colored shall around her shoulders, which would also symbolize dirt. On her head, she would wear a crown made of white flowers that look similar to magnolias, which are stated to be found on the island. Her makeup would have light green eyeshadow, but the rest of the makeup would be closer to typical limited stage makeup, but have darker colors that are closer to brown.

Erzulie's costuming would have lots of red and pink colors in it. She would wear a full length red dress that is not very puffy. Over the red sections of the dress, a sheer light pink fabric with darker pink glitter on it would cover the red sections to give it a lighter appearance. She would also wear a pink flower in her hair that resembles the flowers found on the island. Her makeup would be slightly heavier than Aska or Agwe's. It would use many shades of red and pink

Black and silver would be the colors used in Papa Gé's costume. He would wear a heavy black robe with some silver sparkles on the outside of his robe. He also would have a cape with the inside being completely silver. He would wear the most makeup out of all the characters, including the other gods. His makeup would also be darker that most of the other characters, as it would be mostly black, with some silver sparkles on his face.

The gods would each be distinct from each other also, as they would all be wearing different colors that represent their domain. Agwe would be wearing different shades of blue, which represents the water. Asaka's white, greens, and browns in her appearance represent the earth. Erzulie  would have red and pink in her appearance, which would symbolizes love. Papa Gé is the God of death, so he only has black and silver in his costume and makeup.

Each god would also have a very district appearance from both the other mortal characters. The gods' costumes would be fancier than the poor villagers and the rich characters. They also would be somewhat less modern than the other characters, especially the rich, as they are noted in their novels for having new, expensive items, such as cars. The gods also include sparkles in their costumes to help give them the appearance of being mystical beings, which the other characters would not have in any of their costumes, creating a distinct separation. They also would wear more makeup than the other characters. Despite the differences between each god, these distinctions between them and the other characters visually show how the gods are similar and the way that they dominate over the island.

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