Annwyn

It has been nearly five months since the costumers at Annwyn had a really good panic over their costumes. This time the focus was on Disney’s Prince Caspian which opened in Malaysian cinemas on May 15, 2008. Till the very last hour before our costumed appearances, some of us were still frantically painting, sewing, gluing and what not… and hoping that no one would scrutinize  certain areas of our costumes too closely. We did not sleep the whole night… so our tempers were rather frayed. I don’t think we have ever pushed ourselves on the last night like this before – we’ve always had time before to snatch an hour or two of exhausted sleep prior to the event.

For my part, I have to admit, I never expected my King Miraz costume to take so god-awful long to finish. I officially started in March, though many things such as a new job, lack of concentration power, etc seemed to conspire against me until I was again doing that mad one-week rush thing. If not for Justin’s unbelievably patient help, I would be in a greater mess. To add to the insanity, I insisted on watching Prince Caspian on Friday, 16th May with him – I am the sort of person who insists on being in-character and I can barely be in character if all I know about the movie Miraz is that he has a Mediterranean accent, right? It was pretty idiotic of me now that I think back on it but I did enjoy the movie tremendously.

Please allow me to ramble about the movie since we are on the topic.

Now I have always felt that CoN: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe had so much going for it and yet failed to deliver. Don’t get me wrong, it is very entertaining and the technical aspects wowed me, but the way they pushed the story seemed to leave it somewhat… empty. Without the passionate performance of Tilda Swinton as the White Witch, the show would have been so tedious despite the technical brilliance of its cinematography, CGI, costumes and props.

With Prince Caspian, it was quite different. Its darkness, its Hamlet-like scenes, the treachery, the struggle over insidious as well as overt evil appealed to me. Things are not always what they seem and the dearth of overly cute furry animals/Narnians made it so much easier for older children and adults to suspend their disbelief for two hours and a bit, and make it worth their while. Purists may hate Adamson’s movie for his focus on the human battleground (both physical and psychological) but the manner of his storytelling makes Prince Caspian more relevant for the cynical old me today. And the costumes this time around is just… perfect. Ridiculously complicated and sometimes gaudy and impractical… but boy, does it fit. I went back to work on my costume feeling all pumped up.

15 hours of non-stop work later, I was running to GSC Midvalley with dry paint under my fingernails and eyebags the size of melons. I was cantankerous as hell but as soon as Justin and I fit into our armour… everything was good again. It was time for us to do our thing. Oh yeah… let the show begin!

Haldir and Zephyr joined us later for the other events. More details about the events we took part in and the Lion Party 2008 in the next post, but for now, cheers from the Annwyn’s Prince Caspian Costumers.