BA (Hons) Costume Interpretation with Design alumni Leigh Telford and Katie Macdonald offer insight into working on the West End production Hamilton! Hamilton tells the story of Alexander Hamilton, one of America’s founding fathers. This London production takes place at the Victoria Palace Theatre and is the first to showcase in the UK. Following rave reviews the production has been extended and will run into 2025. 

Both students have secured exciting roles in the wardrobe department, Leigh is the Deputy Head of Wardrobe and Katie is a Wardrobe Assistant. Speaking of her position Leigh said: “Currently, I’m the Deputy Head of Wardrobe at Hamilton West End. As a deputy, I have the responsibility of acting as second in command to my Head of Wardrobe – predominantly meaning when she’s not in the theatre I will lead the team and hold responsibility of the wardrobe department. A huge honour, as it’s one of the biggest shows in the West End and the world at the moment!”

“In my day to day, I assist and make decisions with my Head of Wardrobe on the running of the department, ensuring all of our assistants and dressers are okay and prepped for the shows ahead, checking in on the cast, and carrying out any maintenance necessary for the show. More often than not each week myself and the Head of Wardrobe will have fittings which can be for replacement costumes, refits or maintenance alterations. With the end of each day organising laundry for the assistants on the maintenance shift the next morning!”

Working as a wardrobe assistant Katie said; “I have been here just over a year now, and loving every second! I am responsible for the upkeep of the costumes. This involves lots of laundry, repairs and maintenance, and dressing the show. A typical day normally involves coming in and sorting the laundry from the previous show, and checking for any repairs needing done. Repairs take up most of our day! We then have to swap the costumes around depending on what cast we have on, and then once the show starts we do some dressing, making sure the actors are dressed correctly and performing quick changes.”

Katie also commented that one of her favourite parts of the job is “the amount of hand sewing I get to do! The costumes typically get repaired to museum quality so this involves lots of darning and delicate hand sewing. One of the biggest challenges though is the sheer size of the show! There are so many costumes that learning and keeping track of them all takes a lot of brain power. “

Speaking of the costumes for the production Leigh commented: “At Hamilton we are hugely historical costume based, predominately between 1700 and 1850; meaning we have alot of tailoring, corsetry, and millinery from this era. These are all areas I was lucky enough to study in my time at The Northern School of Art and skills I use day to day! These are skills and methods I’ve grown to love even more since leaving the school. I’m lucky enough to also have the most amazing team around me in this show; our wardrobe department (one of our amazing wardrobe assistants being Katie), our dressers, other departments, crew and our cast, which make the job more the worthwhile.”

Describing her journey into the industry post graduation Leigh said: “Starting my journey into the industry, I had very lucky opportunities working on local freelance jobs to build my experience such as local wardrobe assisting on live music shows (including Beyonce’s Renaissance tour and Michael Buble’s most recent tour). This also branched into dance shows and children’s shows such as Diversity’s Connected tour and Paw Patrol live and some TV and Film as costume assistant/standby. In the mean time I was designing and making for local pantomimes and dance schools, along side dressing shows at Sunderland Empire Theatre”

“My time at the Empire acted as my gateway into musical theatre, gaining experience working on globally renowned musicals such as Les Miserables, My Fair Lady, and The Lion King. However, it was The Lion King that pulled me into the industry with being offered to join the touring company for the remainder of the tour as a wardrobe assistant. A rearrangement of the team meant I was soon asked to become Deputy Head of the department. This progression was an amazing opportunity for me and really assisted me in finding my place in the industry, touring across the UK, Dublin and Switzerland. At the end of the tour I then looked for my next tour which gave me my first Head of Wardrobe position on Madagascar the Musical – a smaller scale musical making the change to weekly touring across the UK. To then most recently be offered my first West End job in Hamilton; relocating to London.”

Katie’s role has come after working on a number of exciting projects too, she reflected: “I have been working in the industry for about six years now, and have previously worked on productions like Tina: the Tina Turner musical, Disney theatre production on one of their cruise ship’s and I was even a bridal seamstress for a while. So I’ve done a wide range of jobs!”

Speaking of advice she would have for costume degree students Leigh said “With my progression from leaving university and leading into the industry being very fast paced, I’m very aware this has been a blessing for me as this is not usually the case. So advice I would give would be to not expect a speedy transition into job roles, the industry can be a very slow pace and be difficult to break into. I also believe a lot of progression in theatre, tv and film, is down to networking. Majority of people I have worked with have been referred to jobs through people they know and being recognised by touring companies, so being recognised is very important but also for the right reasons! For those already in their first positions, I’d say to be flexible to assisting in any way you can for teams. Again, this can be a huge hand and help for department and those could be your key to further networking or progression in your role!”

Reflecting on her time at The Northern School of Art and how it helped her in her career she reflected; “my time at The Northern School of Art was honestly such a massive help in my employability and my career break. I learnt so many specific skills and also skills which can be transferred through different avenues of my career. Hamilton specifically has meant so many of my subject based skills are used every day. But in previous jobs, I’ve been able to use every aspect I learnt within my course, including social skills! Reflecting on my time in the school, I enjoyed being able to learn so many different subjects which I probably wouldn’t have learnt in other universities. The Northern School of Art helped me build a really strong portfolio which I probably couldn’t have in a much larger school. Similarly, it is the scale of the university which meant I had such easy access to amazing tutors who had such a wealth of knowledge at hand. I loved my time at the school!”

Katie remembers her time studying at our school fondly commenting “I really loved my time studying at The Northern School of Art!” Speaking of her experience studying on our costume she described it as “hugely beneficial” commenting further “it greatly improved my sewing skills and knowledge, but also gave me a huge boost in confidence so I feel confident in conducting fittings and discussing ideas. I really enjoyed the wide range of skills and briefs we got to experience.

In terms of skills learnt that have benefitted her working on this production Katie commented that her favourite project, the millinery module; “has come in very handy as Hamilton has a lot of hats in the show!”

Our BA (Hons) Costume Interpretation with Design degree offers students the skills and opportunities needed to carve out successful careers in the stage & screen industries. Alumni from this programme have worked on world famous sets and stages across the country and internationally. Find out more here.