For those who work in professional theatres

[Just Some Bloke]

Following a recent spate of enquiries from people who want work experience in, a tour of, or to join our make-up department (we don't have one) I wondered how many venues do? Please note that this is just relating to paid full-time or part-time employed or freelance make-up artists.

 

Comments most welcome.

[paulears]

I've always found this to be the case - with performers in general doing their own make-up. quite the opposite of film and TV.

 

As an aside, but nearly on=topic, I've been doing a bit of work recently that required the knowledge of a proper makeup artiste who now has moved back to TV after spending quite a while on film, specialising in prosthetic makeup, and it seems that HD TV has upped the ante for quality of TV makup, so more work is going in there making things like casualty and holby as realistic as possible by new and clever techniques because the old fashioned ways are now visibly evident as effects, not reality. Film, however is moving away from clever make-up as doing it in post in a computer is now pretty standard.

 

Theatrical makeup, by comparison is normally much cruder and over emphasised - and the turns like doing their own character makeup.

[mac.calder]

TBH the closest I have seen to a theatre having people for makeup is one theatre that I did a short stint at would hire a makeup artist to design the makeup and teach the twirlies how to apply it properly.

[tonym]

Most Opera Companies still have a Wigs and Make Up Department. It may be worth contacting them to see what the position is.

[GridGirl]

We get a makeup artist in if there's anything complicated - she'll design it and show the actors how to apply it, but doesn't actually come in every night to apply it for them! In the last couple of years we've only had an artist in a couple of times - to show the boys how to do drag makeup for La Cage aux Folles and to make the scars for Jonathan in Arsenic and Old Lace. Other than that, we leave the cast to their own devices, with makeup falling under Wardrobe's jurisdiction.

[TomHoward]

Our local Am Dram who use the venue at a heavily discounted rate includes a professional who makes prosthetics, so we have him back to do the makeup for any worthy internal productions.