Jenny Brent Costume Productions

17/03/2025

With warmer weather on the way it’s lovely to know some of my Spring related costumes are being dusted off after their winter slumber and getting out and about again. The Desperate Men’s superhero The Composter will be heading off to commune with the worms, while Fair Play’s Gnomes are always getting up to mischief, and Farmer Fred in Fair Play’s Easy Lay Eggs act has the easiest job because Henrietta is definitely in a laying mood!

02/12/2024

Jenny Brent costumes appearing for Fair Play Comedy at the opening of the Wicked movie at yesterday. Wicked!

Photo courtesy of Jenny Sanderson, shown performing with Cecily Claire Murray.

06/09/2024

Those SWANK Street Theatre Damsels don’t hang around, they’re flying off with their Dragons safely packaged in the huge bespoke padded travel bags I finished making for them last week. Love this airport picture. Germany watch out!

Off off and away to

In
Munich, Germany
Flying our Dragons out in these fabulous new bags made by Jennifer Brent
Jenny Brent Costume Productions

Fool's Paradise Ltd

31/08/2024

Hitting the road, off to a gig…the ‘Damsels In Distress’ Dragon costumes all safely packaged in bespoke travel bags, designed and made by Jenny Brent Costume Productions.

15/08/2024

So great to see these wonderful comic Seagulls out and about recently, I remade a batch of the Seagulls bodies last year to replenish the flock with.

08/06/2024

The Composter rocking it at Hellens Garden Festival today, delighting, amazing and astounding the visitors in the grounds of the beautiful Manor House. People love the spectacle, the foolery, and to get up close and take a really good look at the many details embedded in the costume.
Costume by Jenny Brent Costume Productions for The Desperate Men

12/05/2024

steaming regally as performing at this week. I worked many hidden features into the costume and this effect is just one of them. I think it looks fantastic!

05/05/2024

A few pics from yesterday’s first outing, showing The Composter in his natural element engaging with audiences at Wye Valley River Festival. With The Desperate Men, Richard Headon and Shirley Pegna.
Costume by Jenny Brent Costume Productions.

04/05/2024

Today The Composter had risen at Wye Valley River Festival, and I’m finally able to reveal this eco warrior who is part superhero , part compost and part worm. So proud of this mega-make which I’ve been privileged to create for and in collaboration with Richard Headon of The Desperate Men, who is now bringing the character to life with his eccentric and funny performances, and Shirley Pegna who’s built a fantastic soundscape to accompany the act.

04/05/2024

Today The Desperate Men’s The Composter has risen at the Wye Valley River Festival. So proud of this mega make it’s been my good fortune to create, with all sorts of complexities to wrestle with and now the joy of seeing it come to life with the fantastically funny performances given by Richard Headon, soundscape by Shirley Pegna. Catch it at the festival over this weekend and next.

27/04/2024

The Composter is Rising! After two months of dreams, research, designing, gestation, a complicated and brain teasing make, try outs, fittings, adjustments, hard graft, intense creativity and fun…rehearsals, technical rehearsals, and first interactions with the unsuspecting public happened this week. The finishing touches are almost complete and finally The Composter will rise from the heap next weekend on Saturday 4th May for his big launch at the Wye Valley River Festival, performed by Richard Headon of The Desperate Men. The Composter is performing various dates during the festival, check the programme for details. See you there - I can’t wait!

05/04/2024

I made a load of leaves out of leather scraps which I freehand embroidered, and today I spent some time working into them with paint to break them down and make them look more organic. These are the first few, but there are a lot more! I was pretty pleased with how they turned out.
They’ll be part of The Composter character costume that I’m working on right now, for The Desperate Men and Wye Valley River Festival

30/03/2024

The Composter costume shaping up with Richard Headon of The Desperate Men looking impressive at a fitting recently. I’m currently engaged in working compost elements into the pieces that will make up the finished costume.
A Co-creation with The Desperate Men and Wye Valley River Festival

28/03/2024

Some lovely results from my session hand dying with self made vegetable dyes. It’s exciting because you can never be completely sure what you’ll end up with. I’ll use the fabrics in different ways throughout the costume.

With The Desperate Men and Wye Valley River Festival

26/03/2024

Having made a number of natural dyes I’m having a big dying session today. I’ll be working with this basket of scoured (or prewashed) scraps of linen, canvas, hessian and calico, as well as larger pieces. First all the fabrics needs to be treated with a mordant to fix the dyes so I’m experimenting with alum, salt and vinegar as mordants.
With The Desperate Men and Wye Valley River Festival

19/03/2024

The Rise of The Composter!

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=902587731659435&id=100057246498749&mibextid=WC7FNe

The Composter-Origin Story Part 2
See them rise at The Wye Valley River Festival May 4th-6th & 11th & 12th
Artwork- Hugh Clifford
Story -Richard Headon
Emerging costume -Jenny Brent Costume Productions
Sound track-Shirley Pegna
Smoke Machine -Stuck in post Brexit customs

17/03/2024

The first step to make the character is to focus on the base shape, patterning and building the ‘under armour’. Once I was happy with the torso shape I draped on the stand to start the process of patterning the upper part of the costume, creating blocks to turn into patterns for the jacket and left sleeve. Figuring out the worm arm took a couple of goes as the first prototype with boning didn’t work out, I discovered a less structured form worked better and so I made adjustments to that and to the sizing to make it bigger for the second attempt, and I’m happy now with how it’s working out - next stages to follow.

15/03/2024

The Composter back story developed by Richard Headon has been a huge inspiration for my design of the character. I love that he fell into his compost bin and got stuck in a compost underworld! So after various iterations I designed a character who emerges part superhero, part compost, and part worm! Now I’m working towards realising this vision.
A co-creation with The Desperate Men and the Wye Valley River Festival