Historical inaccuracies- Case Study Wolf Hall Part 2- Interview with Joanna Eatwell

Henry VIII in Wolf Hall wearing as costumes designed by Joanna Eatwell

Wolf Hall has been all over the news ever since its release a few weeks ago and the main story. The historical inaccuracies particularly in the costume and set. For many people it is the costumes that really set the tone for the whole period they are the first thing you notice. That is why I was over joyed when I was able to contact Joanna Eatwell and ask her about her work for Wolf Hall.

Joanna with one of the Costumes from Wolf Hall

Where do you begin when designing period costumes?   

It all depends on what the period is. Whether it is pre or post photography will often dictate the route taken to search for reference, but whether it be art or photography it  is essential to arrive at some sort of contemporaneous  source material.

How does your research process work?

Once I've read the script, isolated the characters and looked at their individual arcs-emotional or physical, established the class, country, employment or whatever,  in which they exist etc., I will look for written or visual information that elaborates or informs the details gleaned from the script. This can mean visits to the museum, library, private collections or online archives. You can never research too much. 

First and foremost as Costume Designers we are visual storytellers. Our role is to inform and enhance a character's journey or emotional story arc. Everything we put on screen should give the audience a further understanding of who the character is and what their role is in the drama. This doesn't have to shout and be obvious, it can work on a subliminal level. 

One should always seek to find primary source material for research and not someone else's interpretation. For example don't use Victorian paintings as reference for earlier periods, sounds obvious but you would be amazed at how many people do.

A Page from Joanna's Work Book

Did you do anything differently for Wolf Hall?

For Wolf Hall we concentrated more on the accurate construction of clothing, adopting as far as possible the technique called Original Practice. 

But we don't have the time or money generally to throw out our contemporary equipment and go to back completely to original practice, which is what would be required if we were to truly attempt to recreate costumes with complete accuracy pre Industrial Revolution. Steam powered looms weren't invented until the 1830's? and sewing machines until the 1850's?

How important was historical accuracy?

How do you determine historical accuracy in the Tudor period? 

We are not museum curators.

Once our research is beyond the realms of photography, we are dependent on portraiture. Portraiture by it's very nature is an interpretation of the truth, every sitter controlled their image and the point was usually to say something about their status, wealth, achievement etc. and of course painters were complicit in this. It's no different today with photographic portraits and retouching or photoshop. Sadly the majority of people don't understand allegory and accept portraits at face value.

So if the source material is not an accurate record of the time are we actually reinterpreting historical accuracy? 

Did you feel that because Wolf Hall was on the BBC it needed to be more historically accurate than if it was on a different channel?

 No we don't tailor the quality of our work to individual television channels.

Having worked on other BBC shows is there a sense that as it is a public service broadcaster it needs to be historically accurate?

No and again I ask who is it who determines the accuracy, historical or otherwise once we get back to a certain distance in time. 

What is your biggest propriety when designing Period costumes?

Telling the story through clothing and not costume.

We are expected to bring something of ourselves to a piece, after all if we had no individual style we wouldn't be Designers with a vision, we would be people who oversaw Costumes being made in a certain accepted style and probably all using Janet Arnold, or whatever was the current accept bible of the moment.

Another page form Joanna's workbook

I read that the codpiece are not as large as they should be for the American audience, is this true and do you think about where else the show is aired when you design?

This is an urban myth put about by the Press, the cod pieces were accurate.

Eatwell's Henry VIII Costume

A Close up of Henry VIII's Codpiece in a painting by Holbein

What is it like working for the BBC?

My job doesn't change with the employer or network. I work closely with the Director and Cast and that relationship is unaffected by choice of TV network.

Does it worry you that if they don’t get the licence fee there might be less original programming?

To be honest I'm more concerned about the news and current affairs, we can't afford to lose those programmes.

I was also just wandering how you became a costume designer and if you have any advice for someone trying brake into the industry?

I studied Theatre Design for four years at Wimbledon Art School, which at that time was very Fine Arts based and less practical than today. My leaving college very luckily coincided with the birth of Music Videos and MTV and I made a niche for myself as someone who could make anything and very often produce it overnight. This was pre CGI, so if the Director needed hundreds of identically dressed dancing girls, it was my job to organise / make them at my studio. If they wanted outsize creatures, fabulous animals, costumes made in plastic or cast in fibre glass, the answer was always yes. This led naturally into commercials and then drama where I am now.

Always say yes when you are asked if you can do something and make sure you have a long list of people you can draw on to help you achieve seamlessly whatever it is you have been asked to produce. This is a wonderful career, but you will need to be dedicated and be prepared to live and breath it twenty four seven, pick yourself up numerous times and keep going. But the rewards far outweigh any negatives.

Thank you to Jonnah Eatwell for speaking to me. I think she raised a very interesting point that I had not thought of before, who determines what historical accuracy is?  If we can’t trust our source material there is nothing to say that in tutor time this was not how things were done. So I think it is very true that service to the story has to come before the service to a perceived historical accuracy.