Sue Blane
Sue Blane | |
|---|---|
| Born | Susan Margaret Blane April 23, 1949 Wolverhampton, Staffordshire, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation | Costume designer |
| Known for | The Rocky Horror Show The Rocky Horror Picture Show |
Susan Margaret "Sue" Blane MBE is best known for her costume designs for both The Rocky Horror Show and The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
Life and career
Blane studied costume design at Wolverhampton College of Art and Central School of Art and Design, finishing in 1971.
Before Rocky in 1972, Blane had already met Tim Curry in 1971 at the Citizen's Theatre in Glasgow, Scotland, where they were both involved in a production of Jean Genet's The Maids. Blane also designed the costumes for other Rocky productions, including the 1975 Broadway production and film. Blane also created the costume designs for the sequel, Shock Treatment (1981). Since the Rocky film was released, fans have been recreating the designs as part of the cult audience participation. Also, any time any character in the film says the word "blame," audience members shout, "No, Sue's to Blane!"
Blane also created the costume designs for Jonathan Miller's The Mikado for the English National Opera. Other opera credits include David McVicar's Carmen for Glyndebourne, Keith Warner's Lohengrin for the Bayreuth Festival, Lulu at the New National Theatre, Tokyo, Disney's Hunchback of Notre-Dame (Berlin): Love for Three Oranges (Opera North/ENO); Three Musketeers (Young Vic); Capriccio (Staatsoper, Berlin); Guys and Dolls (RNT); Into the Woods (Old Vic / West End); Porgy and Bess (Glyndebourne) and La Fanciula del West, with Placido Domingo (La Scala, Milan).
Sue's many production design credits include The Relapse, voted Best Design by What's On readers, (RNT), The Nutcracker and Alice in Wonderland for the English National Ballet; Midsummer Night's Dream (Royal Dramaten Theatre, Stockholm and RSC; Cabaret (Donmar Warehouse); Sylvia (Birmingham Royal Ballet); King John, The Learned Ladies, and Antony and Cleopatra all for the Royal Shakespeare Company; Barber of Seville (Scottish Opera); The Duenna and Thieving Magpie (Opera North); Christmas Eve (ENO) and Lee Miller (Minerva Chichester). Her designs also feature in a new ballet for English National Ballet based on Oscar Wilde's novella of The Canterville Ghost conceived and choreographed by Will Tuckett.
Honors
She was nominated for a 1997 Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance for her design of English National Ballet's Alice in Wonderland and a BAFTA nomination for Peter Greenaway's The Draughtsman's Contract. Her current designs can be seen in Dance of the Vampires in Vienna, directed by Roman Polanski.
Blane received an MBE (Members of the Order of the British Empire) in 2006.[1]
References
- Information about Blane's design credits
- Article about Blane and her receipt of an MBE
- Biography at IMDB site
- Profile of Blane