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Abstract
This thesis discusses the correlation between the social status of women in 1890-1950, which further affected the development, and symbolism of clothing, and their self-dependent pursuit. The play “Alice in Bed” creates real and unreal space, an illusory and real atmosphere, and a spiritually symbolic sense of the period and not of the period, which all profoundly depict the women in the Victoria era whose spirit is caged in reality. In the play Alice, has no way of making any choices or decisions, merely being able to move herself between imagination and dream until death arrives. To extend the discussion by way of Camp aesthetic, the low class thief replaces the survival value of Alice, who comes from a wealthy family. In this case, poverty and ugliness surpass the social status of beauty and family. Alice can only communicate with the world by travelling in her imagination. Her body, trapped within the frame of society, is no longer the focus; she is able to pass through any obstacle with the help of her thoughts, to explore the illness and suffering of the female body and mind as well as the process of her self-pursuit. Through the tea party and her travels, she briefly disentangles herself from the bondages of reality, using medicine in exchange for short-term freedom.
The long-ill and bed-ridden Alice, lacking the strength to change society and the position of women within it, resembles in real life Alice James, who suffered from depression and various illnesses, kept her diary on her bed, tried to end her life several times and died of cancer at the very last.
The style of costumes in the play is a mix of 1950s and unrealistic clothing which presents a version of Camp aesthetics. I intentionally replaced the original ladies’ dressing style of the 1890s, which is comprised of petticoats and lace decoration, with bright colors, stripes and concise trimming.
The director on design: Presenting an unrealistic scene, the director puts less emphasis on the scenes written by Susan Sontag in the 1950s , jumping out of the Victorian staging, costumes lighting, and multi-character acting.
On the actors: One person plays two or more characters, and Alice plays four roles.
On the audience: By altering the viewing angles of the audience, so that not only one angle faces the stage, multiple characters appear simultaneously on the stage in each corner and stairway.
Keywords: 《Alice in Bed》、Dream、Illness、Camp
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