Wanting,for years, to do an interpretation of the outfit worn by ElizabethTaylor in 1963's Cleopatra, we
finallywent ahead and did it. Our friends Laura and Andrew Bergstrom fromthe States and the
niece of adear friend (Jane Lyon) were happy to help us out at Toronto Trek forthe stage skit.
Martindecided to do Thoth and Andrew took the famous Anubis. With bothladies as the personal servants
all wascomplete. We blew them away!! I was even impressed when Andrew andLaura
did oneentry as Hercules and Meg and then ran back stage to change for ourentry.
Speedchangers... Both of them.
As for thesnake. Yes. It is real. Martin and Christina did a 'have your picturetaken' thing for the Bain Festival.
You wouldsit in a 'throne' and wear a lower Egypt crown for a picture withCleo and Anubis (Martin did Anubis
that day).Christina's brother breeds snakes and so does one of hisneighbours/friends. Basically that
one photois Christina proving to the world that she is not afraid ofsnakes.
Cleopatra:The Cleo costume is mostly fabric painted Lame, and an estimated 12pound crown.
The crownis a combination of cast resins, heat formed styrene, foamcore andpapier mache. Other details
includehand beading, and heat formed acrylic rod (crook and flail).
Thoth andAnubis: Both masks are lacquered covered papier mache. Thoth thescribe had a tablet for
documentingCleo's life and Anubis carried the jar for Cleo's heart.
Theservant's outfits were also based on the 1963 movie.
Asimpler Egyptian costume was required in order to do children'sparties. Princess Selene was created to
fulfillthat function. The dress is hand painted cotton. The headdress andnecklace have been hand beaded.
A secondnecklace has been beaded since. Photos of that one are withVivian'sTarot pictures. It is a bit
of a shamethat her pics are in Black and White.
Avery simple yet unexpectedly pricey outfit. The Greek goddess iscarefully hand stitched saree fabric.Photo Credits/Cleo and Gods: Albert S. Frank, PeterSprokkelenburg, JohnRakich
