Marg Horwell
(Photo by Sergio Villarini for Broadway.com)
Twenty-one wigs. Six mustaches. Eight sets of sideburns. Nineteen costume changes. Twenty-six pairs of shoes. One Sarah Snook.
Marg Horwell is the now-two-time-Tony-nominated costume and set designer behind the controlled chaos of The Picture of Dorian Gray, Kip Williams’ solo stage adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s work of gothic horror. It’s a production that sends Sarah Snook spinning breathlessly through 26 different characters, each with its own posture, voice and, apparently, footwear. Horwell is the visionary tasked with making all the mutating environments and personas work both logistically and creatively.
“It’s a gift,” Horwell tells Broadway.com Managing Editor Beth Stevens on The Broadway Show. “As much as it is a difficult thing, I think it’s incredible because all of those details—like buttons and tiny stitches or embellishments—you can see it really up close.” She’s nodding to all the cameras and screens on stage with Snook that both enlarge her live performance and display pre-recorded moments that, throughout the show, give her the benefit of a scene partner. It’s a rare opportunity for audience members in the back row of the 1,000-seat Music Box Theatre to appreciate every minute element of Horwell’s visual feast.
For the perfectionist in Horwell, it also means that “No small thing is not worth thinking about.”
Learn more about Horwell’s Tony-nominated designs, including the production’s signature overflowing florals, in the full video below.
