Bolton: Octagon Theatre host successful handmade costume sale

Thousands of unique and famous costumes spanning more than 50 years are on sale today until 4pm and so far, the event has been a huge success with more than £1,000 collected in the first hour.

It has been a rare chance for residents and people from across the country to buy some vintage pieces, which may be recognised from some of theatre’s biggest productions, including Don Lockwood’s suit; Lina Lamont’s pink dress from the 2016 production of Singin’ in the Rain, period costumes from Jane Eyre, and costume pieces from the BFG.

According to organisers, the event has been a huge success, with queues of people waiting to get in – with one member of the public even travelling all the way from Brighton for a chance to grab a costume.

Octagon wardrobe manager, Su Newell, said she is really pleased with the turn out and they are thinking of conducting another sale in the future.

She said: “It has been busy today, we had a queue before we opened this morning, quite a few people and had about two or three hundred people through the door so far and took a £1,000 in the first hour.

“Items are going, people are buying things that I wasn’t expecting to go which is interesting and a lot of people want to know what shows things are from and so where I know I am telling them.

“There has been a lot of, sounds really mad, but a lot of ordinary stuff has been sold, I didn’t think these items would sell more, I was expecting it to be the big ticket, very show related stuff that would go but it hasn’t so far.

“People are buying the patchwork and the bunting kits as well so they can do their own making and people are trying stuff on so yes it has been good, and it has been busy, and people are coming in consistently.

Outfits on sale at The Octagon (Image: NQ)

“We sold Cinderella, but so far, we haven’t persuaded anyone to buy the Singing in the Rain suit, but we will see.

“There has been a lot of interest in the Jayne Eyre items though.

“I think possibly we will do this again in the future, maybe next year or in a couple of years because we are always creating more costumes, so we always need to make more space.

“Some of these items have probably been in our wardrobe store for 50 or so years so it was time for a clear-out.

• Also read: Review: The Book of Will, Octagon Theatre Bolton

“When we first opened people were very focused, they knew exactly what they were looking for including a lady who had driven up from Brighton, getting up at 3am in order to get here and there was somebody here from Birmingham, they instantly got armfuls.

“It has been great, and publicity has got out there, it has been more than people just coming here locally, people have come from across the country.”

The impressive sale included a variety of men’s and women’s clothing, shoes, accessories, fancy-dress items, with many items starting from just £1.

The theatre make and source all their own costumes for their in-house productions, with more than 16,000 garments of clothing in their costume store.

One family travelled from Levenshulme in Manchester, to take a look at the items on sale.

John Soffe and partner Laura alongside their children Sam and Ivy decided to have a look around the sale in the hopes to find some great outfits and pieces for ImproQuo, a Manchester based comedy and theatre company.

Some of the outfits still on sale (Image: NQ)

Speaking about the sale, John said: “At ImproQuo, we do shows called Drunk Classics which is improved versions of old novels, so we have done Pride and Prejudice and Wuthering Heights, we have just finished doing Jurassic Park, so it’s an improv group.

“And because there is a lot of quick change, we have picked up some costumes such as Victorian outfits and a couple of wigs and other bits and pieces, there has been quite a lot of good stuff on offer.

“We got here late so expected there to be less left but there is still plenty.”

Emily Buckley also attended the sale today, travelling from Pendleton College in Salford, said it is great to have an event like this in the north.

Speaking about what she bought, Emily said: “I work as a costume lady at Pendleton College in Salford so I’ve come to see if there are any bits and bobs that would be useful for us, for the next year.

• Also read: Step back in time at spectacular and rare costume sale at Bolton theatre

“So, I’ve bought some collars, some gloves, a skirt suit for ladies and some dress waistcoats for some boys.

“I think this is an amazing event to have on, we wouldn’t be able to get stuff like this otherwise, so it is great to have stuff like this to come up north.

“They have events like this in London but obviously I can’t get there so this is really good.

“I had to wait for an hour to get in and I was really pleased with what was on offer, but I should have got here earlier.”

If you have a story or something you would like to highlight in the community, please email me at chloe.wilson@newsquest.co.uk or DM me on Twitter @chloewjourno.