Building a Character: Mother Goose

Mother Goose is a well known fairytale character. She is an older woman with peasant-like clothing who wandered around town with her many children and many grandchildren. Her image, persona and aesthetic were built for children but, this is a pole show built for adults so we will be adapting her to that. 

We are not appealing to children. We are appealing to adults. 

We want our Mother Goose to be sassy but still a bit antiquated, alluring but approachable, a mother figure but in a seductive way. The persona we’re building is that of a very elegant older woman; A cougar if you will. Her personality will still be maternal in the sense that she will scold the audience in a playful way, but she will also have a level of composure. 

Persona

First, we want to choose her persona because that will tell us how to style her. For this version of Mother Goose, we want to modernize her and make her seem elusive. We’re thinking Marilyn Monroe meets Mother Theresa. She will be our MC and guide the audience throughout the show so we want to keep those maternal elements that our audience already knows about her. She should be soft voiced, calm and loving. She should be used to managing a household of children so an audience shouldn’t been to difficult for her. Atop of the strict and organized demeanor we assume she has, we want her to adapt to an adult audience so we have made her sarcastic, witty and teasing as well. With these elements in mind, let’s talk costume.

Costume

Based on the nature of the show, we’ve chosen not to dress her like a peasant. We wanted something that was elegant but slightly revealing. The white lace wedding gown we’ve chosen allows her to seem regal and dramatic but we’ve kept the spectacles to draw her back to her roots. From the front, this dress covers everything with a high neckline. Knowing that this character will be the MC of  the show and under the harsh lights for most of the show, we’ve chosen to go with sleeveless which shows a little bit of skin. The back of the dress is completely open. The back of the dress is very revealing. This is where we really begin to see Mother Goose as an adult character instead of a children’s character. She will still have her spectacles and a book. We will have her hair piled up on the top of the head, giving a very Mrs. Clause vibe. 

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Character

The juxtaposition between a childlike character, but a more modern and sexy version. Because this character is the MC and not a single act, we’ve chosen something that is lightweight and can be worn throughout the night. We’ve chosen to pull elements of the original character (spectacles, loose hair bun, book) and mix them with a modern twist (long gown). We’re trying to create Mother Goose as a real person giving her different elements of modern day.

the final result: mother goose

When it came down to it, a young Mother Goose was a sassy maternal character who was obviously overdressed for the event. She taunted and teased the crowd throughout the night and told stories as the characters took the stage. This young version of Mother Goose gave our crowd a taste of what she was like before children and what she would be like with her grandchildren.

Not only could you see her front and center but, you could hear her heels clacking as she walked on and off stage giving the effect of a strict mother. Creating her was a wonderful experience and we hope she brought everything our audience could have expected from her.