By Subraj Singh

Some of us are just glad to be blessed with one skill that sets us apart and makes us unique. Esther Hamer is one of those fortunate souls who are blessed with multiple skills. She is a wife and a mother of four, but Esther still finds the time to express her own creativity in a diverse manner of ways, solidifying her position in the rebirth of theatre that is happening in the country by not only possessing skills in the overlapping areas of costume design, dance and acting, but also ensuring that her work stands out from the rest and also by being keenly aware of the purpose her own work plays in the larger arena of showcasing Guyana and contributing to the country’s cultural landscape.

As with most creatives, Esther’s skills began to manifest themselves in her younger days. She recalled that as a teenager, for example, the ways in which the early streak of what would later grow into a great love for costume design would show up in the manner in which she designed her jeans – creating new patterns, embroidering, painting and alternating them on a daily basis so that she would have a new look every time she decided to go out.

As an adult, those same skills have grown and have been shaped into a professionalism that comes with the maturation of the artist and the skills of the artist so that Esther’s work is now simultaneously dynamic, unique and representative of her particular brand of artistry.
For example, she designs the costumes for her own dance group, Kreative Arts, for the National Drama Company, where she also serves on the Board in the position of Public Relations Officer, for the National School of Theatre Arts and Drama, where she teaches Design to upcoming thespians, and for other entities and institutions that fall into an artistic grouping, such as Merundoi or theatrical groups partaking in the National Drama Festival, where the skills that Esther possesses are sometimes also required.

(Esther Hamer, surrounded by other members of the National Drama Company where they represented Guyana at Carifesta in Haiti)
When asked what the best part of designing a costume was for her, Esther’s own desire to constantly challenge herself and her own need to do her best possible work came to the fore when she responded that one of the best aspects of design for her is actually achieving, or coming as close to as possible, the exact concept that the client requested. She also notes that when her own individual touches are appreciated, as a designer, it can also mean quite a lot to her.

(Greek masks created by Esther Hamer for a production of Lysistrata)
Since Esther’s costumes are meant for the stage, for use in theatre and dance, and not necessarily for a model who has to strut down a runway, her work is all the more difficult. Design is not an easy task and, as Esther says, there are many factors that one needs to take into consideration when designing for the stage. Research has to be done in order to ensure authenticity and also as a general way of gaining information on the particular era or culture the costume comes from. The designer also has to take into consideration the functionality of the costume. Unlike normal clothes, which is just meant to cover the body, Esther’s costumes are also built to contend with the multitude of movements present in dance without fraying, and are created, in the case of theatre, with the knowledge that the outfit is meant to convey a character, to be a symbol, or to be a part of the set and it is often more than simply just “clothes.”

(Elements of the Caribbean and the Carnivalesque were used to create this costume for Stickfight)
When questioned about the position of designers in the “hierarchy” of theatre (as there are those who still choose to see some as being more important than others) and how she feels about designers being regarded as less important than the actors or directors, Esther quickly and wittily retorted that “I don’t see anything wrong with the bottom. If you are the foundation, then you are very important. Designers are the foundation. They have to be there working with the director before the play even reaches the lips of the actors.”
Esther studied theatre arts at the National School of Theatre Arts and Drama, where she graduated as Valedictorian of the Institute of Creative Arts in 2014. She now teaches Design at the School. On the relationship between teaching and her own work, she says that for her, each new project is a class where she learns and she knows she has to work hard enough to impress the director and the audience. As a student, the School offered her an opportunity to study something that she wanted to learn more about, free of cost, and she took it. As a teacher at the School, she was once more granted an opportunity, to teach the future practitioners of theatre, to pass on the knowledge she obtained and, like before, she reached out and took an opportunity that was simply too good to pass up.

(A scene from Ti Jean)
Esther was encouraged to join the National Drama Company by her husband and fellow dancer, Jonathan Hamer. Esther believes that the Company is important because of its focus on “things Guyanese.” In her own words, she says of the Company, “We love Guyana and we love our culture, and we use the arts to promote that culture. That is what I think is special about the Company.” Esther’s most recent production was the National Drama Company’s staging of Derek Walcott’s Ti Jean and His Brothers, where she was not only in charge of creating costumes along with other members of the Company, but also acted and played the role of the Bolom (a folk figure from St. Lucia represented as the deformed soul of a dead foetus) in the production. Esther, it should be noted, is also an award winning actress – winning the Best Actress Prize at the National Drama Festival in 2014 for her role in Nicola Moonsammy’s Guilty Pleasures.

(Front view of the Cricket’s costume in Ti Jean)
Esther, working along with fellow Company member, Nicholas Singh, and the other costume designers in the Company’s team were tasked with creating costumes representing animals (Bird, Cricket, Frog, etc.) as well as several demons and, of course, Ti Jean and his family, all the while keeping the Caribbean, the postmodernist and the folklore feel of the play alive and prominent. It was a task that was, to the directors and many appreciative audience members, majestically pulled off. Esther maintains that it was a team effort and pointed out that none of it would have been accomplished without the help of the other members in the Company. So while Esther Hamer may not yet be a designer who is a household name, she can say with some certainty that she may be the only designer in the country tasked with designing for a play written by a Nobel Laureate, and she can also safely claim to be a vital part of the theatre renaissance in Guyana.