Confessions of a make-up artist
The Lion King taught her to be more perceptive
When audiences watch The Lion King, they clap and cheer for the actors on stage.
But behind the scenes of the hit musical running in Singapore, teams of people are toiling to ensure the show goes on.
One of them is make-up artist Claudia Hamman, 35, from South Africa, who transforms human actors into animals.
Ms Hamman, who has been in the business for 16 years, feels most at home backstage.
She told The New Paper: "My parents are both in the entertainment industry. My mother is a performer and my father works in the film industry, so I grew up on the road and behind the scenes in dressing rooms. It is in my genes."
She studied at a film and multimedia school and her first jobs involved doing make-up for movies and television shows.
An early assignment - when she had to do make-up to transform a man into an ape for a programme showing the evolution of man - prepared her for The Lion King.
In 2007, Ms Hamman joined the company of The Lion King and started applying her skills to transform men and women into lions, hyenas and other animals.
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She said: "For the villain Scar, our make-up had to take into account the features on his lion mask. We use similar colours so the make-up blends into the mask and costume."
Ms Hamman also has to ensure the make-up for each character showcases their personalities.
For Scar, the make-up for his eyebrows and lips makes one side point up and another down.
Ms Hamman said: "The make-up emphasises the distortion in his life. It shows that he is all over the place and he has no balance. The shapes of the eyebrows and lips help him to show evil when he is acting."
But the hardest character to do make-up for is Zazu, the chief steward to the king. The character of Zazu comprises the bird puppet and the actor.
She said: "It takes about 45 minutes to do the blue and white make-up, so the actor looks like the cloud the birds sit on. But we also use bird-like features on his face, like circles around the eyes and emphasising the lips to have a beak-like form."
The team of make-up artists is made up of four people. They not only do make-up for the principal actors but also for the ensemble, who have to change characters multiple times.
Ms Hamman said: "In between the songs, you have to continue the make-up because they can change animals and characters."
She said The Lion King taught her to be more careful and perceptive.
"Sometimes you can be looking and yet not really seeing. This job taught me to look at all the angles to make sure it reads correctly on stage and to the audience."
WHAT: The Lion King
WHERE: Sands Theatre at Marina Bay Sands
WHEN: Now till Sept 23
TICKETS: $65 to $230
VISIT: www.sistic.com.sg (6348-5555) or www.marinabaysands.com ( 6688-8826)
- We have 10 pairs of The Lion King tickets for the July 24 show to give away. Visit www.tnp.sg for details.
Secrets of the trade
- Do a drawing or painting class, because that is where it starts. You have to learn to paint on paper before doing it on someone's face.
- Be precise and keep your hands steady. Every stroke matters when doing make-up.
- Be willing to work long hours or even on weekends. You may never have a normal life doing make-up for musicals, film or television. Sometimes you have a lot of work and sometimes you don't work at all for a few weeks.
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