WIGS

CAREERS IN WIGS

THEATRE

Job Description

  • Maintaining wigs
  • Running show

Many people start in London’s West End. This is a good way to gain experience and there is usually a turn over of younger people.

Shows can tour around the UK, (and the world), from the West End.

OPERA HOUSES

Job Description

  • Making wigs
  • Maintaining wigs
  • Running shows
  • Casual show staff
  • Make-up

Only the English National Opera and Royal Opera House have full-time ‘multiskillers’. These are people that make wigs, dress wigs, maintain wigs, run shows and do the make-up.

Casual show staff help to run shows in the evening, but need to have speed, accuracy and experience.

FILM

Job Description

  • Supervisors
  • Chiefs
  • Runners

Day staff
Harder to get into, very long hours, but more money.

TELEVISION

Wigs are made by companies such as: ‘Wig Creations’, (e.g. The Catherine Tate Show) and then applied by freelance hair and make-up artists.

WIG MAKING

Job Description

  • Making foundations
  • Fittings
  • Knotting

Companies are headed by dynamic individuals who’ve built up there clients over the years. There are several companies in London and some in Bristol. The individuals who run these companies often set up and supervise new theatrical productions and then hand them over to show staff who maintain the wigs and run the show.

HOW I GOT INTO WIGS…

LEELA, Wig Assistant

I was working as a trainee hair and make-up artist on a TV series and a colleague insisted that I should try and get a job at Glyndebourne as Barbie Burrows had trained her 20yrs ago and my friend and colleague spoke very highly of her!

I continued to phone Barbie frequently and kept in touch with her. Eventually she offered me a job assisting in the wig room. Within a month I was helping out with the wigs and working on the show ‘Carmen’. Since then I haven’t looked back! I’m constantly learning new skills, meeting new people and enjoy every bit of it.

CLAIRE, Wig Assistant

I took a specialist make-up HND at London College of Fashion for two years. In the second year we briefly did wig dressing and hair cutting and I decided that I got more from these lessons than I had from make-up.

I knew someone who worked at Glyndebourne and they spoke to the Wig Department for me. I came in to talk to the head of wigs and look around, which lead to a summer job as a towel girl. The following year I came back into the making department to train on the job.