Dramatically Aged Miss Havisham

This version of Miss Havisham is by far the most disturbing, as I played on the idea that she is the un-dead, just haunting the manor house and Estella. I wanted her to be almost demented, and her body contorted from stress and heartache. She is so thin as neither Estella nor Pip (or the audience) ever see her eat or sleep, strengthening the idea that she is just waiting for death. Her cheekbones are almost sticking through her skin, with a layer of age and wrinkles covering her once beautiful face.

       

The make-up will have to be very strong, and special effect techniques would have to be carried out perfectly for a TV showing of Great Expectations. Heavy contouring will be needed to give a very gaunt look to her face, wrinkle stipple applied underneath the base colour, and supra colours to create veins and liver spots.

For the hair, I decided that the flowers that once decorated her hair are long dead, and a few petals are still trapped in the matted mess of her hair. Jeweled pins are now dusty and dirtied, and the hair itself matted, dry and starting to grey.

The styling will incorporate an off-white material, pinned around the model; I may fray some of the edges to imply age as well as either dying or spraying the garment with coloured spray. I could also use the fullers earth and dust along one side of the dress, suggesting Miss Havisham normally sits still, and is almost becoming part of the house or furniture.