Salt and Ash

An 1890s widow who sheds a piece of her mourning in every act, and a chorus in forty-two grey coats.

Category Opera
House Rotunde Opera
Year 2026
Director Johanna Ferro
Photography Ruth Amsel
Looks 42
All Productions
Salt 01

The director wanted the grief to be visible in the cloth. So the widow starts under a jet-beaded veil and a boned collar and loses one piece per act: the veil, the gloves, the sleeves, the collar, until the last scene is a plain black underdress. Every piece of taffeta was dyed twice to get the black to swallow the light. The chorus coats are one bolt of grey wool cut forty-two ways.

Salt 02
The back of the gown, the jet beading catching the spot
Salt 03
The collar boning and the taffeta, dyed twice
Salt 04
A chorus coat, one of forty-two from one bolt
Salt 05
Act III, the chorus far apart in their own light
Salt 06
Act II, the veil gone, the gloves still on
Salt 07
The hem and the boots on the lit floor
Salt 08
Walking out of the light at the end of Act II
Salt 09
Curtain call, the coats in one line
Salt 10
The last scene, the plain underdress