The evidence: The costume supervisor's work room

Arabella Dean is the costume supervisor for `Dick Whittington and his Cat' which stars Anita Dobson. It is playing at the Hackney Empire until 10 January.

"The costume hanging up (1) is one of the chorus girls' hired dresses which needs repairing. The red feathers (2) are part of Clive Rowe's [he plays the Dame] finale costume. In our interpretation of the story, they are shipwrecked on Lizard Island. The lizards will wear these green frills (3) on their collars, cuffs and ankles with black catsuits and green heads. The crown (4) is worn by the Queen Rat, played by Anita Dobson. At the moment, I'm chained to my sewing machine (5), as well as running around shopping, ordering and doing fittings. Bits of haberdashery, picked up from different places are kept in a bag hanging on the wall (6). The posters (7) were already here when we arrived as Hackney Empire does not have its own production wardrobe, so they had to find us this little space. The folder (8) contains all the information I need to get the show together: budget figures, measurements and order forms. The orange and lemon (9) necklace is a trimming for one of Clive's dresses. The white aerosols (10) are special costume deodorising sprays. I'd rather not discuss the Teletubbies clock (11) as I would never live down how I came by it."