Costume drama; MEET THE MAN BEHIND THESE STUNNING OPERATIC OUTFITS fashion.

Byline: By DEBRA GREENHOUSE

THE world is ever changing for Paul Edwards. One minute he's enjoying the splendour of a 15th century Venetian court, the next he's in the Bavarian fairytale forests of Hansel and Gretel, then Stephen Sondheim's 20th century Broadway.

But wherever he is, Paul's never short of a thing to wear. He's the creative inspiration behind vibrant sets and costumes on spectacular stage shows, which has involved him travelling the globe - both in person and via his vivid imagination.

His latest project has seen him working with Welsh National Opera on Verdi's Otello, which opened in Cardiff yesterday before heading to Swansea, Liverpool, Bristol, Southampton and Birmingham, then Llandudno in November.

Paul said: "It's set in Cyprus and Venice, so in my mind I've had to visit both. I see each production I work on as a different world, the cast are the people who inhabit it."

With Otello the inhabitants of Cyprus are a direct contrast to the aristocrats of Venice.

"For Cyprus we concentrated on rustic peasant materials. For the Venetians we went for the silks, brocades, velvets, embroidery, hand-sewn decorative motifs and jewels to signify wealth and power."

With a WNO wardrobe department that includes everyone from milliners and wigmakers to leather specialists and shoemakers, Paul counts himself lucky to have had resources to create the worlds he wanted. "That's one reason why I moved into opera. I've worked on West End musicals and stage plays but I love opera, the extravagance of the costumes."

A freelance designer, he has worked on operatic productions from St Petersburg to Paris, Italy to Toronto, but he's particularly thrilled to be with the WNO. "It's kind of special to me, as my ancestors were Welsh."

Australian by birth, Paul, 44, has lived in London for 20 years, training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. He's also familiar with North Wales having done past projects at Mold's Clwyd Theatr Cymru, including Pygmalion and Hamlet.

He is involved in designing each costume, often amounting to hundreds of fittings for everyone from lead roles to the chorus. For Otello there are 228 costumes, most of them with hats. "That includes understudies; if they have to go on they cannot simply put on someone else's costume."

Detail is important too. "In large theatres the distance between audience and stage can be a friend, you can get away with a lot. But it can be a double-edged sword. Otello, for instance, is being televised, so there'll be lots of close ups."

With that pressure, every stitch counts.

WNO TOUR DATES

Millennium Centre, Cardiff: Otello Sept 24&27, Oct 4&11; Jenufa Oct 8&10; Barber of Seville Sept 26&28, Oct 3 & 9 (08700 40 2000 or wmc.org.uk); Liverpool Empire: Otello Oct 24; Jenufa Oct 21, Barber of Seville Oct 22&25 (0844 847 2525 or liverpool.empire.org.uk); Venue Cymru, Llandudno: Otello Nov 25&28; Jenufa Nov 26; Barber of Seville Nov 27&29 (venuecymru.co.uk or 014 92 872000)

CAPTION(S):

Dennis O'Neill as Otello and Amanda Roocroft as Desdemona (right), and Roocroft again (above) in costumes designed by Paul Edwards (top)