Musical theatre costume designers make scrubs for NHS medics

Sue Simmerling, the owner of costume design company Carry on Costumes, has volunteered the services of her team, who are already in the process of making 70 sets of scrubs for Guy’s Hospital in London.

She was contacted by fellow designer Dulcie Scott, who started the crowdfunding group Helping Dress Medics, which aims is to purchase fabrics that are then made into protective clothing.

Simmerling recently worked on costumes for the world premiere of Sleepless, A Musical Romance and show producers Michael Rose and Damien Sanders offered to share the costs with her to pay for 800 metres of fabric, which will be sent to seamstresses around the country.

The producers will also devote a performance of their show to NHS workers, who will be able to watch the show for free when it opens.

The performance of the show, based on the original screenplay Sleepless In Seattle, will be dubbed A Night For Sleepless Heroes.

The musical, starring Jay McGuiness and Kimberley Walsh, was due to start performances on March 24 at the Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre in London.

Theatres around the country are closed in a bid to slow the spread of coronavirus and thousands of creatives have found themselves out of work as a result.

Rose and Sanders said: “We were so glad to help Sue and her team.

“While theatres are closed, this is something we can do to help the people on the frontline in this fight against Covid-19.

“And, as a thank you to these NHS heroes, we wanted to welcome them to the Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre once we’re all back up and running and to see Sleepless free-of-charge.”