HISTORY IN THE DRESSING TAMES ALAN REVEALS HOW PEOPLE LIVED THROUGH

When Tames Alan dresses for work, it takes an audience, two strangers and much of the afternoon to do it.

From the stiffened ridges of her neck ruff to her brocade skirts (embroidered and pearled) she dons and ties and fixes and fastens 62 pieces of clothing - just to appear decent before Elizabeth I of England.

This is quite different from the afternoons she dresses on stage as a matron of Rome, determined to further her husband's political career, looking polished in a palla, which is an outer wrap saffron-dyed to the subtlest peach. In living history lectures that will make you appreciate dress-down Fridays, Alan reveals how people lived through how they dressed. Saturday, the actress/historian presents "From the Streets of Shakespeare to the Court of Elizabeth" at the downtown Spokane Public Library. It's one of the most popular living history lectures the Lake Bay, Wash., woman gives. "She's incredible, a phenomenon. We have a Humanities speakers bureau and she's been a highlight of the program for the past two years," says Linda Capell, director of the Washington Commission for the Humanities. With help from the audience, Alan dons clothing she spent years researching and creating, appearing as the "everywoman" of an era. "I sing, dance and do everything but serve a meal to tell them about a time period," says Alan, 33. Amid the entertainment emerges sobering truths about how women were treated, classes were divided and baths were avoided. But what everyone wants to know is: How the heck did they go to the bathroom? Elizabethans didn't have underwear, she notes, and used hay for toilet paper. "It was absolute death to bring a candle into a privy with you - you'd burn the place down," she deadpans. That line delights eighth-grade boys, as she addresses groups from grade-schoolers to senior citizens, from community halls to community colleges. For the last decade, she's parlayed acting and her Willamette University education in history and theater into lectures (22 straight in March during Women's History Month). Alan (whose first name rhymes with Jams) has also taught fashion history at the Art Institute of Seattle. It took her six years to put together a show on a Victorian traveler that includes five costumes (one ensemble can weigh up to 200 pounds). Other shows cover the Romans, Greeks and ancient Celts. Reading diaries, wills, plays and literature of a period, she's created patterns, discovered fabrics, hand-dyed colors, beaded bodices, even found a corset maker. Her biggest challenge was researching the Celts who wrote nothing down. When helpful books through international library research did arrive, they were written in Gaelic - with Latin translation. But such solid background work pays off. "She can answer any question that comes up," says Capell, program manager for the commission, an affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. The 5-foot-2 Alan travels by air with custom-made garment bags. Her Spokane appearance falls on her 34th birthday, what Elizabethans would call her natal day. Most Elizabethans bathed just twice in their lives: on their birth day, and a ritual sprinkling on their wedding day. "Their concept of bathing was that it could kill you." Between that and a life expectancy of 35 for the average working-class person, Alan is glad to just portray those eras. "I could survive most of them, but I wouldn't want to. The disease and filth was just awful," she says. "I'm happy to live in the era I do and have hot showers and live in comfortable clothes, which I do almost every day despite having to wear a corset for work."

Copyright 1996 Cowles Publishing Company
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