KING CHARLES III's Costume Designer Tom Scutt: Dressing The Future With An Eye On The Past

"The greatest achievement of the piece is that it feels like a play that has been around for hundreds of years, in a way," says costume designer Tom Scutt of playwright Mike Bartlett's futuristic history play, King Charles III.

After an Olivier-winning West End run, director Rupert Goold 's company has now landed on American shores with a fascinating tale of the present Prince Charles' first days as King of England after the death of Queen Elizabeth II.

Modeled after Shakespeare's history plays, it's written in blank verse in order to achieve a heightened poetic language.

In an interview for Entertainment Weekly, Scutt explains how he designs for a family of real-life royals that most audience members know, while also serving the needs of the play.

In the first act's climatic closing scene, Tim Pigott-Smith's King Charles dons his military uniform and does not remove it for the rest of the play, symbolizing his refusal to return to the modern world. "He sort of regresses and almost becomes King Lear," says Scutt.

As Charles' wife, Camilla, Margot Leicester wears a different ensemble from what she wore in London. "I resisted change because I wanted to avoid imitation of the real characters. But as soon as we did the fitting with Margot putting that hat on, and the brooch, that woman comes to life in front of you."

"Ollie Chris looks so like (Prince) William, it's unreal," the designer exclaims. There's a real warmth and romance you feel when you see him in the uniform... He looks like the front page of a magazine. For us Brits, it's an interesting thing to address, because that is our future king."

Lydia Wilson's Kate required a balance of stylishness and being appropriate for mourning. "Lydia wears these very high stiletto platform L.K. Bennett shoes. She forms a lot of that character on those shoes."

Rich Goul­ding's hair was dyed red to play the rebellious Prince Harry, but Scutt says the most effective moments are when he's in uniform. "It becomes a kind of cage: He's forever trapped by duty, by civility, by history, by tradition. He doesn't belong in this outfit."

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The Queen is dead. After a lifetime of waiting, Prince Charles ascends the throne. A future of power lies before him...but how to rule? Winner of the 2015 Olivier Award for Best New Play, King Charles IIIis the "bracingly provocative and outrageously entertaining" (The Independent) drama of political intrigue by Mike Bartlett that comes to Broadway following a sensational West End run. Directed byRupert Goold and deemed "the most insightful and engrossing new history play in decades" by Ben Brantley of The New York Times, this "bold and brilliant" (The Times of London) production explores the people underneath the crowns, the unwritten rules of Britain's democracy and the conscience of its most famous family.