‘1883’: Dawn Olivieri Explains Learning to ‘Reverse Operate a Toilet Experience’ While in Costume
Actor Dawn Olivieri only appeared in two episodes of 1883. Her character, Claire Dutton, was killed off early in the journey. Still, Olivieri had to transform herself into a 19th-century woman, and that meant dressing in quite a few layers. Olivieri found using the bathroom while in costume to be quite an interesting experience.
Dawn Olivieri played Claire Dutton in ‘1883’
Dawn Olivieri’s 1883 character Claire is the biological sister of James Dutton. She is a stern woman and she reprimands Margaret for not punishing Elsa more severely for misbehaving. Claire is also a widow. Her husband died prior to the start of the show. Claire and her daughter Mary Abel join James, Margaret, Elsa, and John in their journey West in the hopes of a better life.
At the beginning of their journey, several men come across the group led by Shea Brennan. Claire berates them and the men end up shooting at Shea’s group. Mary Abel is killed in the ensuing chaos. Claire then reveals that she has given birth to 7 children in total, all of whom are now dead. In grief, she kills herself with a shotgun rather than continue the journey.
The ‘1883’ cast wore heavy costumes through intense heat
The cast and crew of 1883 went to great lengths to make everything in the show look authentic. The actors often found themselves wearing heavy clothing while filming in the intense heat.
“The actresses are all in corsets … riding horses or driving wagons, and the men are all in wool with the heat and the elements, and you can really feel how taxing it was,” costume designer Janie Bryant told The Hollywood Reporter.
“Think about a hundred-degree weather and wearing a camisole, corset, bloomers, bustle pad, petticoat and then putting a costume on top of that. I applaud them for being for going with it.” The 1883 costumes weren’t just toasty to film in. They could make certain necessary tasks especially difficult.
Dawn Olivieri discusses trying to use the bathroom in her ‘1883’ costume
Olivieri explained the struggle of trying to use the bathroom while in full 19th-century garb. “Well, the funny thing is I learned real fast you gotta reverse operate a toilet experience because with all of that going on in the back and everything, there’s just no way you can sit,” Olivieri told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
“So you actually have to turn on top of the toilet and straddle it and go forward. I just started doing that and then it became a conversation on set and someone read something online about how to use the restroom when you’re wearing 1800s outfits and that was one of the things, you got to turn around and do the opposite approach so it’s funny, it was a funny thing. It’s intense.”
All episodes of 1883 are currently streaming on Paramount+.
