Rudolf Nureyev and Nadia Nerina rehearsing Don Quixote (1962). Picture © V&A Images
Review: Theatre and Performance Galleries, Victoria and Albert Museum, London
“I'm trying to get moley hands,” says actor Adrian Scarborough in a short film which makes part of the Theatre and Performance exhibition at the V&A. The context, in case you were wondering, is a rehearsal for Wind in the Willows (staged in 1992 at the National Theatre) and, getting to grips with the part of mole, Scarborough is advised to practice his breaststroke.
This lovely moment is a reminder that the essence of performance is the change that comes over the performer. But such transformations don't usually take place in museums, and artefacts cannot really convey the magic as well as actors might.
Nevertheless, these highlights from the V&A's Theatre Collections do make interesting viewing. Along with rehearsing they are displayed under various headings, including creating, producing, promotion, costume and make up, scenery and the performance itself.
Poster for Look Back In Anger by John Osborne (circa 1957). Picture © V&A Images
The last of these has another short film containing highlights from recent UK theatre productions, including a surprise appearance from David Tennant, starring in a 1995 production of Look Back in Anger at the Theatre Royal, Bath.
Many people's highlight will be room 105, given over to costume. This is a museum which knows how to display an outfit, and those chosen here are all on the lavish side.
There's a dress worn by a 1913 Lady Bracknell in the Importance of Being Earnest and a tutu worn in a 1964 Swan Lake by Margot Fonteyn, but most familiar to many will be the Prince Charming outfit worn by Adam Ant in a pop video from 1981.
Clearly, there's more to performance than drama. Pop and rock are well represented here, not least by the reconstructed dressing room of Kylie Minogue.
Musicals and opera are covered, as well as ballet, allowing the orchestral score of Jesus Christ Superstar (1972) to share a cabinet with the manuscript of Sheridan's School for Scandal.
Title page & frontispiece from William Shakespeare's Comedies, Histories & Tragedies (1623). Picture © V&A Images
Purists might not like it, but this broad approach has allowed the V&A to pull together a wealth of curiosities. You might expect to find Yorick's skull here, but maybe not a ukelele banjo owned by George Formby.
Posters featuring Albert Finney in Billy Liar and Charles Hawtrey in panto are matched gig posters, where an ad for Siouxsie and the Banshees sits next to a promotional bill for the tightrope walker Blondin.
Theatre dominates room 104B, which is dedicated to scenery. Of particular interest here are two contrasting set designs for Hamlet – a 1911 model is sparse and monolithic, a 1942 successor colourful and painterly. These items appear without commentary and one can only imagine what it was like to sit in the audience.
It's a familiar feeling at this exhibition, which gives you a lot of show business, but inevitably leaves you wanting the show.
Keep up to date with 24 Hour Museum's exhibition news, reviews and previews with iGoogle - a more personal way to use Google.com
