Capturing performance

When the curtain comes down the performance is over, but what’s left behind? By collecting costumes, scripts and set designs we can piece together what a performance might have been like.

The Theatre & Performance collection helps us revisit the past. Wear and tear, annotations and scribbles all become vital maps in navigating performance histories. Paintings, sketches and written reviews are no longer the only way to capture performance in action, thanks to recordings like those in the National Video Archive of Performance, which you can access here at Storehouse.

Written by: Simon Sladen, Senior Curator of Theatre & Performance
Published: May 2025

Collecting Stories

Museum Number
S.1563-1982
Title/Description
Theatre costume
Artist/Maker
Messel, Oliver Hilary Sambourne
Date
ca. 1960
Materials/Techniques
Lurex, Papier-mâché, Braid, Buckram, Wire, Rhinestone, Leather, Metal, Buckram, Glueing, Moulding, Millinery
Object information
Museum Number
S.1562-1982
Title/Description
Theatre costume
Artist/Maker
Messel, Oliver Hilary Sambourne
Date
ca. 1960
Materials/Techniques
Velvet, Feathers, Millinery
Object information
Museum Number
S.508-2006
Title/Description
Costume
Artist/Maker
Unknown
Materials/Techniques
Wire, Beads, Rhinestone, Sequins, Metal, Ribbon, Fabric, Millinery
Object information
Museum Number
S.491:1, 2-2006
Title/Description
Theatre costume
Artist/Maker
Messel, Oliver Hilary Sambourne
Location
London
Date
1937
Materials/Techniques
Wire, Velvet, Beads, Organdie, Cellophane, Sequins, Rhinestone, Gauze, Pearls (imitation), Masking tape
Object information
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- The story of theatre
Museum Number
S.492:1/2-2006
Title/Description
Box
Artist/Maker
Messel, Oliver Hilary Sambourne
Location
Great Britain
Date
1937
Object information
Museum Number
S.1115-1983
Title/Description
Alick Johnstone's Scenic Studios (with Charles Ricketts and Rex Whistler in attendance …
Artist/Maker
Irving, Laurence
Location
Great Britain
Date
1970
Materials/Techniques
Oil, Canvas, Oil painting
Object information
Museum Number
IM.68-1938
Title/Description
Mask
Location
Tibet
Date
19th century
Materials/Techniques
Wood
Object information
Museum Number
IM.208-1939
Title/Description
Dance mask
Object information
Museum Number
S.198-1992
Title/Description
Laurence Olivier as Macbeth
Artist/Maker
Spear, Ruskin
Location
Great Britain
Date
1955
Materials/Techniques
Oil colour, Wood, Painting (image-making)
Object information
Museum Number
S.931:1 to 5-2017
Title/Description
Theatre costume worn by Nigel Ellacott in Cinderella
Artist/Maker
Ellacott, Nigel
Location
Great Britain
Date
ca.2001
Object information

Capturing performance

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