Not currently on display at the V&A

Costume Design

1949 (designed)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Great Britain’s leading theatre designer from the early 1930s to the mid 1950s, Oliver Messel (1904-1978) won international acclaim for his lavish, painterly and poetic designs informed by period styles. His work spans ballet, drama, film, musical, opera and revue. Messel’s traditional style of theatre design became unfashionable from the mid 1950s onwards, and he increasingly concentrated on painting, interior and textile design, including designing luxury homes in the Caribbean.

Messel’s painterly and poetic interpretation of medieval period costume and architecture complemented Christopher Fry’s verse play, The Lady’s Not For Burning (1949), about a woman wrongly accused of witchcraft in a small English market town around 1400. Fry's first play to be presented at a West End theatre, it won critical acclaim; one critic hailed it as ‘a poetic fantasy of rare splendour and delight.’ (The Times, 10 November 1950).

John Gielgud (1904-2000) co-directed the play and also played Thomas Mendip, a discharged, disillusioned soldier. He tries to save Jennet from being burned as witch, and despite his cynicism, falls in love with her. Messel designed a medieval costume with vivid violet boots, a studded leather waistcoat and chainmail around his waist.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Charcoal, ink, pencil, gouache, paint, watercolour on paper
Brief description
Costume design by Oliver Messel for Thomas Mendip in Christopher Fry's play The Lady's Not For Burning, 1949.
Physical description
A costume design by Oliver Messel for Thomas Mendip in a H.M. Tennent production of The Lady's Not For Burning, 1949. A full length view of a man turned to the viewer's left, his right leg crossed behind his left. He wears a medieval costume of dark blue tightss, violet knee-length boots, a dark yellow/grey jacke and a red hat. To the right of the figure, a pencil sketch of the back of his jacket. To the left of the figure, a pencil sketch of the belt and jacket.
Dimensions
  • Height: 37.8cm
  • Width: 25.2cm
Production typeDesign
Marks and inscriptions
  • 'Oliver Messel' (Artist's signature in pencil on the bottom right hand corner on the front of the sheet.)
  • 'Cant. John' (Pencil inscription on the top right hand corner on the front of the sheet.)
  • 'P.24/2' (Pencil inscription on the reverse of the sheet.)
Credit line
Acquired with the support of the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Art Fund and the Friends of the V&A
Object history
The Lady’s not for Burning, a verse play in three acts by Christopher Fry. Oliver Messel’s production was first produced by H. M. Tennent Productions Ltd. at the Globe Theatre, London on 11 May, 1949. It was directed by John Gielgud and Esmé Percy and featured John Gielgud as Thomas Mendip, Pamela Brown as Jennet Jourdemayne, Claire Bloom as Alizon Eliot and Richard Burton as Richard. It was also performed at the Royale Theatre, New York, on 8 November, 1950.
Lord Snowdon, Oliver Messel's nephew, inherited Messel's theatre designs and other designs and artefacts. The designs were briefly stored in a disused chapel in Kensington Palace before being housed at the V&A from 1981 on indefinite loan. The V&A Theatre Museum purchased the Oliver Messel collection from Lord Snowdon in 2005.

Historical significance: Association with Christopher Fry's abortive poetic drama movement.
Production
Reason For Production: Commission
Summary
Great Britain’s leading theatre designer from the early 1930s to the mid 1950s, Oliver Messel (1904-1978) won international acclaim for his lavish, painterly and poetic designs informed by period styles. His work spans ballet, drama, film, musical, opera and revue. Messel’s traditional style of theatre design became unfashionable from the mid 1950s onwards, and he increasingly concentrated on painting, interior and textile design, including designing luxury homes in the Caribbean.

Messel’s painterly and poetic interpretation of medieval period costume and architecture complemented Christopher Fry’s verse play, The Lady’s Not For Burning (1949), about a woman wrongly accused of witchcraft in a small English market town around 1400. Fry's first play to be presented at a West End theatre, it won critical acclaim; one critic hailed it as ‘a poetic fantasy of rare splendour and delight.’ (The Times, 10 November 1950).

John Gielgud (1904-2000) co-directed the play and also played Thomas Mendip, a discharged, disillusioned soldier. He tries to save Jennet from being burned as witch, and despite his cynicism, falls in love with her. Messel designed a medieval costume with vivid violet boots, a studded leather waistcoat and chainmail around his waist.
Bibliographic reference
Pinkham, Roger (ed.) Oliver Messel, London, V&A, 1983
Other number
ROT 1617 - TM Rotation Number
Collection
Accession number
S.128-2006

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Record createdJune 15, 2006
Record URL
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