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.

Ring Round the Moon, a translation of Jean Anouilh's play L'Invitation au Château by Christopher Fry, was first performed at the Globe Theatre (now the Gielgud Theatre), in 1950. It enjoyed a substantial run in the West End before moving to New York. Peter Brook, the director, suggested that the setting should be a winter garden or hothouse with plants and trees. Although untypical of Messel’s style, the set is one of his most memorable designs, and complemented the elegance and fantasy of Fry’s poetic drama.

The set featured a light projection of brightly coloured butterflies in the hothouse. Messel drew the butterflies on tracing paper attached to a sheet of clear acetate film to imitate the transparent effect of a light projection.