Crisis in Heaven
Set Design
1944 (made)
1944 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Set design created by Cecil Beaton (1904-1980) for Crisis in Heaven, Lyric Theatre, London, 1944.
Sir Cecil Walter Hardy Beaton, CBE (14 January 1904 – 18 January 1980) was an English fashion, portrait and war photographer, diarist, painter, interior designer and an Academy Award-winning stage and costume designer for films and the theatre.
The production was directed by John Gielgud, with Dorothy Green as Volumnia (mother of Coriolanus), Ernest Thesiger as Voltaire and Adele Dixon as Irene. It was staged at the Lyric Theatre in London in 1944. Beaton designed the sets and the costumes.
The first commerical play of the writer Eric Linklater (1899-1974), the production was an allegorical comic fantasy set in Elysium, and introduced key political and social figures from across history. The darker message about conflict which underlied the comic narrative was not popular however, and the production was not a critical success. Beaton’s costumes, which ranged from classical togas to police uniforms, interminging styles from a range of eras, were described by the critic Beverley Baxter as ‘charming and unusual.’
Sir Cecil Walter Hardy Beaton, CBE (14 January 1904 – 18 January 1980) was an English fashion, portrait and war photographer, diarist, painter, interior designer and an Academy Award-winning stage and costume designer for films and the theatre.
The production was directed by John Gielgud, with Dorothy Green as Volumnia (mother of Coriolanus), Ernest Thesiger as Voltaire and Adele Dixon as Irene. It was staged at the Lyric Theatre in London in 1944. Beaton designed the sets and the costumes.
The first commerical play of the writer Eric Linklater (1899-1974), the production was an allegorical comic fantasy set in Elysium, and introduced key political and social figures from across history. The darker message about conflict which underlied the comic narrative was not popular however, and the production was not a critical success. Beaton’s costumes, which ranged from classical togas to police uniforms, interminging styles from a range of eras, were described by the critic Beverley Baxter as ‘charming and unusual.’
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Title | Crisis in Heaven (named collection) |
| Materials and techniques | Pencil drawing on tracing paper with highlights in coloured crayon. |
| Brief description | Set design created by Cecil Beaton (1904-1980) for Crisis in Heaven, Lyric Theatre, London, 1944 |
| Physical description | Set design, showing the layout for Act II, Scene I, Florence Nightingale's Nursing Home. The design is drawn in pencil on brown tracing paper and with white and teal highlights added with coloured pencil. Framed by a tree trunk and foliage the design centres upon a white semicurlar structure. The roof and walls are supported by classical columns and three green doors, each with a different number are positioned at the left, centre and right of the structure. Circular windows and benches are postioned around the interior wall of the building. |
| Dimensions |
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| Marks and inscriptions |
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| Credit line | Given by the executors of Eileen Hose |
| Literary reference | Crisis in Heaven |
| Summary | Set design created by Cecil Beaton (1904-1980) for Crisis in Heaven, Lyric Theatre, London, 1944. Sir Cecil Walter Hardy Beaton, CBE (14 January 1904 – 18 January 1980) was an English fashion, portrait and war photographer, diarist, painter, interior designer and an Academy Award-winning stage and costume designer for films and the theatre. The production was directed by John Gielgud, with Dorothy Green as Volumnia (mother of Coriolanus), Ernest Thesiger as Voltaire and Adele Dixon as Irene. It was staged at the Lyric Theatre in London in 1944. Beaton designed the sets and the costumes. The first commerical play of the writer Eric Linklater (1899-1974), the production was an allegorical comic fantasy set in Elysium, and introduced key political and social figures from across history. The darker message about conflict which underlied the comic narrative was not popular however, and the production was not a critical success. Beaton’s costumes, which ranged from classical togas to police uniforms, interminging styles from a range of eras, were described by the critic Beverley Baxter as ‘charming and unusual.’ |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | S.2109-2014 |
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| Record created | October 10, 2014 |
| Record URL |
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