The Tempest
Set Design
1954 (designed)
1954 (designed)
Artist/Maker | |
Place of origin |
Set model piece by Leslie Hurry showing a design for Shakespeare's The Tempest, produced by Robert Helpmann for the Old Vic Theatre, London, 1954
Leslie Hurry (1909-1978) trained at the Royal Academy and during the 1930s became known as a surrealist painter. A one-man show in London in 1942 was seen by the theatre director, Michael Benthall, who recommended Hurry to the dancer and choreographer, Robert Helpmann, then planning a ballet based on Shakespeare's Hamlet. The success of his designs set Hurry on a second career as one of the most distinguished theatre designers of his generation. He designed operas, ballets and plays, notably Swan Lake for the Sadler's Wells Ballet in 1943, a production which stayed in the repertoire for thirty years; Venice Preserv'd for Peter Brook (1953); the Ring Cycle at Covent Garden (1954), and Troilus and Cressida at Stratford for Peter Hall (1960), famous for being staged in a sand pit.
This production of The Tempest opened on 13 April 1954. For Philip Hope-Wallace in the Manchester Guardian 15 April 1954 the settings and costumes were fanciful and often beautiful: "what was achieved was ingenious in the extreme. A series of backdrops are skilfully whipped up and down, darkness falls with shimmering fireflies, the corps de ballet are in a perpetual state of metamorphosis, now representing waves like the totem chorus in Rose Marie, now guests out of some banquet which would have satisfied Comus."
Leslie Hurry (1909-1978) trained at the Royal Academy and during the 1930s became known as a surrealist painter. A one-man show in London in 1942 was seen by the theatre director, Michael Benthall, who recommended Hurry to the dancer and choreographer, Robert Helpmann, then planning a ballet based on Shakespeare's Hamlet. The success of his designs set Hurry on a second career as one of the most distinguished theatre designers of his generation. He designed operas, ballets and plays, notably Swan Lake for the Sadler's Wells Ballet in 1943, a production which stayed in the repertoire for thirty years; Venice Preserv'd for Peter Brook (1953); the Ring Cycle at Covent Garden (1954), and Troilus and Cressida at Stratford for Peter Hall (1960), famous for being staged in a sand pit.
This production of The Tempest opened on 13 April 1954. For Philip Hope-Wallace in the Manchester Guardian 15 April 1954 the settings and costumes were fanciful and often beautiful: "what was achieved was ingenious in the extreme. A series of backdrops are skilfully whipped up and down, darkness falls with shimmering fireflies, the corps de ballet are in a perpetual state of metamorphosis, now representing waves like the totem chorus in Rose Marie, now guests out of some banquet which would have satisfied Comus."
Object details
Category | |
Object type | |
Title | The Tempest (assigned by artist) |
Materials and techniques | Ink and watercolour on card |
Brief description | Set model piece by Leslie Hurry showing a design for Shakespeare's The Tempest, produced by Robert Helpmann for the Old Vic Theatre, London, 1954 |
Physical description | Ink and watercolour on card set model piece by Leslie Hurry showing a design for Shakespeare's The Tempest, produced by Robert Helpmann for the Old Vic Theatre, London, 1954. The piece features grey carved stonework. |
Dimensions |
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Credit line | Given by Mrs Caro Rathbone |
Literary reference | The Tempest |
Summary | Set model piece by Leslie Hurry showing a design for Shakespeare's The Tempest, produced by Robert Helpmann for the Old Vic Theatre, London, 1954 Leslie Hurry (1909-1978) trained at the Royal Academy and during the 1930s became known as a surrealist painter. A one-man show in London in 1942 was seen by the theatre director, Michael Benthall, who recommended Hurry to the dancer and choreographer, Robert Helpmann, then planning a ballet based on Shakespeare's Hamlet. The success of his designs set Hurry on a second career as one of the most distinguished theatre designers of his generation. He designed operas, ballets and plays, notably Swan Lake for the Sadler's Wells Ballet in 1943, a production which stayed in the repertoire for thirty years; Venice Preserv'd for Peter Brook (1953); the Ring Cycle at Covent Garden (1954), and Troilus and Cressida at Stratford for Peter Hall (1960), famous for being staged in a sand pit. This production of The Tempest opened on 13 April 1954. For Philip Hope-Wallace in the Manchester Guardian 15 April 1954 the settings and costumes were fanciful and often beautiful: "what was achieved was ingenious in the extreme. A series of backdrops are skilfully whipped up and down, darkness falls with shimmering fireflies, the corps de ballet are in a perpetual state of metamorphosis, now representing waves like the totem chorus in Rose Marie, now guests out of some banquet which would have satisfied Comus." |
Collection | |
Accession number | S.2314-2014 |
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Record created | November 28, 2014 |
Record URL |
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