Costume worn by Berwick Kaler as Dame in The Grand Old Dame of York, York Theatre Royal, 13th December 2018 to 2nd February 2019. Designed by Mark Walters, 2018

S.701-2019:1
Full-length dress with central zip at the back made to resemble a skirt and fitted multi-coloured jacket with asymmetrical peplum worn over a yellow blouse with red buttons and Peter Pan collar trimmed in red and dark turquoise. The right leg-of-mutton sleeve of orange and gold brocade has a deep turquoise cuff and magenta button, while the left sleeve features ruched red 'roses' from shoulder to elbow and a ruffed cuff made from fabric printed to appear like rolls of paper printed with the names of pantomimes. The skirt is composed of panels of green fabrics and white cotton printed with the names of pantomimes over a red feather base. Two clock faces hang from plastic chains around the waist, while another plastic chain attaches the dark turquoise choker and imitation brooch to the neckline

S.701-2019:2
Hat or fascinator made in the shape of a blue ink bottle with green label marked INK, topped with one magenta and one dark turquoise feather. A small plastic comb attached to the base of the bottle attached it to the wig

S.701-2019:3
Parti-coloured tights with one red leg (worn on Berwick Kalker's right leg), one yellow leg, (worn on Berwick Kalker's left leg) and a red waistband. White elastic stirrups fixed to the hems to hold the tights in place under the foot, and white elastic attached to the weaistband to act as braces

S.701:4-2019
Auburn centre-parted wig with low bun at the back, at the nape of the neck. Synthetic hair glued to a felt base with elastic insert inside centre back for secure fit

Gift of York Theatre Royal

This costume was worn by Berwick Kaler in his 40th pantomime The Grand Old Dame of York, at the Theatre Royal York, December to February 2018/2019. Berwick Kaler wrote and starred in all forty of his pantomimes there, which is why this opening costume for his last pantomime includes pages of 'script' and two clock faces - a reference to all the last-minute script writing he did against the clock.

Berwick Kaler is amongst the best-known Dames in the history of British pantomime. People regularly queued all night outside the theatre to buy tickets when the pantomimes were announced, and generations of children knew Berwick as the Dame. He is also the only contemporary Dames to have a ceramic figure commissioned of him in the form of a candle snuffer, an example of which is in the collection, holding in his right hand the Wagon Wheel biscuit that he regularly threw to members of the audience whom he called 'Me babbies'.

This costume was designed by Mark Walters as the opening costume to be worn by Berwick Kaler in The Grand Old Dame of York, the fortieth pantomime that Berwick Kaler wrote, and in which he starred as Dame at York Theatre Royal. Berwick Kaler decided that this was to be his last pantomime there. This opening costume, with its ink pot and quill headdress and dress adorned with two clock faces and scrolls of fabric inscribed with titles of pantomimes written by Berwick over the years against the clock, is a tribute to that.

People regularly queued all night outside the theatre to buy pantomime tickets at York Theatre Royal when the booking was about to open, and generations of children knew Berwick as the Dame who called his audiences 'Me babbie, me bairns' and threw chocolate biscuits called Wagon Wheels out to the audience.

Berwick's trademark wig was generally auburn, and styled the same way, with a bun at the back. Because the wigs were hot however, he had several of them into which he changed between scenes. He never wore make-up, wanting his Dame to be obviously a man in a frock. To this end he also wore brown workman's boots, their only flamboyant note one yellow lace and one red, to be worn on the right and left foot respectively to contrast with the red right leg of his tights and the yellow left leg.

S.701:1 to 4-2019