Oliver Messel set model
Set Model
ca.1949 (made)
ca.1949 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Oliver Messel (1904-1978) was Britain's leading theatre designer of the 1930s, '40s and '50s. He created settings and costumes for all forms of entertainment - ballet, drama, film, musical, opera and revue - as well as working in interior decoration and textile design. His lavish, painterly and romantic concepts were perfectly in tune with the times and earned him an international reputation. By 1960, however, that style was becoming unfashionable, and Messel gradually abandoned theatre and built a new career designing luxury homes in the Caribbean.
Ring Round the Moon, a translation of Jean Anouilh's play L'Invitation au Château by Christopher Fry who described it as a charade with music, was first performed at the Globe Theatre (now the Gielgud Theatre), in 1950. It takes place in a winter garden and the director, Peter Brook, suggested that the setting should be a hothouse with plants and trees.
According to Carl Toms, Messel's assistant, Messel took his inspiration from a Portuguese railway station. To give the set a light, weightless quality, he insisted that it should be made from metal rather than wood, which was then the standard material used for theatre set building. 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.
Ring Round the Moon, a translation of Jean Anouilh's play L'Invitation au Château by Christopher Fry who described it as a charade with music, was first performed at the Globe Theatre (now the Gielgud Theatre), in 1950. It takes place in a winter garden and the director, Peter Brook, suggested that the setting should be a hothouse with plants and trees.
According to Carl Toms, Messel's assistant, Messel took his inspiration from a Portuguese railway station. To give the set a light, weightless quality, he insisted that it should be made from metal rather than wood, which was then the standard material used for theatre set building. 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.
Object details
| Category | |
| Object type | |
| Title | Oliver Messel set model (generic title) |
| Materials and techniques | Wood, card, foil, cloth, paint and plastic |
| Brief description | Set model by Oliver Messel for Jean Anouilh's play Ring Round the Moon (translated by Christopher Fry), Globe Theatre, London, 1950 |
| Physical description | Set model by Oliver Messel for Ring Round the Moon, Globe Theatre, 1950. Model for the Winter Garden. A conservatory with a high central section with a ridged roof and lower sections to left and right which curve inwards at the top to meet the central section. A trellis to front at left; inside a fountain. Two tall palm trees and large plants at centre. In front a wicker rocking chair. |
| Dimensions |
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| Credit line | Given by the Arts Council of Great Britain |
| Object history | Ring Round the Moon, a translation of Jean Anouilh's play L’Invitation au Château (1947) by Christopher Fry, was first performed at the Globe Theatre, London (now the Gielgud Theatre), on 26 January 1950. The production, presented by H. M. Tennent Productions Ltd, was directed by Peter Brook, with a cast that included Paul Scofield, Claire Bloom and Margaret Rutherford. 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. |
| Summary | Oliver Messel (1904-1978) was Britain's leading theatre designer of the 1930s, '40s and '50s. He created settings and costumes for all forms of entertainment - ballet, drama, film, musical, opera and revue - as well as working in interior decoration and textile design. His lavish, painterly and romantic concepts were perfectly in tune with the times and earned him an international reputation. By 1960, however, that style was becoming unfashionable, and Messel gradually abandoned theatre and built a new career designing luxury homes in the Caribbean. Ring Round the Moon, a translation of Jean Anouilh's play L'Invitation au Château by Christopher Fry who described it as a charade with music, was first performed at the Globe Theatre (now the Gielgud Theatre), in 1950. It takes place in a winter garden and the director, Peter Brook, suggested that the setting should be a hothouse with plants and trees. According to Carl Toms, Messel's assistant, Messel took his inspiration from a Portuguese railway station. To give the set a light, weightless quality, he insisted that it should be made from metal rather than wood, which was then the standard material used for theatre set building. 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. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | S.475-1980 |
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| Record created | May 20, 2008 |
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