Costume design by Hugh Stevenson for The King (Claudius) in Hamlet in a programme of scenes from Shakespeare, British Council tour, early 1950s

Costume design by Hugh Stevenson for The King (Claudius) in Hamlet, showing a full-length bearded and balding male figure turning to left, wearing a purple black robe with huge elbow-length sleeves, the fronts and sleeves edged blue grey, the sleeve slashings edged blue grey held by yellow 'knots'. The robe is worn over a buff doublet with grey bands and buttons, the greenish yellow frilled sleeves decorated with black dashes, simulating slashing, and dark dull green trunk hose. To the right is a pencil sketch of a cap and to the left a sleeve. The design is inscribed with the name of the play, role, actor and fabric details and is signed and dated.

Cyril W. Beaumont Bequest

This is one of 25 designs by Hugh Stevenson for a programme of excerpts from Shakespeare devised for a British Council tour in the early 1950s. It was performed by a small company led by Walter Fitzgerald and called for costumes that would clearly indicate the different characters while allowing for quick changes. This Stevenson achieved by creating a basic costume in the Elizabethan style for each actor to which were added robes, tunics, overdresses or accessories.
The designs are part of the collection that came to the Museum from the dance historian and publisher Cyril Beaumont and may originally have formed part of the London Archives of the Dance.

Historical significance: A group of designs showing how a designer solves the problem of creating costumes for a programme of extracts from various Shakespeare plays (which means allowing for quick changes), by creating several basic costumes which can be adapted, or to which accessories can be added, to indicate specific characters

S.157-2000