Not currently on display at the V&A

Costume Design

1963 (Painted, Drawn)
Artist/Maker
Stone, Alix (Costume designer)
Place of origin
Great Britain (drawn)

Costume design for the Prison Women. The design depicts three full length female figures wearing ragged 18th century style costume. Each figure wears a grey brown skirt and wrap; white mob cap; and mules.


Object details

Categories
Entertainment & Leisure
Opera
Theatre
Designs
Object type
Costume design
Materials and techniques
Pencil, Pen & Ink, Ink, and Crayon, on Paper
Pencil
Ink
Paper
Crayon
Painted
Drawn
Brief description
Costume design by Alix Stone for the Prison Women in "The Beggar's Opera", Aldeburgh Festival, June 20th 1963
Physical description
Costume design for the Prison Women. The design depicts three full length female figures wearing ragged 18th century style costume. Each figure wears a grey brown skirt and wrap; white mob cap; and mules.
Dimensions
  • Height: 378mm
  • Width: 506mm
  • Mount height: 509mm
  • Mount width: 634mm
The design has been glued directly onto a card mount.
Production typeUnique
Marks and inscriptions
  • ' Alix Stone ' (Signature; Lower right hand corner of the design; handwriting; pencil)
  • ' Dirty Caps / Wraps & / odd bits of sacking & / canvas / Bandaged legs and Mules - ' (Textual information; Lower left hand corner of the design; handwriting; pencil)
  • ' Prison Women ' (Textual information; Centre of the lower edge of the design.; handwriting; ink)
  • ' Sacking worn over Petticoats ' (Textual information; Centre of the lower edge of the design.; handwriting; pencil)
  • ' A B C ' (Textual information; Across the top of the mount; handwriting; pencil)
Object history
This costume design by Alix Stone is part of an extensive collection of designs purchased by the Theatre Museum directly from the artist in 1994. The design was executed for a production of Benjamin Britten's version of John Gay's opera "The Beggar's Opera" at the Aldeburgh Festival, June 20th 1963. The opera was produced by Colin Graham, and conducted by Benjamin Britten. The production was revived at the Edinburgh Festival in August 1963, and at Sadler's Wells in July 1967.
Production
Reason For Production: Commission
Subjects depicted
Costume
Opera
Prisoners
Associations
Britten, Benjamin Edward (Lord)
Gay, John
Literary referenceThe Beggar's Opera
Bibliographic reference
"The Beggar's Opera, A Ballad-Opera" by John Gay (1728) in a new musical version realised from the original airs by Benjamin Britten (1948). Vocal Score by Arthur Oldham. Published 1949, by Hawkes & Sons (London) Ltd. A copy of the vocal score is in the Theatre Museum Library. Catalogue Number M1503.B853 Folio. Dynix Number #509380.
Collection
Theatre and Performance Collection
Accession number
S.88-2001

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Record createdApril 6, 2001
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O58286/costume-design-stone-alix/
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