Backcloth design by Hugh Durrant for the Act I Finale of Dick Whittington, Birmingham Hippodrome, 1993.

Backcloth design for the Act I finale featuring a group of fluttering flags on flagpoles, emblazoned with emblems of City guilds, set against a background of clouds and a sunburst.

Given by Hugh Durrant

This set design by Hugh Durrant is part of a group of designs donated to the Theatre Museum by the artist in 1994. The undated design was executed for Paul Elliott's production of the pantomime Dick Whittington performed at the Birmingham Hippodrome on 22nd December 1993. The show was directed by Carole Todd, and the lighting was designed by Andrew Gardner. The cast included Lesley Joseph as Fairy Bow Bells, John Nettles as King Rat, Rosemarie Ford as Dick, Jeffrey Holland as Ada the Cook, and Wayne Sleep as Tommy the Cat.

The production was filmed for inclusion in the National Video Archive of Stage Performance at the Theatre Museum in February 1994 (Catalogue numbers 94/04/V/9001 and 94/04/V/9002 ). These designs were partly acquired as a compliment to the film with the aim of recording the creative progress from the designer's drawings to their realisation on stage.

Historical significance: An excellent example of late 20th century set design for pantomime, which is currently poorly represented in the Theatre Museum Collection.

Reason For Production: Commission

This was for the backcloth designed by Hugh Durrant for the spectacular Act I finale of Dick Whittington, specially designed for the production at the Birmingham Hippodrome in December 2013. The flags are emblazoned with emblems of City of London guilds, which were later used on shields for the Walkdown set.

The set itself comprised a large ring with the motto of the City of London, and another of its coat of arms, mounted on separate flying bars. During the scene the ring tilted to reveal a central hole through which Dick flew upwards as his cloak spread out to fill the space, and pyrotechnical effects created fireworks around the ring. As High Durrant noted: 'This was one of Paul Elliott's mega-effects, so basically the backcloth was pretty incidental!!'

S.781-2001