Not on display

The Queen of Spades

Costume Design
1966 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Costume design by Leslie Hurry for a promenader in Act I, Scene I of Tchaikovsky's opera The Queen of Spades, Sadler's Wells Theatre, 1966. The costume was worn by bass Ronald Careford.

This production of the three-act opera, The Queen of Spades by Peter Tchaikovsky, with its libretto based on Alexander Pushkin’s story by Modest Tchaikovsky, was performed in an English translation by Rosa Newmarch. The first production of this opera at Sadler’s Wells Theatre opened on 14 September 1966. The production was directed by Anthony Besch with choreography by Harry Haythorne and Leslie Hurry’s designs were lit by Charles Bristow.

Leslie Hurry (1909-1978) trained at the Royal Academy and during the 1930s became known as a surrealist painter. A one-man show in London in 1942 was seen by the theatre director, Michael Benthall, who recommended Hurry to the dancer and choreographer, Robert Helpmann, then planning a ballet based on Shakespeare's Hamlet. The success of his designs set Hurry on a second career as one of the most distinguished theatre designers of his generation. He designed operas, ballets and plays, notably Swan Lake for the Sadler's Wells Ballet in 1943, a production which stayed in the repertoire for thirty years; Venice Preserv'd for Peter Brook (1953); the Ring Cycle at Covent Garden (1954), and Troilus and Cressida at Stratford for Peter Hall (1960), famous for being staged in a sand pit.

Leslie Hurry’s designs for The Queen of Spades were criticised for their lack of colour, and for failing to convey the lavish dress and wealth of aristocratic society in 18th-century St Petersburg. The Sunday Times, however, considered the sets ‘harmoniously coloured’ and ‘suitably uncluttered and oppressive’ and a reviewer writing for The Times found the costumes of Russian officers in the gambling scene particularly 'appealing'.

Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleThe Queen of Spades (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Ink, watercolour and pencil
Brief description
Costume design by Leslie Hurry for a promenader in Act I, Scene I of Tchaikovsky's opera The Queen of Spades, Sadler's Wells Theatre, 1966
Physical description
Costume design by Leslie Hurry for a promenader in Act I, Scene I of the 1966 production of The Queen of Spades at Sadler's Wells Theatre.

The design shows a full-length, profile image of a male figure in a long, cutaway jacket with a high, upright, collar and wide revers. The coat is a pale gold and is worn over a striped waistcoat and with pale cream fall-front breeches. The figure carries a slim cane in his left hand and carries a bicorn hat in his right hand.
Dimensions
  • Height: 38cm
  • Width: 19.2cm
Marks and inscriptions
  • 'Queen of Spades' (Handwritten annotation in ink, at centre top)
  • 'Promenade Act I Sc I'/'Bass' (Handwritten annotation in pen at the centre base of the sketch)
  • 'coat velveteen/silk lacings' (Handwritten annotation in blue biro in the bottom right hand corner)
  • 'Careford' (Handwritten annotation in pencil at the left hand side)
  • 'Brovick[?] velveteen/Rubar grograin [sic]/Alia waistcoat/Vel[illegible] lining 7340' (Handwritten annotation on the rear of the design)
Credit line
Given by Mrs Caro Rathbone
Literary referenceQueen of Spades
Summary
Costume design by Leslie Hurry for a promenader in Act I, Scene I of Tchaikovsky's opera The Queen of Spades, Sadler's Wells Theatre, 1966. The costume was worn by bass Ronald Careford.

This production of the three-act opera, The Queen of Spades by Peter Tchaikovsky, with its libretto based on Alexander Pushkin’s story by Modest Tchaikovsky, was performed in an English translation by Rosa Newmarch. The first production of this opera at Sadler’s Wells Theatre opened on 14 September 1966. The production was directed by Anthony Besch with choreography by Harry Haythorne and Leslie Hurry’s designs were lit by Charles Bristow.

Leslie Hurry (1909-1978) trained at the Royal Academy and during the 1930s became known as a surrealist painter. A one-man show in London in 1942 was seen by the theatre director, Michael Benthall, who recommended Hurry to the dancer and choreographer, Robert Helpmann, then planning a ballet based on Shakespeare's Hamlet. The success of his designs set Hurry on a second career as one of the most distinguished theatre designers of his generation. He designed operas, ballets and plays, notably Swan Lake for the Sadler's Wells Ballet in 1943, a production which stayed in the repertoire for thirty years; Venice Preserv'd for Peter Brook (1953); the Ring Cycle at Covent Garden (1954), and Troilus and Cressida at Stratford for Peter Hall (1960), famous for being staged in a sand pit.

Leslie Hurry’s designs for The Queen of Spades were criticised for their lack of colour, and for failing to convey the lavish dress and wealth of aristocratic society in 18th-century St Petersburg. The Sunday Times, however, considered the sets ‘harmoniously coloured’ and ‘suitably uncluttered and oppressive’ and a reviewer writing for The Times found the costumes of Russian officers in the gambling scene particularly 'appealing'.
Collection
Accession number
S.1399-2014

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Record createdJuly 11, 2014
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