Costume design by Leslie Hurry for Iain Cuthbertson as the Duke of Alba in Jonathan Griffin's The Hidden King, first performed at the Assembly Hall, Edinburgh Festival 1957.

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.

The Hidden King, designed by Leslie Hurry allegedly cost £20,000 and had 134 Renaissance-style costumes worn by a cast of 52 actors. The action, concerning the right of a sixteenth century king to the throne of Portugal, extends over Portugal, Spain, Italy and Sicily. It was first performed at the Assembly Hall on 20 August 1957 for the Edinburgh Festival. Nigel Fortune arranged the music and Michael Northen was technical adviser to the designer Leslie Hurry. The costume supervisor was Dinah Greet and the costumes were executed by Bermans.

The drama critic of The Times (21/08/1957) claimed that ‘the pictorial splendour of this Renaissance drama in verse surpasses that of any play ever presented at Edinburgh’s Assembly Hall’. That of the Daily Telegraph observed ‘If one has to admit that the piece in its present form is too hard on the ear it is uncommonly easy on the eye. Leslie Hurry has made a bold adaptation of the Assembly Hall’s bleak contours, giving them somehow a touch of Southern warmth which is repeated and intensified in his gorgeous costumes’.