Not currently on display at the V&A

Maggie May

Costume Design
1964 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Costume designs by Leslie Hurry for six women in the musical Maggie May by Alun Owen and Lionel Bart, Adelphi Theatre, September 1964. These are probably for the chorus of dockers’ wives and prostitutes.

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.

Maggie May by Alun Owen and Lionel Bart directed by Ted Kotcheff with choreography by Paddy Stone was first performed at the Adelphi Theatre, London, on 22 September1964. Leslie Hurry designed the costumes and the set was designed by Sean Kenny. The musical was set in contemporary Liverpool.


Object details

Category
Object type
TitleMaggie May (assigned by artist)
Materials and techniques
Pen, pencil, and coloured pencil on paper
Brief description
Costume designs by Leslie Hurry for six women in the musical Maggie May by Alun Owen and Lionel Bart, Adelphi Theatre, September 1964
Physical description
Pen, pencil and coloured pencil costume design on paper by Leslie Hurry for Alun Owen and Lionel Bart's Maggie May. The design shows costumes for six women with patterns lightly drawn in with blue, orange, brown, green and yellow coloured pencil.
Dimensions
  • Height: 21cm (approx.)
  • Width: 35cm (approx.)
Marks and inscriptions
  • Maggie May Leslie Hurry signature (On front side in black ink)
  • B V (On reverse side in purple ink)
Credit line
Given by Mrs Caro Rathbone
Summary
Costume designs by Leslie Hurry for six women in the musical Maggie May by Alun Owen and Lionel Bart, Adelphi Theatre, September 1964. These are probably for the chorus of dockers’ wives and prostitutes.

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.

Maggie May by Alun Owen and Lionel Bart directed by Ted Kotcheff with choreography by Paddy Stone was first performed at the Adelphi Theatre, London, on 22 September1964. Leslie Hurry designed the costumes and the set was designed by Sean Kenny. The musical was set in contemporary Liverpool.
Collection
Accession number
S.1802-2014

About this object record

Explore the Collections contains over a million catalogue records, and over half a million images. It is a working database that includes information compiled over the life of the museum. Some of our records may contain offensive and discriminatory language, or reflect outdated ideas, practice and analysis. We are committed to addressing these issues, and to review and update our records accordingly.

You can write to us to suggest improvements to the record.

Suggest feedback

Record createdAugust 6, 2014
Record URL
Download as: JSON