King Lear
Set Design
1958 (made)
1958 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Working set design by Leslie Hurry for William Shakespeare's King Lear produced by the Old Vic Company by Douglas Seale, 1958.
Philip Hope-Wallace in the Manchester Guardian 21 February 1958 praised the ‘murky whorl’ of a set as most satisfactory design for King Lear that he had seen for many years and the critic of the Illustrated London News found it ‘exceedingly fine in the elemental simplicities of the Leslie Hurry set. HGM noted that ‘the spreading action of the play is well enclosed in a setting of riven rock by Leslie Hurry’ although Robert Wraight in the Star considered it a horror ‘a sort of subterranean Stonehenge with a central rostrum like a stationary roundabout that sends all the axctors on a circular tour to take up their positions.’
The production of King Lear was first performed at the Old Vic Theatre, London on 19 February 1958.
Philip Hope-Wallace in the Manchester Guardian 21 February 1958 praised the ‘murky whorl’ of a set as most satisfactory design for King Lear that he had seen for many years and the critic of the Illustrated London News found it ‘exceedingly fine in the elemental simplicities of the Leslie Hurry set. HGM noted that ‘the spreading action of the play is well enclosed in a setting of riven rock by Leslie Hurry’ although Robert Wraight in the Star considered it a horror ‘a sort of subterranean Stonehenge with a central rostrum like a stationary roundabout that sends all the axctors on a circular tour to take up their positions.’
The production of King Lear was first performed at the Old Vic Theatre, London on 19 February 1958.
Object details
| Category | |
| Object type | |
| Title | King Lear (assigned by artist) |
| Materials and techniques | Ink, crayon and watercolour on paper |
| Brief description | Working set design by Leslie Hurry for William Shakespeare's King Lear produced by the Old Vic Company by Douglas Seale, 1958 |
| Physical description | Ink, crayon and watercolour on paper working set design by Leslie Hurry for William Shakespeare's King Lear produced by the Old Vic Company by Douglas Seale, 1958. The set depicted contains a circular turntable and along with shards of stone serving as columns. |
| Dimensions |
|
| Marks and inscriptions | Cloucester
Cordelia
Lear
Edmund
Albany
Cornwall
Regan
Goneril
France
Fool
Burgundy
Soldiers
Along with other illegible annotations (On reverse side in pencil) |
| Credit line | Given by Mrs Caro Rathbone |
| Summary | Working set design by Leslie Hurry for William Shakespeare's King Lear produced by the Old Vic Company by Douglas Seale, 1958. Philip Hope-Wallace in the Manchester Guardian 21 February 1958 praised the ‘murky whorl’ of a set as most satisfactory design for King Lear that he had seen for many years and the critic of the Illustrated London News found it ‘exceedingly fine in the elemental simplicities of the Leslie Hurry set. HGM noted that ‘the spreading action of the play is well enclosed in a setting of riven rock by Leslie Hurry’ although Robert Wraight in the Star considered it a horror ‘a sort of subterranean Stonehenge with a central rostrum like a stationary roundabout that sends all the axctors on a circular tour to take up their positions.’ The production of King Lear was first performed at the Old Vic Theatre, London on 19 February 1958. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | S.2058-2014 |
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| Record created | September 17, 2014 |
| Record URL |
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