Show Boat thumbnail 1
Not on display

Show Boat

Set Model
2015 (designed)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Set model by Lez Brotherston for Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II's musical, Show Boat, Sheffield Crucible Theatre, 2015, and New London Theatre, 2016.

Lez Brotherston OBE (born 1961) is an influential and innovative British set and costume designer, who trained at the Central School of Art and Design. Brotherston started his career designing for the film Letter to Brezhnev (1985) and has worked extensively across dance, theatre, opera, musical theatre and film. He is best known for his collaborations with choreographer Matthew Bourne and Bourne’s dance companies Adventures in Motion Pictures and New Adventures, where he is an Associate Artist. Their ground-breaking Swan Lake (1995) with male swans has received over 30 international awards to date, including a Tony Award for Best Costume Design. In 1998, Brotherston received the Olivier Award’s Outstanding Achievement in Dance for Matthew Bourne’s Cinderella, which was set during the Blitz. In 2005, Brotherston designed, co-wrote and co-directed Les Liaisons Dangereuses with Adam Cooper and has designed sets and costume for many national companies including the National Theatre, Scottish Ballet, English National Opera and the Royal Shakespeare Company. Brotherston received the Ninette de Valois Award for Outstanding Contribution to Dance in 2018 and has worked extensively throughout the UK with companies Kneehigh, Shakespeare’s Globe, Sheffield Crucible, Almeida Theatre, Northern Ballet, Theatre Royal Stratford East, Old Vic, Glyndebourne and Chichester Festival Theatre. He has also designed numerous productions for the West End including Long Day’s Journey into Night, The Rise and Fall of Little Voice, Sister Act and Oh What a Lovely War. In 2022 Brotherston was awarded an OBE for services to Dance and Theatre.

Object details

Categories
Object type
Parts
This object consists of 6 parts.

  • Set Model
  • Set Model
  • Set Model
  • Set Model
  • Set Model
  • Set Model
TitleShow Boat (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Plastic and copper metal alloy
Brief description
Set model by Lez Brotherston for the musical, Show Boat, Sheffield Crucible Theatre, 2015, and New London Theatre, 2016
Physical description
Set model by Lez Brotherston for Show Boat. Model representing a section of a Mississippi paddle steamer, with balustrades, curving stairs leading to two higher levels and, to each side, the upper half of the paddle wheels, the wheels decorated with the name, Cotton Blossom.
Dimensions
  • Height: 25cm (approx.)
  • Width: 35cm (approx.)
  • Depth: 25cm (approx.)
Gallery label
(2022)
Re:Imagining Musicals, 15 October 2022 - 4 February 2024

Show Boat
Jerome Kern’s and Oscar Hammerstein II’s ground-breaking musical chronicles life aboard the Cotton Blossom, a floating theatre on a steamboat. It was revolutionary for exploring topics like race relations through realistic and three-dimensional characters. Edna Ferber, who wrote the book on which it was based, researched the reality of ‘show boat’ workers in detail including: ‘reading, interviewing, taking notes and making outlines’. For this revival production, Lez Brotherston created an abstract steamer onstage which used different levels to emphasise the hierarchy between races.

Set model for Show Boat
2016
Designed by Lez Brotherston
Materials Plastic, copper metal alloy
Museum no. S.599:1 to 6-2021
Given by the designer

London cast recording of Show Boat
1961
Designed by Reginald Mount
Printing ink on card
Museum no. BMT/2/1/2583
Given by Overtures: The Bunnett-Muir Musical Theatre Archive Trust
Credit line
Given by the designer
Summary
Set model by Lez Brotherston for Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II's musical, Show Boat, Sheffield Crucible Theatre, 2015, and New London Theatre, 2016.

Lez Brotherston OBE (born 1961) is an influential and innovative British set and costume designer, who trained at the Central School of Art and Design. Brotherston started his career designing for the film Letter to Brezhnev (1985) and has worked extensively across dance, theatre, opera, musical theatre and film. He is best known for his collaborations with choreographer Matthew Bourne and Bourne’s dance companies Adventures in Motion Pictures and New Adventures, where he is an Associate Artist. Their ground-breaking Swan Lake (1995) with male swans has received over 30 international awards to date, including a Tony Award for Best Costume Design. In 1998, Brotherston received the Olivier Award’s Outstanding Achievement in Dance for Matthew Bourne’s Cinderella, which was set during the Blitz. In 2005, Brotherston designed, co-wrote and co-directed Les Liaisons Dangereuses with Adam Cooper and has designed sets and costume for many national companies including the National Theatre, Scottish Ballet, English National Opera and the Royal Shakespeare Company. Brotherston received the Ninette de Valois Award for Outstanding Contribution to Dance in 2018 and has worked extensively throughout the UK with companies Kneehigh, Shakespeare’s Globe, Sheffield Crucible, Almeida Theatre, Northern Ballet, Theatre Royal Stratford East, Old Vic, Glyndebourne and Chichester Festival Theatre. He has also designed numerous productions for the West End including Long Day’s Journey into Night, The Rise and Fall of Little Voice, Sister Act and Oh What a Lovely War. In 2022 Brotherston was awarded an OBE for services to Dance and Theatre.
Collection
Accession number
S.599:1 to 6-2021

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Record createdMay 21, 2021
Record URL
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