Costume design by Hugh Stevenson for the Messenger in Antony and Cleopatra in a programme of scenes from Shakespeare, British Council tour, early 1950s

Costume design by Hugh Stevenson for the Messenger in Antony and Cleopatra, showing a full length front facing male figure wearing a doublet in brown orange with black detailing, black sleeves and trunk hose, over which, around the neck and around the hips, is worn a wide orange pink serrated-edged band, edged in yellow with a yellow tassel from every point. The tights are dark brown red and the shoes black and around the calves are decorative bands similar to the collar and 'skirt'. On the head is a high-crowned pointed headdress with falling panels around the head in orange pink edged with yellow and trimmed with tassels, with a bold twisted yellow band around the crown. To the right of the head is a pencil sketch of the headdress. The design is inscribed with the name of the play and the role with annotations for the costume maker and is signed and dated.

Cyril W. Beaumont Bequest

This is one of 25 designs by Hugh Stevenson for a programme of excerpts from Shakespeare devised for a British Council tour in the early 1950s. It was performed by a small company led by Walter Fitzgerald and called for costumes that would clearly indicate the different characters while allowing for quick changes. This Stevenson achieved by creating a basic costume in the Elizabethan style for each actor to which were added robes, tunics, overdresses or accessories.

The designs are part of the collection that came to the Museum from the dance historian and publisher Cyril Beaumont and may originally have formed part of the London Archives of the Dance.

Historical significance: A group of designs showing how a designer solves the problem of creating costumes for a programme of extracts from various Shakespeare plays (which means allowing for quick changes), by creating several basic costumes which can be adapted, or to which accessories can be added, to indicate specific characters

Costume design by Hugh Stevenson for the Messenger in Antony and Cleopatra in a programme of scenes from Shakespeare, British Council tour, early 1950s.

S.164-2000