{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O106933"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O106933/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2009CP2689/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2009CP2689/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"low","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2009CP2689","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2009CP2662","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2009CP2661","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2009CP2637","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O106933","accessionNumber":"S.656-1981","objectType":"Theatre costume","titles":[{"title":"Headdress for the Gravedigger in Hamlet","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"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 <i>Hamlet</i>.  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 <i>Swan Lake</i> for the Sadler's Wells Ballet in 1943, a production which stayed in the repertoire for thirty years; <i>Venice Preserved</i> for Peter Brook (1953); the Ring Cycle at Covent Garden (1954), and <i>Troilus and Cressida</i> at Stratford for Peter Hall (1960), famous for being staged in a sand pit.\r\n\r\nHelpmann's one-act ballet was inspired by Shakespeare's lines 'For in that sleep what dreams may come When we have shuffled off this mortal coil', and represents the distorted memories of the dying Hamlet. Helpmann wanted his audiences to be aware from the start that they were not about to see a mimed version of the play. He limited the named characters to eight. All are already dead, with the exception of the Gravedigger who is the first to appear. In Hamlet's confused mind, he becomes the long-deceased jester, Yorick.  Hurry designed a costume that was on one side a gravedigger's leather tunic, on the other a multi-coloured jester's motley. At the back of the cap-and-bells headdress is attached a grinning skull.","physicalDescription":"Headdress for the Gravedigger in Robert Helpmann's ballet <i>Hamlet</i>, Sadler's Wells Ballet, New Theatre, 1942. Jester's hat in papier mache, the back in the form of a skull.  Painted in dull yellow and dull red.  Trimmed with plastic ivy.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Hurry, Leslie","id":"A9404"},"association":{"text":"costume designer","id":"AAT163428"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"papier-mâché","id":"AAT14245"},{"text":"paint","id":"AAT15029"},{"text":"plastic","id":"AAT14570"}],"techniques":[{"text":"painting","id":"x30598"},{"text":"glueing","id":"AAT53012"},{"text":"forming","id":"AAT53098"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Papier-mâché, plastic and paint","categories":[{"text":"Entertainment & Leisure","id":"THES48959"},{"text":"Hats & headwear","id":"THES48943"},{"text":"Theatre costume","id":"THES268477"},{"text":"Dance","id":"THES252984"},{"text":"Shakespeare","id":"THES253244"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"T&P","id":"THES48602"},"images":["2009CP2689","2009CP2662","2009CP2661","2009CP2637"],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"001","id":"THES343110"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Theatre costume","id":""}],[{"text":"dance costume","id":"x34504"}],[{"text":"Hats","id":"AAT46106"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Great Britain","id":"x32019"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1942","earliest":"1942-01-01","latest":"1942-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Given by the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"26","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"16","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"40","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"Robert Helpmann's ballet <i>Hamlet</i> was first performed by the Sadler's Wells (now Royal) Ballet at the New (now the Noel Coward) Theatre on 19 May 1942.  The ballet used music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.  The role of the Gravedigger was danced by Leo Kersley.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Headdress designed by Leslie Hurry (1909-1978) for the Gravedigger in Robert Helpmann's ballet <i>Hamlet</i>, Sadler's Wells Ballet, New Theatre, 1942","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"Strong, Roy, Ivor Guest, Richard Buckle, Sarah C. Woodcock and Philip Dyer, Spotlight: four centuries of ballet costume, a tribute to the Royal Ballet, London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1981.","id":"AUTH349939"},"details":"","free":""}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["S.656-1981"],"accessionNumberNum":"656","accessionNumberPrefix":"S","accessionYear":1981,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2019LN8503","2019LR2416","2019LP2206","2019LT5923","2019LV1063","2019LW5177","2019LW3961"],"recordModificationDate":"2026-02-24","recordCreationDate":"2004-11-01","availableToBook":true}}