{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1221638"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1221638/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2011FD4191/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2011FD4191/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"low","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2011FD4191","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum,London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1221638","accessionNumber":"S.2288-1986","objectType":"Set design","titles":[{"title":"Bonne Bouche","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"Set design by Osbert Lancaster for a South Kensington Square for the ballet<i> Bonne Bouche</i> (translated as 'appetising treat') presented at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden on 4 April 1952. <i>Bonne Bouche</i> was in 3 scenes choreographed by John Cranko to music by Arthur Oldham and designs by Osbert Lancaster. It was performed by the Sadler’s Wells Ballet.\r\n\r\nOsbert Lancaster, who is best remembered as a cartoonist and illustrator, was introduced to theatre when he was taken to a performance of<i> The Sleeping Princess</i> by Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes at the Alhambra. In the 1950s and 1960s he became a designer of sets and costumes acclaimed for their liveliness and wit. He designed  four productions for the companies that became The Royal Ballet beginning with Cranko's popular <i>Pineapple Poll </i>for the Festival of Britain through to the still performed <i>La Fille mal gardee</i> choreographed by Frederick Ashton. He also designed for Glyndebourne, the Old Vic and Festival Ballet. \r\n\r\nBonne Bouche was a cautionary tale, a spoof on Edwardian attitudes, in this instance a mother prepared to wed her daughter to the highest bidder. Critic Mary Clarke felt it paralleled Evelyn Waugh's novel <i>Black Mischief</i> also partly set in Africa, noting that was enjoyed for two seasons 'a tasty morsel, but not a sustaining meal'. While the ballet would be unacceptable in the twenty first century and one critic did criticise it as a work in bad taste, its caricature characters were appreciated as light-hearted entertainment in 1952.  ","physicalDescription":"The design for the backcloth of the setting of a South Kensington square used for setting for the first and third scene of <i>Bonne Bouche</i> shows the back of a church surrounded by trees within an iron railing. In front of the railing is a statue of a nude and at the sides the porticoed facades of the mansions. At the top of the design is a diagram of how the elements of the set would fit together.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Lancaster, Osbert (Sir)","id":"A13684"},"association":{"text":"theatre designers","id":"AAT25681"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[],"techniques":[{"text":"painting","id":"x30598"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"paint paper","categories":[{"text":"Entertainment & Leisure","id":"THES48959"},{"text":"Designs","id":"THES48968"},{"text":"Dance","id":"THES252984"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"T&P","id":"THES48602"},"images":["2011FD4191"],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"006","id":"THES356665"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"set design","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Great Britain","id":"x32019"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca. 1952","earliest":"1947-01-01","latest":"1956-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Given by the British Council","dimensions":[],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Set design by Osbert Lancaster for a Kensington Square for John Cranko's<i> Bonne-Bouche</i>, Sadler's Wells Ballet, 1952","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["S.2288-1986"],"accessionNumberNum":"2288","accessionNumberPrefix":"S","accessionYear":1986,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-16","recordCreationDate":"2011-05-12","availableToBook":true}}