{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1299500"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1299500/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2014HG0110/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2014HG0110/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"low","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2014HG0110","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1299500","accessionNumber":"S.1908-2014","objectType":"Costume design","titles":[{"title":"Becket","type":"assigned by artist"}],"summaryDescription":"Costume design by Leslie Hurry for Becket's servants in <i>Becket</i> by Jean Anouilh as performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company, 1961. The servants were played by Ian Cullen and William Austin.\r\n\nLeslie 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 Preserv'd</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.\n\nThe play, Becket or The Honour of God, by Jean Anouilh is an ironical view of the relationship between King Henry II and Thomas à Becket used for the playwright’s own debate. As he wrote in the programme note ‘I hope the English will forgive me…for never bothering to find out what Henry II or even Becket was really like. I created the King I wanted and the ambiguous Becket I needed.’ Anouilh’s play was translated into English by Lucienne Hill and directed by Peter Hall for Royal Shakespeare Company at the Aldwych Theatre, London, where it opened on 11 July\r\n1961. It transferred to the Globe Theatre, London, and first performed on 13 December 1961.\r\n\r\nLeslie Hurry’s set and costume designs came in for considerable discussion by the critics. Philip Hope Wallace in the Guardian (13 July 1961) considered the scenery had weight and splendour that served Hall’s approach to the play as a ‘large chronicle play’.\r\n\r\nCostumes were made by Bonn and Mackenzie.\n\n","physicalDescription":"Ink, crayon and watercolour on paper design by Leslie Hurry with pencil annotation and beige and reddish-brown fabric swatches in the top two corners. The design is for Becket's servants in the RSC's 1961 production of <i>Becket</i> by Jean Anouilh and shows two men wearing plain brown tunics with tights and boots.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Hurry, Leslie","id":"A9404"},"association":{"text":"designer","id":"AAT25681"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[{"name":{"text":"Royal Shakespeare Company","id":"C1696"},"association":{"text":"producer","id":"AAT197742"},"note":""}],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"ink","id":"AAT15012"},{"text":"paper","id":"x30308"},{"text":"pencil","id":"x30347"},{"text":"crayon","id":"x30605"},{"text":"watercolour","id":"x33202"},{"text":"cloth","id":"AAT162391"}],"techniques":[{"text":"drawing (image-making)","id":"AAT54196"},{"text":"painting (image-making)","id":"AAT54216"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Black ink, crayon, watercolour and pencil on paper with fabric swatches","categories":[{"text":"Entertainment & Leisure","id":"THES48959"},{"text":"Theatre","id":"THES250537"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"T&P","id":"THES48602"},"images":["2014HG0110"],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"004","id":"THES356573"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"design","id":"AAT54190"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Great Britain","id":"x32019"},"association":{"text":"drawn","id":"x30545"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1961","earliest":"1961-01-01","latest":"1961-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Given by Mrs Caro Rathbone","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"47.6","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"25.7","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"Beckets [sic] Servants\r\nLeslie Hurry signature\r\nWilliam Austen\r\nIan Cullen\nV","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"On front side in pencil and black and purple ink"},{"content":"£150\r\n22\r\n2","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"On reverse side in pencil"}],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Costume design by Leslie Hurry for Becket's servants in <i>Becket</i> by Jean Anouilh as performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company, 1961","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":["Becket"],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["S.1908-2014"],"accessionNumberNum":"1908","accessionNumberPrefix":"S","accessionYear":2014,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-16","recordCreationDate":"2014-08-26","availableToBook":true}}