{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1625393"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1625393/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2022NG8785/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2022NG8785/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"low","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2022NG8785","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1625393","accessionNumber":"S.638-2021","objectType":"Costume design","titles":[{"title":"Cinderella","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"Design by Lez Brotherston for a ‘Blue Woman’ in Matthew Bourne’s revival of <i>Cinderella</i> for New Adventures, 2017.\r\n\nLez 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 <i>Letter to Brezhnev</i> (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 <i>Swan Lake</i> (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 <i>Cinderella</i>, which was set during the Blitz. In 2005, Brotherston designed, co-wrote and co-directed <i>Les Liaisons Dangereuses</i> 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 <i>Long Day’s Journey into Night</i>, <i>The Rise and Fall of Little Voice</i>, <i>Sister Act</i> and <i>Oh What a Lovely War</i>. In 2022 Brotherston was awarded an OBE for services to Dance and Theatre. \n\nMatthew Bourne’s <i>Cinderella</i> was created by Adventures in Motion Pictures, and premiered at the Piccadilly Theatre, London, on 26 September 1997, following previews from 24 September. After its first run, it transferred to the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles. It has toured extensively internationally and remains part of the repertoire of Bourne's current company, New Adventures, with amendments made with new revivals. Danced to the score by Serge Prokofiev, the production is set in London amid the chaos of the Blitz during the Second World War. It is a war-time romance. A chance meeting one night brings Cinderella and a handsome young RAF pilot together, just long enough for them to fall madly in love before being torn apart by the German bombing raids. <i>The Times</i>, 9 October 1997, praised Brotherston, describing the production as ‘another triumph for this brilliant dance designer’.  \n\nThe dancers, who were popularly referred to as the Blue Couples and, indeed, were called that in the 1997 Piccadilly Theatre programme, feature in the Act 2 night club scene. In subsequent revivals, programmes describe them as 'Guests at the Café de Paris'. Seemingly dead at the start of the Act after the bomb is heard, they gradually come back to life. According to Bourne, ‘the sense here is that these blue couples are the spirits of dead lovers who have been killed in the war…the women have versions of 1940s ballroom dresses’. The distressed appearance of the women's skirts makes the audience aware of the bombing. When the production was reworked in Los Angeles, the dancers were given more individual hairstyles and details. Here the woman wears her hair in a red snood.\r\n","physicalDescription":"Costume design by Lez Brotherston for a guest at the Café de Paris in <i>Cinderella</i>, described as a Blue Woman. Full length female figure, looking to viewer's left. She has a long-sleeved fitted jacket with buttons and a low v-neck, and is decorated with a red jewelled brooch. Her long blue organza dress is distressed at the hem and she is barefoot. She has red lipstick and nail polish and wears her hair in a red snood. Stuck on the right of the design is a printed strip with the word <i>Cinderella</i> in bold capitals, white on black, which runs up the paper from bottom to top. To lower right are two stamps: 'The Society of British Theatre Designers Equity Protected Copyright' and 'United Scenic Artists CD 1175 Costume Designer'. The design is drawn on a page from an art sketchbook, with holes from the spiral binding at left.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Brotherston, Lez","id":"A6676"},"association":{"text":"costume designers","id":"AAT163428"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"watercolour","id":"x33202"},{"text":"ink","id":"AAT15012"},{"text":"pencil","id":"x30347"},{"text":"paper","id":"x30308"}],"techniques":[{"text":"painting (image-making)","id":"AAT54216"},{"text":"drawing (image-making)","id":"AAT54196"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Watercolour, ink and pencil on paper","categories":[{"text":"Entertainment & Leisure","id":"THES48959"},{"text":"Designs","id":"THES48968"},{"text":"Dance","id":"THES252984"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"T&P","id":"THES48602"},"images":["2022NG8785"],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"003","id":"THES402711"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"costume designs","id":""}],[{"text":"theatre designs","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Great Britain","id":"x32019"},"association":{"text":"designed","id":"x29338"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca.2017","earliest":"2012-01-01","latest":"2021-12-31"},"association":{"text":"designed","id":"x29338"},"note":"This is the date of the redesigned revival. The original production was created in 1997."}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Given by the designer","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"30.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"40.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":""}],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Design by Lez Brotherston for a ‘Blue Woman’ in Matthew Bourne’s revival of <i>Cinderella</i> for New Adventures, 2017","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["S.638-2021"],"accessionNumberNum":"638","accessionNumberPrefix":"S","accessionYear":2021,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-01-26","recordCreationDate":"2021-05-21","availableToBook":false}}