{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1625543"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1625543/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2023NJ6477/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2023NJ6477/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"low","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2023NJ6477","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1625543","accessionNumber":"S.799-2021","objectType":"Costume design","titles":[{"title":"Into the Woods","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"Design by Lez Brotherston for one of Cinderella's stepsisters in Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's musical <i>Into the Woods</i>, directed by Will Tuckett for the Linbury Theatre, Royal Opera House, 2007. The costume is for the character at the end of the musical, after her eyes have been pecked out by birds.\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\r\nWill Tuckett directed <i> Into the Woods</i> for ROH2, the contemporary arm of activities at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London, during the first decade of the 21st century. ROH2 operated mostly in the Linbury studio theatre and the Clore Studio, outside the regular productions in the main Opera House programme. Will Tuckett and Lez Brotherston collaborated on several of these productions. <i>Into the</i> <i>Woods</i> was generally well received. Critics found the venue ‘ideal for Will Tuckett’s production and in particular Lez Brotherston’s delightful and, yes, magical settings’. Michael Darvell noted that the ‘cast is terrific…The band under James Holmes delivers Sondheim’s score with its own kind of magic and Will Tuckett’s deft and effortlessly fluid production is the cherry on the top of a very rich confection indeed’ (online review for <i>The Classical Source</i>).\n\r\n<i>Into the Woods</i> was performed in London, 18-30 June 2007, and transferred to the Lowry, Salford Quays, 4-7 July 2007. The sisters, Lucinda and Florinda, were played by Lara Pulver and Louise Bowden.","physicalDescription":"Costume design by Lez Brotherston for an Ugly Stepsister in <i>Into the Woods</i>. Full length female figure, facing viewer's left. She wears an 18th-century sack-back white dress with blue stripes, bows decorating the bodice and an interlaced pattern at the front of the overskirt. She has a blue and white choker and white wig with a blue feather. Dark glasses hide her bloody eyes and she hold a white walking stick in each hand. The words 'Once Upon' are written in black in elaborate Gothic lettering, right, running up the paper from bottom to top, and the character description, 'Ugly 2', is written in similar lettering, upper right, running left to right. The title, 'Into the Woods', in smaller Gothic lettering, is printed on an attached piece of cream-coloured paper, lower right hand corner. The design is drawn on a page from an art sketchbook, with holes from the spiral binding at top. The edges of the page are painted in a ragged black pattern to create a frame. ","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Brotherston, Lez","id":"A6676"},"association":{"text":"costume designers","id":"AAT163428"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"watercolour","id":"x33202"},{"text":"pencil","id":"x30347"},{"text":"ink","id":"AAT15012"},{"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":"Theatre","id":"THES250537"},{"text":"Musical Theatre","id":"THES278879"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"T&P","id":"THES48602"},"images":["2023NJ6477"],"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":"2007","earliest":"2007-01-01","latest":"2007-12-31"},"association":{"text":"designed","id":"x29338"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Given by the designer","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"40.7","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"30.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Design by Lez Brotherston for one of Cinderella's Ugly Stepsisters in Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's musical, <i>Into the Woods</i>, directed and choreographed by Will Tuckett for ROH2, 2007","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["S.799-2021"],"accessionNumberNum":"799","accessionNumberPrefix":"S","accessionYear":2021,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-01-26","recordCreationDate":"2021-05-21","availableToBook":false}}