{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1650682"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1650682/"}},"images":null,"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1650682","accessionNumber":"S.551-2021","objectType":"Photograph","titles":[{"title":"Sylvia","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"<i>Sylvia</i> was an adaptation of the ballet to music by Delibes that had been created at the Paris Opera in 1876. It was abridged and produced for the Empire Theatre, London, by Fred Farren with the libretti adapted by the designer, Wilhelm. His revisions included replacing hunter Orion with the god, Pan, whose attempts to abduct the nymph, Sylvia are foiled. \n\r\nFred Farren (1874-1956) was essentially a step dancer and mime, lacking a training in academic ballet. Having begun his career in pantomime, between 1904 and 1914 he was associated with the Empire as a dancer and producer. W. MacQueen-Pope in <i>Carriages at Eleven The Story of the Edwardian Theatre</i> (London: Hutchinson, 1947, p.213) described Farren as ‘the best male dancer this country - maybe the world - ever had. ... Here was the great pantomimist. He played ‘Pan' in one ballet, he knew little of the classics, yet caught the character of ‘Pan’ which he described as the ‘creature who was always watching.’ How right he was - for the woodland god of the glade was assuredly ever watchful and missed nothing.' Phyllis Bedells, who worked with him, claimed he 'was an extremely nimble dancer in demi-caractère', and Lydia Kyasht called him 'a master of make-up'. An obituary in<i> Ballet Annual 11 </i>(1956)  recorded that '[H]e never claimed to be fully trained in classical ballet technique; his strength was as a character dancer, and his pre-eminence as a mime....Discarding conventional ballet gestures, Farren aimed at simplicity and truth to nature; and, with his small, trim figure and endlessly expressive face, he seemed the very embodiment of the eternal commedia dell’arte.’    ","physicalDescription":"Photograph of a man in a scruffily-furred body suit with an elaborate wig and made up. He has a prosthetic nose and ears and a pair of horns on his head. He stands on his left leg with the right leg raised, bent at the knee, and he bends his body, bringing his hands toward his face. He is photographed against an Arcadian studio backdrop.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"photographers","id":"AAT25687"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"photographic paper","id":"AAT14190"}],"techniques":[{"text":"photography","id":"AAT54225"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Photograph","categories":[{"text":"Myths & Legends","id":"THES49005"},{"text":"Dance","id":"THES252984"},{"text":"Entertainment & Leisure","id":"THES48959"},{"text":"Photographs","id":"THES48910"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"T&P","id":"THES48602"},"images":[],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"004","id":"THES356629"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"photographs","id":"AAT46300"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"London","id":"x28980"},"association":{"text":"photographed","id":"x30151"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1911","earliest":"1911-01-01","latest":"1911-12-31"},"association":{"text":"photographed","id":"x30151"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Cyril W. Beaumont Bequest","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"13.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"9","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Photograph of Fred Farren as Pan in <i>Sylvia</i> at the Empire Theatre, London, 1911","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["S.551-2021"],"accessionNumberNum":"551","accessionNumberPrefix":"S","accessionYear":2021,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-04-17","recordCreationDate":"2021-08-12","availableToBook":true}}