{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1741399"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1741399/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2024NU5506/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2024NU5506/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"low","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2024NU5506","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1741399","accessionNumber":"S.686-2024","objectType":"Theatre design","titles":[{"title":"The Mikado","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"In 1939 Peter Goffin (1906-1974) was enlisted by Rupert D’Oyly Carte to follow William Bridges-Adams as scenic designer for the D’Oyly Carte Opera Company. Between 1957 and 1959 Goffinʼs Unit Set replaced most of the existing D’Oyly Carte Opera Company sets for Gilbert and Sullivan's operas. It was possibly one of the biggest contributions to the company, saving space and transportation costs. \n\nIn the 1960s, expanding road transport and the building of motorways in the UK coincided with the running down of the railway network. For 70 years the D'Oyly Carte company had travelled by train, and taken advantage of the free transportation service provided by the rail companies which enabled it to charter a goods van for the scenery, costumes and properties, With branch lines closing, the company now had to take to the road and employ ten large lorries, which caused the cost of touring to soar.\n\nGoffin devised a way of reducing the amount of scenery required. Instead of designing completely different sets for each opera, he created a basic stage set of neutrally coloured borders and wings onto which ‘veneers’ of scenery could be fixed. This allowed the company to reduce the number of lorries from ten to six. Audiences never noticed that the same foliage border was used in more than one opera and that a woodland glade that appeared in Act I of <i>Iolanthe</i> also featured in Act II of <i>Patience</i>. The Unit Set had to be adaptable to accommodate theatres of vastly different proscenium widths. The D’Oyly Carte’s London home, the Savoy Theatre, was one of the narrowest at 29ft. The set was made to a standard height but with extra-long borders to slide between the wing flats. The middle border was extra deep (12ft) so that it could be lowered for the inset back wall flats of <i>Cox and Box</i> and <i>Trial by Jury</i>. \r\n\r\nIn the 1960s, Bridget DʼOyly Carte brought in new directors like Anthony Besch, who wished to work with their own favoured designers, such as Disley Jones. They insisted that the Unit Set hampered artistic freedom and should be dispensed with, returning to the more conventional built settings of flats, ground rows and borders that can be seen in the company’s 1966 film version of <i>The Mikado</i>.\r\n","physicalDescription":"Backcloth design for Act II of <i>The Mikado</i>, staged by the D’Oyly Carte Opera  Company. Watercolour and gouache on cartridge paper by Peter Goffin, 1952, featuring a landscape with a lake and a lone tree with white blossom. Inscribed in black ink above the image '<i>The Mikado</i> Backcloth Act II   ½” scale'. Signed 'Peter Goffin 52' in black ink below the image.   \n\r\n","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Goffin, Peter","id":"A33238"},"association":{"text":"theatre designers","id":"AAT25681"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"watercolour","id":"x33202"},{"text":"gouache","id":"AAT70114"},{"text":"cartridge paper","id":"AAT14136"}],"techniques":[{"text":"drawing (image-making)","id":"AAT54196"},{"text":"painting (image-making)","id":"AAT54216"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Watercolour and gouache on paper","categories":[{"text":"Entertainment & Leisure","id":"THES48959"},{"text":"Theatre","id":"THES250537"},{"text":"Opera","id":"THES263971"},{"text":"Designs","id":"THES48968"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"T&P","id":"THES48602"},"images":["2024NU5506"],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"FWK10","id":"THES49145"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"theatre, set design","id":"x31494"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Great Britain","id":"x32019"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1952","earliest":"1952-01-01","latest":"1952-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Given by Julian Courtenay","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"38.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"57.1","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"In 1975 Dame Bridget D'Oyly Carte gave her archive relating to the D'Oyly Carte Company to the V&A. This design was one of several Peter Goffin designs that should have been part of that gift. They were found later in an office cupboard at the Savoy Theatre by the manager of the theatre, Julian Courtenay, who gave them to the museum.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Design for the Act 2 backcloth for the D'Oyly Carte production of <i>The Mikado</i>. Watercolour and gouache on cartridge paper by Peter Goffin (1906-1974), 1952","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["S.686-2024"],"accessionNumberNum":"686","accessionNumberPrefix":"S","accessionYear":2024,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-09","recordCreationDate":"2023-01-06","availableToBook":true}}