{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1806900"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1806900/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2025PG3998/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2025PG3998/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2025PG3998","copyright":"Paul Brown","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O1806900/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1806900","accessionNumber":"S.463-2026","objectType":"Costume design","titles":[{"title":"The Magic Flute","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"Paul Brown (1960 - 2017) was a highly acclaimed British stage designer whose innovative costumes and set designs for opera, drama, dance and film were seen nationally and globally, in productions at the Royal Court, Glyndebourne, La Scala and the lake stage at the Bregenz Festival. \n\nBrown began his career in the early 1980s, after completing the Motley Theatre Design Course at London’s Riverside Studios under noted designer Percy Harris. Between 1986 and 1987, Brown designed several plays at the Royal Court Theatre, London, including <i>Road</i> by Jim Cartwright and <i>A Lie of the Mind</i> by Sam Shepard. In 1989, Brown designed his first large-scale production, <i>Ghanashyam</i>, composed by Ravi Shankar and directed by Graham Vick. \r\n\r\nIn 1991, Brown made his debut for the Royal Opera House with <i>Mitridate, re di Ponto</i>, directed by Graham Vick. In 1999, <i>Falstaff </i>re-opened the Covent Garden location after a two-year refurbishment. Brown designed a total of seven productions for the Royal Opera House, including <i>King Arthur</i> (1995) and <i>Tosca</i> (2006). Directed by Jonathan Kent, <i>Tosca</i> has been revived at the Royal Opera House 10 times, most recently in 2024. The production has been filmed and is considered a staple of the Royal Opera House repertoire.Brown began a long collaboration with the Almeida Theatre in 2000 with his design for <i>The Tempest</i>, directed by Jonathan Kent. Brown also designed Kent’s <i>Richard II/Coriolanus</i> (2000) at the Almeida Theatre and, alongside<i> The Tempes</i><i>t</i>, the productions were jointly awarded a Critics Circle Award for Best Design. Kent and Brown would go on to collaborate on<i> Platonov</i> (2001) and <i>King Lear</i> (2002) at the Almeida, along with operas at the Royal Opera House and Glyndebourne.\r\n\r\nThroughout the 2000s and 2010s, Brown worked prolifically on a range of British and international productions. He designed some of his most ambitious productions for the prestigious Glyndebourne opera house. Jonathan Kent described Brown as at home at Glyndebourne ‘…dashing, always at break-neck speed, between various departments, micro-managing to the last detail.’ Brown’s surreal and imaginative costumes for <i>The Fairy Queen</i> (2009) at Glyndebourne were reviewed as ‘gloriously inventive’ by The Guardian and ‘spectacular in every sense’ by Opera Today. Based on Shakespeare’s <i>A Midsummer Night’s Dream</i>, Purcell’s masque was lost after his death and only rediscovered in the 20th century. Brown’s costumes are both baroque in sentiment and contemporary in form. This production has been filmed and revived several times. Brown’s designs for <i>Aida</i> at the Bregenzer Festspiele in 2009 were some of his largest in scale. His fragmented State of Liberty dominated the lakeside stage, with action taking place on boats and in the lake itself. Brown’s costumes blend ancient Egyptian motifs with contemporary clothing, from runway-style fashion to high-vis jackets.\r\n\r\nBrown created a wide range of work for international opera houses and festivals. Examples in the V&amp;A collection include, <i>Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk</i> (Met, New York, 1994); <i>The Magic Flute</i> (Salzburg Festival, Salzburg, 2005); <i>The Magic Flute</i> (Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow, 2005); <i>Anna Bolena</i> (Teatro Filarmonico, Verona, 2007); <i>Die Gezeichneten</i> (Teatro Massimo Palermo, 2010); and <i>Nabucco</i> (New National Theatre, Tokyo, 2013). In 2013, Brown was the winner of the Royal Designer for Industry award in recognition of his work fostering the place of UK set and costume design on the world stage. \r\n\r\nBrown died on the 13 November 2017. He was posthumously nominated for Outstanding Achievement in Opera at the 2018 Olivier Awards for his costume and set designs for Gilbert and Sullivan’s <i>Iolanthe</i> at the London Coliseum.","physicalDescription":"Costume design depicting five figures. The two on the left wearing gas masks and long green coats, while the three on the right wear bathing costumes. 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