A new exhibition in Stratford is to celebrate the costume-making skills of the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Visitors to In Stitches will have an exclusive chance to see rarely displayed costumes from RSC productions over the past 60 years.
The 35 hand-crafted costumes were all made in Stratford and were worn by some of the country’s finest actors including Judi Dench, Derek Jacobi, Ian McKellen, Antony Sher, Juliet Stevenson, Patrick Stewart and David Tennant.
Costumes from the RSC’s collection and costume store, which houses more than 30,000 items, will be on display in the theatre’s PACCAR Room as part of Into the Wild, the first part of the exhibition. It opens on Saturday 20 April to coincide with the Shakespeare birthday celebrations.
Every costume “illustrates the skills and craftsmanship that go into each piece such as tailoring, dyeing, printing, leatherwork, beading, corsetry, millinery, mask-making and jewellery making”.
All these skills plus new techniques developed in response to contemporary fabrics and designs are used on a daily basis in the RSC’s costume department at Stratford.
Another part of the exhibition opens in the Swan Theatre’s Ferguson Room from 4 May.
Costume Craft traces how costumes and wigs are made and maintained by the RSC.
An interactive display will detail the process “from the first stitch to the final performance, revealing the skills, knowledge and imagination involved in dressing each character on the RSC stage”.
There will also be a dressing-up area where visitors can try on a professional theatre costume.
Alistair McArthur, RSC head of costume, said, “We know from our theatre tours and open days that people love to know how we create our costumes.
“People often imagine that costumes are held together with a bulldog clip—but nothing is further from the truth. All our costumes are made exceptionally well as they can be on stage day after day for well over 100 performances.
“The skill and expertise that go into making them is extraordinary and it’s wonderful that we can share these skills through In Stitches.”
As part of the exhibition, RSC associate designer Tom Piper has devised an installation called Rosalind’s Tree, a swirling display of clothes and photographs from past RSC productions of As You Like It to “spotlight the light-hearted gender interplay that Shakespeare incorporates into this pastoral comedy”.
To coincide with In Stitches, the RSC will begin a Made in Stratford Appeal which aims to raise £1 million to sustain the RSC’s legacy of theatre-making and support essential craft skills, facilities and training.