New Theatre and Performance Galleries at the V&A
The V&A's new Theatre and Performance Galleries house an exhibition that's easily informative and great fun.

By Rupert Christiansen
Last Updated: 5:50PM GMT 13 Mar 2009

Mick Jagger's jump suit Photo: GEOFF PUGH
With the opening on Wednesday of its new Theatre and Performance Galleries, a sorry chapter in the history of the Victoria and Albert Museum will come to some sort of conclusion. What's on display here had been unsatisfactorily housed since 1987 in an outpost of the V&A known as the Theatre Museum.

This was centrally located opposite the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, but suffered from subterranean galleries which were airless, cramped, low and dark, as well as a dire lack of offices, storage space and general amenities.




Many distinguished parties campaigned for retention of the Covent Garden site, but my own feelings were that it was beyond salvation and that the cash-strapped V&A was well shot of it. I dreamed that somebody might sell the V&A one of London's more superfluous Victorian theatres, thus providing a wonderfully atmospheric and appropriate setting for exhibitions, but I suppose this was pie-in-the-sky.

The result is that the collection has been taken back into the V&A's bosom in South Kensington. My sneak preview last week revealed a selection of its treasures beautifully displayed in a suite of galleries curated by Kate Dorney and her team. The remainder of the holdings (which include many historically important documents as well as costumes, backcloths and all manner of theatrical paraphernalia) are stored in the V&A's Aladdin's Cave of a warehouse in Hammersmith, where much-improved facilities for researchers are also being offered.

A happy ending? Not entirely. The new exhibition is terrific ­– both easily informative and huge fun. Presented without much regard to chronology, with all the different forms of performance (from grand opera to music hall and puppetry) united under categories such as 'Creating', 'Rehearsing' and 'Producing' , it offers everything from a tableau of Kylie Minogue's dressing room (footwear fetishists will be delighted by the 25 scattered pairs of Jimmy Choos and Manolo Blahniks), to Edna Everage's Sydney Opera House hat, Mick Jagger's jump suit, Margot Fonteyn's Swan Lake tutu, the Lord Chamberlain's censored script of Joe Orton's Loot and the manuscript of The School for Scandal. The galleries are spacious, high and well-lit - a vast improvement on their Covent Garden predecessors.

But, but, but - we do still need a dedicated Theatre Museum. The collection sits oddly in South Kensington, miles from theatreland and the roar of the greasepaint, and I worry that because the galleries are located in a distant first-floor wing of the museum, between Portrait Miniatures and Textiles, casual visitors and school parties are unlikely to stumble across them or make them part of a standard itinerary.

So there is still a certain sense that the mandarins consider this fabulous collection to be of second-rank importance in the V&A's holdings, and although I'm delighted by the new displays, they seem to me to represent an excellent compromise rather than an ideal solution.

Best quote comes from another article on the same subject:

Jimmy Page's satin, flared, Egypt-inspired costume, which he designed for Led Zeppelin shows in 1975, stands next to a revealing jumpsuit of seemingly impossible slimness. If you were near the front to see the Rolling Stones in 1972 you would remember Mick Jagger's Ossie Clark-designed outfit.

"You can see the pelvic wear and tear from all the gyrating," said Dorney.

[www.guardian.co.uk]

Great quote, thanks Beast. Not sure it's an image to go to work on...

Quote
Beast
Best quote comes from another article on the same subject:

"You can see the pelvic wear and tear from all the gyrating," said Dorney.

[www.guardian.co.uk]