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Albert Finney as Hamlet, black and White photograph, 1975. Photograph by Anthony Crickmay

Albert Finney as Hamlet, black and White photograph, 1975. Photograph by Anthony Crickmay

COLLECTIONS

Theatre & Performance

The V&A's Theatre Collections hold the UK's
national collection of material about live
performance in the UK since Shakespeare's
day, covering drama, dance, musical theatre,
circus, music hall, rock and pop, and other
forms of live entertainment.

Theatre and Performance galleries dedicated
to the performing arts, display works of art,
costumes, ephemera, video recordings,
puppets, posters and photographs.

Check gallery closures list

 

Highlight

Costume for the Buffoon in Chout (back view), designed by Mikhail Larionov, 1921. Museum no. S.761& A, B, C-1980

Diaghilev and the Golden Age of the Ballets Russes, 1909-1929

25 September 2010 - 9 January 2011

Our major autumn exhibition explores the world of the influential artistic director Serge Diaghilev and the most exciting dance company of the 20th century. Diaghilev imaginatively combined dance, music and art to create 'total theatre'. A consummate collaborator, he worked with Stravinsky, Chanel, Picasso, Matisse and Nijinsky.

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Putting on a pantomime horse costume

TheatreLab

Practical and lively workshops looking at original objects and texts for inspiration. All led by our professional theatre practitioners.

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Costume for Pluto in Offenbach's operetta 'Orpheus in the Underworld', London, 1985 Museum no. S.788:1/4-1991

Stage Costume

This resource looks at the art and science of designing, making and wearing stage costumes, with detailed examples of items from the V&A Theatre Collections.

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Theatrevoice mouth logo

Theatrevoice

Theatrevoice is managed by V&A Theatre and Performance Department and Rose Bruford College and is the leading site for audio content about British theatre. It features journalists and practitioners from across the theatre industry. It was set up in 2003 to encourage theatre to be talked about in a new way, allowing critics to be more expansive than the usual space constraints of print media.

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