Lez Brotherston's costume design ‘bible’ for The Brontës

Lez Brotherston's 'bible' contains a design for every costume worn in The Brontës, with a character synopsis, reference photographs and sketches of stage properties. The costume designs are colour copies of his original drawings. Fabric samples are attached and on some designs there is also a small reproduction of a 19th century print or fashion plate to help the costumiers create the desired effect. Brotherston always puts the focus on the costumes by using a few standard poses for his figures and giving them all similar features.

The bible only includes costume designs as Brotherston does not produce set designs on paper. He prefers to work with models and develop the set in three dimensions. At the front of the bible are a series of photographs of the finished model which shows how one basic setting can be adapted to suggest different locations.

Use the viewer controls to browse and rotate pages in the manuscript or zoom in to detail.

Design 'bible' for The Brontës
Costume designs by Lez Brotherston
Ballet by Gillian Lynne
Northern Ballet Theatre at Leeds Grand Theatre and tour
1995