Day Two at the V&A: Behind the Scenes of my Shakespeare Course


Learning and Interpretation
June 2, 2015

This is a guest post by Dr Enza De Francisci who is currently preparing a Shakespeare and Italy course at the V&A supported by the University College London-King’s College London Collaborative Learning Fellowship in the Arts, Society and the Humanities (Arts and Humanities Research Council)

 

So it is Day Two of my Shakespeare Course at the V&A and how is it going? What I am particularly enjoying at the moment is the actual experience I am gaining working here at the museum. Each morning begins meeting my colleague Will Tullet from King’s College London (who has gained a placement to run a study day on perfumery) at the Secretariat entrance and being escorted to the Learning Department – our route keeps changing depending on who we are following. As we make our way, the journey is absolutely fascinating. One route favoured by our team leader, Jo Banham, takes us past the Spirit of Gaiety who greets us on the top of a grand marble staircase which leads onto Conservation. This department is extraordinary! The museum is currently preparing an India exhibition and, through the glass door, the Conservation room looks like a brightly lit science laboratory full of disembodied mannequins randomly scattered about. I could not help but notice one was wearing a beautiful red sari in the corner. Sometime next year, this very sari will be exhibited somewhere in the museum and I am one of the lucky few to have a quick peep at it!

 

Gilded teak angel by Hibbert C, Binney known as <i>The Spirit of Gaiety</i> and originally designed for the dome of the first Gaiety Theatre, Aldwych, where it was erected in March 1904. Hibbert C. Binney
Gilded teak angel by Hibbert C, Binney known as The Spirit of Gaiety and originally designed for the dome of the first Gaiety Theatre, Aldwych, where it was erected in March 1904.
Hibbert C. Binney © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

As soon as we get to Learning, we are instantly welcomed by the really warm and friendly team. And so the list of people who we are privileged enough to meet continues: each from various departments this time including Marketing, Research and Schools, Family and Young People’s Programme. The amount of projects going on at the museum is unbelievable. I particularly enjoyed hearing about CreateVoice: a free programme which supports and encourages young adults who want to go into learning but who might not have the means to go about it. It is also really inspiring to learn about the amount of preparation that goes on producing in all the leaflets, booklets, and pamphlets which we pass by every day at the museum. The Shakespeare trail is one which definitely caught my eye! This is a trail which tracks all the material associated with Shakespeare at the museum, including the small painting of Ira Aldridge as Othello (the first black actor to interpret the Moorish General), and a variety of stage costumes, such as those worn by Henry Irvine’s in Much Ado About Nothing and Richard Burton’s in Henry V. Wouldn’t it be great to produce one involving Shakespeare’s Italy?

 

Ira Aldridge as Othello in 'Othello' by William Shakespeare
Ira Aldridge as Othello in ‘Othello’ by William Shakespeare, Unknown Maker c.1848 © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

 

As a theatre scholar, my favourite part of the day was catching up with Professor Bill Sherman in Research and Dr Kate Dorney who works in Theatre and Performance. The museum collects costumes parts and various kinds of memorabilia from different plays performed in London. At the moment the museum is preparing an exhibition called Opera World City. From what I could see, some of the preparation involved pinning up cuttings from various operas, famous cities and composers and sticking them on large cardboard posters to produce a kind of mind-map. The poster which stood out to me the most was the one entitled ‘Verona’ displaying Verdi’s Nabucco. So another great day at the V&A, now it is back to work on my course programme…

 

Plaque of Giuseppe Verdi, Unknown Maker, C.20th © Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Plaque of Giuseppe Verdi, Unknown Maker, C.20th © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Dr Enza De Francisci teaches in the Department of Italian (School of European Language, Culture and Society) at University College London, where she completed her PhD thesis on late nineteenth-century and early twentieth-century Italian narrative and drama, and where she had occasion to research at the Scuola Normale in Pisa, the Pirandellian Institute in Rome, and the University of Bologna. Enza currently edits the theatre reviews in the peer-reviewed journal Pirandello Studies, and in 2013 contributed to the translation of Pirandello’s Liolà in a new version by Tanya Ronder and Richard Eyre staged at the National Theatre. For more posts, follow her on Academia.edu, Twitter, and Instagram.

 

About the author


Learning and Interpretation
June 2, 2015

I'm Team Leader for Digital Programmes at the V&A and run events, workshops, talks and festivals with artists and designers who use and experiment with digital tools, processes and manufacturing.

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