Display On now until Monday, 29 March 2021

Laughing Matters: The State of a Nation

Name: Laughing Matters: The State of a Nation
Start: 2020-01-31 10:00:00 +0000
End: 2021-03-29 18:30:00 +0100
Location: V&A South Kensington

This display reflects on the role of humour in debates around identity, empire and power over the past two hundred years.

Friday, 31 January 2020 – Monday, 29 March 2021
10.00 – 17.30
British Galleries, Room 55, Clore Study Area, V&A South Kensington
Free event

Through over 30 objects, ranging from costumes to scripts, from puppets to music, this display unpicks the punchlines to discover what humour since the Victorian era – whether subversive, surreal, mocking or celebratory – can tell us about what it means to be British today.

Image: Brexit Dress. Pantomime dame costume designed by Lotte Collett for Sleeping Beauty at the Hackney Empire, 2016 © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

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