If you’re looking for somewhere to shelter from the torrential rain, gale force winds and flash floods this summer, then you could do a lot worse than the Brighton Museum & Art Gallery. From 5th May to 2nd September this year they’re holding an exhibition entitled ‘Stagestruck!’, celebrating 200 years of the Theatre Royal. So if you like a bit of theatre, but don’t fancy paying for it, this is the exhibition for you.
The Theatre Royal has the largest collection of original playbills in the country, most of which are permanently housed at the East Sussex Records Office, but a number of them have been dusted down for this exhibition, and now line the walls of the museum. They give a surprisingly fascinating glimpse of the theatre’s history, as you go from plays like 'War of Affghanistan' performed on 10th October 1843 (nothing changes in 150 years), past playbills featuring names like John Gielgud and Laurence Olivier, and one advertising ‘Beyond the Fringe’ from Monday 1st May 1961 – exactly one week before the show transferred to London and made stars of Peter Cook and Dudley Moore.
My personal favourite was a playbill for a 'Grand Christmas Pantomime' performed in January 1940 and entitled 'Heil Cinderella'. It stated in brackets underneath: "a topical version". I'd never have guessed.
Among the other exhibits are signed photos of Bette Davis and Vivien Leigh, both of whom trod the boards at the Theatre Royal, plus intricate scale models of various stage sets, including the plans for this year’s Christmas pantomime, Cinderella, starring Kim and Aggie. It’s so detailed you can almost see the bottles of cleaning fluid.
There’s also the chance to see how one set is deconstructed and the next one built, by watching an amazing high-speed film which condenses into just five minutes the transformation from last year’s panto, Aladdin, to the theatre’s following production, The Letter. It’s like watching a more cultured version of the Benny Hill Show.
Fans of historical artifacts, meanwhile, will be pleased to know that the exhibition includes the costume worn by Chico from The X-Factor in his starring role as Aladdin last Christmas. How the museum managed to secure such an item for this collection, I have no idea. I expect they had to outbid the V&A.
Personally I was more interested in a programme from the February 1965 production of 'Loot', which had been scribbled on by a critic during the performance. He'd written "outrageously callous dialogue", drawn a circle around it, and then described a young Ian McShane as "pale faced". Of course, that was in the days before fake tan.
Among the more interactive exhibits are a dressing-up area and a small stage complete with wind machine and mechanical rain-maker, both of which were used to create sound effects in the days before Compact Discs. And in the days when it wasn’t raining all the time anyway.
There’s also the opportunity to listen to recordings of theatrical luminaries, from Dame Flora Robson and Ingrid Bergman, to Wendy Craig and Nicholas Parsons, all of whom extol the virtues of Brighton audiences. It’s apparently a fact that comedies last six or seven minutes longer in Brighton than in other parts of the country, because local audiences laugh longer. I had no idea we were so happy.
I also learnt that when Marlene Dietrich arrived at the Theatre Royal in November 1965, she asked for a bucket of water and a scrubbing brush, and spent the week obsessively cleaning her dressing room from top to bottom. With a rich history like that, it’s no wonder the theatre’s booked Kim and Aggie this Christmas.
