Skip to content

From the Jocelyn Herbert Archive

exploring theatre design

  • Home
  • Chairs in conversation
    • Belgrade Theatre, Coventry
    • Royal Court Theatre
    • The Old Vic Theatre
    • National Theatre
    • New item
  • Reading
  • Set models
  • Contact

Author: jocelynherbertfellow

Jocelyn Herbert Research Fellow 2016-19, author of Props: Readings in Theatre Practice (Palgrave, 2016)

Playing with Scale – now online

June 1, 2020June 15, 2020 jocelynherbertfellowLeave a comment

An online version of the National Theatre exhibition 'Playing with Scale' is now available on Google Arts and Culture. It includes an animation of the internal workings of the Olivier's drum revolve, a film of Bunny Christie working with the set model for The Comedy of Errors and a film specially made for the exhibition showing… Continue reading Playing with Scale – now online →

People of Theatre

May 4, 2020June 15, 2020 jocelynherbertfellowLeave a comment

'People of Theatre' is a lovely video project devised by Giuliano Levato in which he interviews people who work behind the scenes. He came along to the experimental tour of the 'Playing with Scale' exhibition that I ran with Liz Porter, in which participants described set models collaboratively. A few months later we met at… Continue reading People of Theatre →

A hands-on process

April 27, 2020June 15, 2020 jocelynherbertfellowLeave a comment

How do you access the Jocelyn Herbert archive? What difference does it make to look at original drawings and sketchbooks? In this short film by George Pritchard, students from the Theatre, Screen and Performance Foundation course at Camberwell, Chelsea and Wimbledon and the BA Theatre Design at Rose Bruford College talk about their discoveries in… Continue reading A hands-on process →

Describing set models

April 1, 2019April 2, 2019 jocelynherbertfellowLeave a comment

An audio descriptive guide to the exhibition 'Playing with Scale' can be downloaded from the National Theatre's exhibition page. The guide is designed for blind and partially sighted visitors and includes all the caption text on the walls and descriptions of the visual elements of the exhibition, as well as basic information about navigating around… Continue reading Describing set models →

Precursors of Performance

November 11, 2018November 12, 2019 jocelynherbertfellowLeave a comment

  What remains of a production that was never performed? I discuss an unrealised production of Verdi’s opera Simon Boccanegra, directed by John Dexter, designed by Jocelyn Herbert, and scheduled for the 1984/85 season at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, in an article published in the special issue of Theatre and Performance Design: On… Continue reading Precursors of Performance →

Playing with Scale

September 22, 2018November 5, 2018 jocelynherbertfellowLeave a comment

'Playing with Scale' is a major new exhibition at the National Theatre from November 2018 to March 2019 on how theatre designers use set models. The exhibition explores why designers make scale models and brings attention to their collaborative work with directors, scenic artists, actors and designers of lighting and projection. The exhibition 'Playing with… Continue reading Playing with Scale →

Galileo out of the shadows

June 22, 2018June 22, 2018 jocelynherbertfellowLeave a comment

Some of the model props and figures from Jocelyn Herbert's 1980 production of The Life of Galileo have been away from the archive for a few months, in the care of the Conservation department of Camberwell College of Arts. MA student Tabitha Austin carried out a detailed review of their condition, discovering that some of the… Continue reading Galileo out of the shadows →

The paint frame and the floor

June 2, 2018June 13, 2018 jocelynherbertfellow4 Comments

‘Visiting the paint frame that first time had been like stepping back to another age, and Rex had suddenly seen the theatre not just as a building or a place, but also as a kind of machine for telling stories.’ Tony White, The Fountain in the Forest, 2018. Tony White’s novel opens with the police… Continue reading The paint frame and the floor →

Talking with David Storey

January 2, 2018January 2, 2018 jocelynherbertfellow1 Comment

Thanks to Cathy Courtney for some additional information about David Storey's collaboration with Jocelyn Herbert, following this post about the designs for Early Days. David Storey talks at length about working with Ralph Richardson and Lindsay Anderson on Early Days in an interview for the National Life Stories collection. National Life Stories is an oral… Continue reading Talking with David Storey →

Programmes from Berlin

December 11, 2017December 23, 2017 jocelynherbertfellow1 Comment

Among the several hundred programmes in the Jocelyn Herbert archive there are a dozen from Berliner Ensemble productions between 1952 and 1967. It’s a small but richly rewarding resource, especially in terms of graphic design and changing ideas about what printed programmes might bring to the whole event of a theatrical performance. In November, Brecht… Continue reading Programmes from Berlin →

Posts navigation

Older posts
Follow From the Jocelyn Herbert Archive on WordPress.com

Blogroll

  • Linbury Prize
  • National Theatre Archive
  • National Theatre blog
  • Society of British Theatre Designers
  • UAL Archives blog
  • UAL Research blog
This site is edited by Eleanor Margolies, Jocelyn Herbert Research Fellow 2016-18. The Fellowship is supported by the National Theatre and Chelsea College of Arts, UAL. Images are by kind permission of the Trustees of the Jocelyn Herbert Archive and may not be reproduced without permission.
Create a website or blog at WordPress.com
  • Follow Following
    • From the Jocelyn Herbert Archive
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • From the Jocelyn Herbert Archive
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...