Event Details

Barbara Ravelhofer (Durham) discusses her work on Early Modern theatre costumes

Scholarship in material culture has led to rich insights regarding theatrical costumes of the Renaissance. Three areas stand out: the theatre costume as financial asset of a commercial playhouse; iconographic influences shaping English costume design; and finally, the actual reconstruction of early modern garments based on surviving evidence. Taking these approaches further, my paper considers records of English court theatre before 1642. I will discuss materials used for masque costumes, their cost, and their physical properties. Both design and material choices have a significant impact on stage – both in the way performers are perceived, and in the way they can move. My talk will be illustrated with reconstructed costumes and fabric examples.

Barbara Ravelhofer is Professor in the English Department, Durham University. She has written on early dance, theatre as heritage, and forms of spectacle across early modern Europe. Her publications include The Early Stuart Masque: Dance, Costume and Music (OUP, 2006) and James Shirley and Early Modern Theatre: New Critical Perspectives (Routledge, 2016). She is currently working on a book about English theatre and iconoclasm at the dawn of the Civil War.