News

Wednesday 26 November 2008

Offering a window into the world of Jacobean clothing: Dressing Shakespeare (1 December to 21 January)

Costumes by the former Director of Theatre Design for the world-renowned Shakespeare’s Globe will go on show at Nottingham Trent University from December. The Dressing Shakespeare exhibition, which will provide a window into the world of authentic Jacobean clothing, is to celebrate the inauguration of Jenny Tiramani as Professor of Costume to Narrative and Interactive Arts in the university’s School of Art and Design.

The event, from 1 December to 21 January in the university’s 1851 Gallery, will feature complete costumes designed by Jenny Tiramani for Shakespeare’s Globe, along with original 17th Century clothing artefacts and glimpses into the elaborate process of dressing the actors.

A costume and stage designer for more than 30 years and a graduate of Nottingham Trent University’s Theatre Design course, Jenny Tiramani is a major name in the world of theatre. She won the coveted Laurence Olivier Award for Best Costume Design (Twelfth Night, Shakespeare’s Globe) in 2003 and was a co-recipient for the Sam Wanamaker Award for Contribution to Shakespeare in Performance in 2007.

She is currently Resident Designer with Mark Rylance’s Phoebus Cart Theatre Company, having previously worked as Associate Designer at the Theatre Royal Stratford East and as Designer for Kenneth Branagh’s Renaissance Theatre Company, before joining Shakespeare’s Globe for eight years until 2005.

As Visiting Professor, Jenny Tiramani will work alongside students from both the Theatre Design and Film and Television Design courses, providing specialist costume knowledge and skills, as well as providing her experience and contacts as a practising professional designer. She has already developed a project for third year Theatre Design students and there is the added opportunity of being able to join her working at the Paris Opera next year.

She will also play a key role in costume research, with her own research interests including historical dress for costume design in theatre and cinema; clothing worn on stage in early modern theatre; and the origins of tailoring.

The start of the Dressing Shakespeare exhibition will coincide with Jenny Tiramani’s inaugural lecture at the university on 1 December, Costume or Clothing: What is the difference and does it matter? The lecture, in the Waverley Lecture Theatre, will explore current theories about theatre costume and how they suggest a tension between creativity and historical accuracy.

The Dressing Shakespeare exhibition is another example of the ongoing partnership between the Society of British Theatre Designers (SBTD) and Nottingham Trent University. Last year the university hosted the SBTD’s national exhibition – Collaborators: UK Design for Performance 2003-2007 – bringing together the work of more than 150 contemporary designers. The exhibition, which included costumes by Jenny Tiramani, was then shown at the Victoria & Albert Museum from November 2007 to September 2008, as well as internationally at the Prague Quadrennial.

Kate Burnett, Honorary Secretary to the SBTD and Reader in Theatre Design at Nottingham Trent University, said: “I have been fascinated by Jenny’s exquisite work in the SBTD exhibitions and have been keen to make it available to students here in the School of Art and Design. Jenny is a graduate of ours and it is tremendous that she is bringing the rigour of her historical research as well as her aesthetic and imaginative skills as a designer back here to enrich the study of costume crafts and design.

“Visitors to the exhibition will be able to see close up the fabrics and detail of exquisitely made Elizabethan costumes as well as period patterns and videos of the complex process of dressing actors in these sumptuous clothes."

ENDS

Notes for editors: The Dressing Shakespeare exhibition runs from 1 December to 21 January and open Monday to Friday 10am to 5pm. Admission is free.

Nottingham Trent University’s School of Art and Design is well known for the quality of its theatre design research and education, which is taught and assessed by highly-skilled professionals with significant industry experience – including designers, directors, choreographers, puppeteers, writers, artisans and costumiers.

Press enquiries please contact: Dave Rogers, Senior Press Officer, on telephone +44 (0)115 848 8782, or via email: dave.rogers@ntu.ac.uk; or Therese Easom, Press and Media Relations Manager, on telephone +44 (0)115 848 8774, or via email: therese.easom@ntu.ac.uk