A footnote in history: Irving’s 1876 Othello

Abstract

When developing a model for the functioning of costume in a theatrical performance, it is important to identify how the visual appearance of characters can help cement a successful production, by providing a place where the actors’ and characters’ bodies meet and are brought into harmony before an audience. Sometimes, however, the best places to test such a model, and therefore the performances most worthy of study, are not those where the production has been a rousing success but those in which the paradigm has not functioned correctly, resulting in a less successful occasion. In the study of historical theatre productions, such events often result in the production subsequently being denied a place in the visual and historical record of the actor and theatre involved, relegated to a footnote in their histories. This article takes as its starting point the premise, particularly relevant to the Shakespearean canon in British theatre, that an important element in an audience’s interaction with visual elements of a theatrical production, and especially the critical response, is the influence of prior expectation. Therefore, a necessary condition for the success of costume in such a context is not simply the functioning of dress within the performance moment but its harmony with the aesthetic expectations of audiences. In this respect, Othello, produced at the Lyceum Theatre in 1876 with soon-to-be actor-manager Henry Irving in the title role, provided a cautionary tale for an actor who eschewed the aesthetic expectations of contemporary audiences and a lesson in the influence of the visual on critical opinion that illuminates some of the pitfalls of theatrical costume design.