Material truths: reconsidering historical costumes and the rise of the director

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis article offers a fresh look at historical costume design in nineteenth-century productions of Shakespeare, in England and Germany, in light of recent critical theory about the power of objects on stage. Using case studies from Charles Kean and the Meininger Theatre, it explores how costumes conveyed different kinds of ‘truth’, and examines the tensions between historicism, spectacle, and theatre. I argue that early directors drew on the popularity and authority of historically accurate costume-objects to blur the boundary between highbrow and lowbrow theatre. Charles Kemble and Kean used historical costumes to legitimate lavish spectacle on stage, under the guise of education; Georg II of Saxe-Meiningen went a step further, often using historical costumes but ultimately making a case for the dramaturgical value of all aspects of design, whether accurate or abstract. Further, I suggest that we reconsider the emerging relationship between directors, text, and design, arguing for the importance of the material of the object on the nineteenth-century stage. In a broad sense, this article seeks to re-center scenography (especially costume) in the history of western theatrical modernism and the rise of the director.