LONDON.- This year, V&A South Kensington celebrates the centenary of its Theatre and Performance collections with a special display, Enthoven Unboxed: 100 Years of Collecting Performance, opening on 14th September 2024.

In 1924, the museum accepted a donation of over 80,000 playbills, programmes, and ephemera from collector, humanitarian, and campaigner Gabrielle Enthoven. The donation marked the beginning of the museum’s proactive collecting of theatrical material which has since evolved into the UK’s internationally renowned and recognised National Collection of Performing Arts. Inspired by Gabrielle Enthoven’s nickname, the “theatrical encyclopaedia”, this display explores an A-Z of themes which show how performance continues to entertain, provoke and inspire. Through a selection of objects ranging from Enthoven’s early theatrical material to the V&A’s most recent performance acquisitions, the display presents a history of collecting performance at the V&A and celebrates the remarkable life and career of the collection’s inspirational founder.

Highlights include: The original Rolling Stones tongue and lips artwork by graphic designer John Pasche; a costume worn by Dua Lipa in the Future Nostalgia tour; the semi-quaver spectacles worn by Elton John on his 1981-2 British and World tours; a costume worn by Paul O’Grady’s Drag persona Lily Savage; A Pink Floyd azimuth coordinator; a long-lost portrait of Gabrielle Enthoven by suffragette artist Ethel Wright; a self-portrait bust by 18th-century actress Sarah Siddons; a stage design by Alexandra Exter from 1924; a painting from around 1848 of Ira Aldridge as Othello; a set model designed by Misty Buckley for Stormzy’s headline set at Glastonbury Festival in 2019; and a prompt script used by Phoebe Waller-Bridge for Fleabag in the West End.

Enthoven Unboxed: 100 Years of Collecting Performance forms part of the V&A’s centenary celebrations for Theatre and Performance which kicked off earlier in the year with April’s Performance Festival. As part of its commitment as the home of the National Collection of Performing Arts, the permanent Theatre and Performance Galleries, which opened at V&A South Kensington in 2009, have undergone a refresh complete with new lighting, flooring, colour scheme and interpretation. The galleries now comprise five areas: Curating Performance, Creating Performance, Selling Performance, Costuming Performance, Designing Performance and Experiencing Performance. A number of new acquisitions will join the permanent display from 14 September, including costumes and archival material from Peaky Blinders, costumes and puppets from the television series His Dark Materials, and set models designed by David Rockwell for original Broadway and West End musicals Hairspray and Kinky Boots.  

Senior Curator of Modern and Contemporary Theatre and Performance, Simon Sladen, said: “We look forward to celebrating Gabrielle Enthoven and her astounding legacy with Enthoven Unboxed: 100 Years of Collecting Performance. Over the past century, the V&A’s collections have evolved as much as performance itself, which we unbox in this special display to honour our founder and consider the significant role performance continues to play in society.”