Sally Jacobs Collection, stage designer

Scope and Content

Contains materials relating to Sally Jacobs design work with the Royal Shakespeare Company, specifically Peter Brook's productions. Materials include two stage plans for Peter Brook's Royal Shakespeare Company production of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream in 1970 and a photocopy of a costume design for Oberon. Also contains scripts, preliminary designs, notes and papers for Peter Brook's Theatre of Cruelty Season in 1966 and US.

Related museum numbers : S.706-2001 set model, S.782-2001 ground plan, S. 783-2001 plan and TN. 204-2011 G.I. model.

Administrative / Biographical History

Sally Jacobs, stage designer and director since 1960, has worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company and designed many Peter Brook productions, including Theatre of Cruelty, The Screens, The Marat/Sade, U.S., A Midsummer Night's Dream, Antony and Cleopatra and The Conference of the Birds. She has also designed for operas including Die Fledermaus (Paris), Turandot, Fidelio (Royal Opera House), Die Soldaten and Eugene Onegin (English National Opera). She lived and worked as a designer in the USA for fifteen years.

As director / designer her work includes Oedipus at Colonus (Los Angeles), Peter Weigold's Last Tango on the North Circular (Royal Opera House Garden Venture), The War in Heaven by Joe Chaikin and Sam Shepard and she co-directed The Dancing Room filmed by the BBC. She has taught Stage Design at many of the leading Drama Departments in the U.S.A. and London, including the Slade School of Fine Art.

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is available for consultation in the V&A Department of Theatre and Performance's Reading Room, which is located at Blythe House, 23 Blythe Rd, Olympia, London, W14 0QX. The Reading Room is open Tuesday to Friday between 10.15 am and 4.30 pm. Access to it is by appointment only. To request an appointment please email tmenquiries@vam.ac.uk or telephone 020 7942 2698.

Access to some of these files may be restricted. These are identified at file level.

Conditions Governing Use

Archival material may not be photocopied. Arrangements can be made to photograph material in the reading room using non-flash photography.

Appraisal Information

This collection was appraised in line with the collection management policy.

Acquisition Information

Purchased from Sally Jacobs in 1999 and 2005.

Accruals

No further accruals are expected.

Related Material

The V&A also purchased a set model (S.706-2001) by Sally Jacobs for Peter Brook's Royal Shakespeare Company production of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream (S.706-2001) and model of an American G.I. for U.S.. (TN. 204-2011). See also set designs by Sally Jacob for Alfred Jarry's Ubu Roi, costumes and costume designs from Brook's A Midsummer Night's Dream, set model for The Marat/Sade (S. 665-1996), drawing and costume designs for The Conference of the Birds and other costume designs.

See also the core collections of the V&A Department of Theatre and Performance. Material relating to Sally Jacobs, as well as Peter Brook's productions in general may be found in several collections, including the poster collections, biographical, productions, company and photographs files.

Please ask for details.

Subjects
Costume design
Set designers
Stage design
Personal Names
Jacobs,  Sally
Brook,  Peter