The commemoration of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee year is set to continue with a special exhibition organised by the Council.
Helen Mirren as Elizabeth. © Giles Keyte for Company Pictures/ Channel 4/ HBO
“Jubilee: Dressing the Monarchy on Stage and Screen” will run from 17 July to 2 September 2012 at the Ball Room in Bath’s Assembly Rooms. The exhibition traces the progression of the British monarchy since King Edgar was crowned in Bath Abbey in 973 until the present day and the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II.
Exhibiting over 50 costumes from theatre, TV and film productions, it will illustrate how the styles of Royal dress have changed and led fashion, and often been integral to the interpretation of Royal characters.
Exhibits include archive costumes from the Royal Shakespeare Company worn by Dame Helen Mirren, Dame Peggy Ashcroft, Richard Burton CBE and Sir Anthony Sher. There are costumes from the latest films on the monarchy, “The Queen”, “The King’s Speech” and “W.E.” as well as classic costumes worn by Sir Alec Guinness, Rufus Sewell, Timothy West CBE and Dame Maggie Smith in dramas of the last few decades.
Councillor Cherry Beath (Lib-Dem, Combe Down), Cabinet Member for Sustainable Development, said: “Bath & North East Somerset Council is proud to stage this exhibition as part of its celebrations in the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee year.
“The exhibition follows the timeline of the succession of the monarchy – from the Saxon Kings to the present day. It will illustrate how Britain’s monarchs have been portrayed; through the narrative of nursery rhymes, plays, portraits, poems and films, many of them stylised to please the audience of a later era.
“The crowning glory will be the great Tudor dynasty portrayed by actors like Keith Michell, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers and Dame Helen Mirren as Elizabeth I. Accompanied by the story of royal lineage and right royal nursery rhymes of the 1930s, the exhibition promises to hold something for the whole family.”
