Yolanda Sonnabend: Designing for the Stage

From Tuesday 23 May 2023

Our current exhibition has been curated by History of Art MA students as part of the unit 'Curating the Collection'.

Yolanda Sonnabend (1935-2015) trained at the Slade School of Art in the mid-1950s and began her career designing for Peter Wright's production of the ballet A Blue Rose in 1957. This was just the beginning of a highly successful career which saw Sonnabend design for multiple stages, touring productions, film and television.

This exhibition explores Sonnabend’s later costume and set designs with a particular emphasis on the dynamic body. It features designs for two productions: Lindsay Kemp’s gruesome and dramatic gothic operetta Cinderella, and Swan Lake, performed by both the Royal Ballet and the Tokyo based K-Ballet. The productions embody a cocktail of dark and playful excess, the gothic and the fairy-tale, the fantastical and the disturbing, highlighting Sonnabend’s extraordinary ability to conjure a spectacle of fantasy and splendour.

In 2015, Sonnabend passed away after struggling with dementia for many years. This exhibition is held in her memory, and as a celebration of her wonderful work in theatres around the world.