Recreating Odette: Experimental History in the Archive

This interjection is a consideration of the importance of experimental history in the rediscovery of costume for the stage, without which designers, productions, and material knowledge would continue to go largely undocumented. Reusing the practice as research methodologies used by scholars such as Hilary Davidson, Toni Bates, Serena Dyer, and Sarah Bendall, experimental history allows the scholar to piece together existing inconsistencies and scarcities in recorded information and offers them a greater insight into the visual aspect of the design, along with the successes and failures which may have led to the existing scarcity of recorded information. In the case of costume history, drawn designs, photographs or posters often long outlive the physical object, and while some of the written documentation may survive, it is much less common to see these types of physical records in archives. Material considerations are significant for the development of the design, from durability to weight, to aesthetic impact on the stage, the design drawings do little to suggest these nuances. And it is these nuances which can often lead to the success or failure of that design. Applying this approach to The Boston Ballet’s 1981 Swan Lake—designed by Julia Trevelyan Oman—this study demonstrates how hands-on research recovers lost material knowledge and enhances our understanding of historical stage design.