英国维多利亚与阿尔伯特博物馆（V&A）即将开放的新馆- 戏剧与表演艺术馆将于3月18日对外开放。作为开馆的庆祝展览，V&A将展出250件曾经在戏剧舞台上绽放光彩的服装和道具，如费雯丽在1958年表演《双面天使》一剧中曾穿着的勃艮第风格的迪奥礼服，1951年理查德伯顿在莎士比亚剧院表演《亨利五世》时所用的马甲，1974年戏剧Equus在老维多利亚剧院首演时的用皮革、银箔和钢丝制成的马头道具等。
这200多件展品，都是戏剧表演史上别有意义的纪念品。展览更多地侧重于介绍展品中所凝聚的创意思想，每件展品从最初构思到亮相的全过程，而不是普通的介绍戏剧的起源和发展。比如理查德伯顿的马甲，当时正值战后，布料紧缺，戏服的制作充满了当时的时代特点。
戏剧与表演艺术馆的设立也曾一波三折。2007年，位于考文特花园的戏剧博物馆关闭后，V&A向遗产保护基金申请250万英镑资金的提案被拒。为了帮助新馆的建立，戏剧界的一些著名演员如茱蒂丹奇等发起了倡议活动。最终，拥有众多相关展品的V&A，获得了以新的方式重新开馆的机会。新馆名为戏剧与表演艺术馆，集结了芭蕾、流行音乐，歌剧和戏剧表演中的重要展品，在09年3月，将为公众献上一个别具一格的展览。策展人Kate Dorney说：“没有人知道展览会有何反响，但目前从V&A工作人员的反映来看，大家都喜欢这个展览。”
戏剧与表演艺术馆将于3月18日对外开放。
The V&A's new Theatre Galleries: An encore for lost treasures
It took 90 hours of conservation just to get the burgundy Christian Dior dress that Vivien Leigh wore in the 1958 production of Duel of Angels into a fit state for its showcase at the new Theatre and Performance Galleries of the Victoria and Albert Museum.
The V&A's new Theatre and Performance Galleries replace the Theatre Museum in Covent Garden, which closed in 2007. When its bid for £2.5m from the Heritage Lottery Fund was turned down, leading figures from the theatre world, including Judi Dench and Vanessa Redgrave, led a campaign to save the site. Eventually, the V&A, which owns the collection and housed it, undisplayed, before it was transferred to the new Theatre Museum in 1987, stepped in and found space to rehouse it in a fresh way back in South Kensington.
The 250 objects are devoted to theatre, and also include memorabilia from the worlds of ballet, rock and pop, opera and pantomime. The display is designed to take visitors on a journey through the creative process of performance, from the initial conception to opening night – rather than a chronological trip through the origins of theatre and its development.
"Nobody knew what to expect, but the response from colleagues in the museum has been very positive," says head curator Dr Kate Dorney.
She has been working with a team of 11 curators for the past two years, sorting through all the objects in the V&A's Blythe House Archive to find new material. These include the painted tabard worn in 1951 by Richard Burton in Henry V at the RSC, created when there was a post-war shortage of fabric; an original 1956 poster for Look Back in Anger at the Royal Court; and a horse headdress, made from leather, silver foil and wire, worn during the first performance of Equus at the Old Vic in 1974.
The V&A's new Theatre and Performance Galleries open on 18 March
（Source: Independent，英国使馆文化教育处提供）
