2011

The Archive of Performance in Greek and Roman Drama at the University of Oxford, in collaboration with the JHA and the National Theatre Archive, held an exhibition of archival material celebrating the 30 anniversary of Tony Harrison’s translation of The Oresteia by Aeschylus. The production was performed at the National Theatre in London in 1981, and later at the amphitheatre in Epidaurus. This landmark production was directed by Peter Hall with music by Harrison Birtwistle. Jocelyn’s designs, in particular her masks, have become world famous.a

The exhibition was in the University of Oxford’s Ioannou Centre for Classical and Byzantine Studies, and a related event, hosted by Professor Oliver Taplin, included a talk by Tony Harrison and readings by the actor Greg Hicks, who had played Orestes. Orestes Mask The Orestes mask Jocelyn made was exhibited on  stage and Hicks spoke of Jocelyn’s key role in the workshops in which the actors learnt to work with the masks.

The Jocelyn Herbert Award, given bi-annually to one of the students shortlisted in the Linbury Awards at the National Theatre, was awarded to Anne Gryskovdal from the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts.

The second Jocelyn Herbert Lecture, The Politics of Good Taste was delivered by the theatre designer ULTZ in the National Theatre’s Lyttelton auditorium, with an audience of 800. The lecture was followed by a reception in the NT’s Paint Frame hosted by Nigel Carrington, UAL Vice-Chancellor.

External researchers included colleagues from the Theatre Arts Department at McNay Art Museum in San Antonio, Texas, in relation to an exhibition entitled Curtain Up on the Avant-Garde, highlighting Jocelyn’s 1977 designs for Lulu at the Metropolitan Opera, New York. In addition colleagues from the University of Stirling, which holds the Lindsay Anderson Archive, worked with Professor Jane Collins to develop a joint project with Wimbledon – Co-authorship on Stage and Screen: Lindsay Anderson and Jocelyn Herbert.

The Royal Academy of Arts published The Sketchbooks of Jocelyn Herbert (ISBN 978-1-907533-07-5). Edited by Professor Stephen Farthing, the book included essays by Richard Eyre and Cathy Courtney and used images selected from Jocelyn’s archive. The publication is one of a series examining ways in which practitioners in differing fields use sketch and notebooks. The Sketchbooks of Jocelyn Herbert was supported by the Linbury Trust.

ULTZ was elected a Fellow of the University of the Arts London.