Questions to think about when looking at the images in the galleries:

  1. Can you tell who the images were for? Are they for a maker (costume, set or mask)? Are they for the director and actors? Are they only for the designer themselves, perhaps made as a way of thinking through an idea?
  2. There are several versions of some of the costumes – why do you think this is? Can you tell which is the final one? Can you work out the differences between the versions?
  3. What are the different media that Jocelyn Herbert used to make these images? Why do you think she chose those particular ones?
  4. All the performers in The Oresteia wore full masks, all the characters were played by men. There are a lot of drawings of masks, some are very sketchy, and some are carefully painted. Do the drawings you tell anything about what Jocelyn Herbert was looking for, and why she made so many?
  5. Can you work out how the costumes or masks would actually be made and what materials they would be made from?
  6. Some of the costumes are for choruses. Can you tell which ones and what kind of characters they portray?
  7. The costumes, masks and set were designed to work together. How would their impact be different if used separately, in a different location, or with different costumes for example?
  8. All the actors in Herbert’s production were men, do you think the designs would have been different if it had been a woman only, or mixed gender cast?