V&A Museum’s Impressive Theatre Display

Victoria & Albert Museum Entrance  South Kensington, London

Museums can be fun?!

London is the perfect city for touring museums. There are museums with topics ranging from art & science to war & history, and almost all of the major ones are free to enter. (See a list here.)

Hearing the word “museum” usually reminds me of long, boring days spent on school field trips, forced to study pieces of artwork and then afterwards write a critique on it for a written homework report. Even as an adult, I’ve tried to devote more time to visit museums but my average personal time limit inside usually maxes out at two hours before I’m ready for a cafe break.

The Victoria & Albert museum (V&A) is one museum that has broken those personal time limit barriers. More importantly, it’s provided me with a new perspective on how a museum really can be both a wonderful educational experience as well as interesting and fun!

A Motivating Array of Artifacts for Theatre Lovers….

The theatre and performance section of the V&A museum on the 3rd floor is a lovely visual tour that reminds you of just how many different aspects go into the making of a live performance or show. Creating, producing, and promoting are the key words that define the first set of exhibits. Displays are filled with everything from producers’ notes to collections of famous scripts, portfolios, and promotion posters that set the stage for its journey to becoming a live performance.

Another area showcases costumes and set models of some well-known shows; below are costumes of the key characters of Scar and Sarabi used in The Lion King, and a set model for the famous Eugene O’Neill play Long Days Journey Into Night.

Motivation to complete my stage play script…

I wrote three one act stage plays in my early teen years and managed to win a few National Scholastic awards for the writing. Unfortunately that was twenty years ago.  I’ve never stopped writing since, though my writing focus has strayed to other areas outside of the world of theatre.

There’s a section at the V&A museum dedicated to showcasing stage play scripts of some of the recent live performances that are representative of London’s theatre scene.  You’re able to take them off the shelf, browse through them, and even sit nearby to read them if you’re interested.

Every time I see a play, and today especially when I saw this exhibit, my passion for writing play scripts is restored and I get excited again about writing for the stage.

It’s a work-in-progress, but I’m now forty-five pages deep into the first act of writing my new script. Going to the V&A museum today was great encouragement for me to keep going, and I expect could also be an encouragement source for any artist who has a passion for the arts and a dream to contribute to the theatre world – in any capacity.

Do you love museums? This post was also featured on the Traveling with MJ website, on a special focus October Travel Link Up Article about favorite museums. Please click on the link above if you’re interested!