Orphée. Programme for a 1930s RCA Dramatic Society production with wood engraving by Sam Haile
Programme for a double bill production of Carl Wildman’s 1933 translation of Jean Cocteau’s Orphée and, Orlando: The story of Orlando's rescue of the three knights from the enchantress, Falerina (no author given), produced by John Burrell for the Royal College of Art Dramatic Society in either 1933, 1934 or 1935. The wood engraving used to illustrate the cover is by the potter and surrealist artist Sam Haile who studied at the RCA under William Staite Murray between 1931 and 1935. The British Museum website entry for Haile describes him as making wood-engravings in his student days and the V&A collection includes a pot from 1942 with a very similar stylised design of a face. Haile relocated to the US in 1939 and in 1942 a pot by him titled Orpheus was shown in Contemporary Ceramics of the Western Hemisphere at the Chicago Art Institute.
The RCA programme lists Haile as playing Raphael in Orphée, one of Death’s two assistants, a tragic irony given his untimely death in a motorcycle accident in 1948 at the age of 39. (Coincidentally, for his film adaptation of Orphée completed the following year, Cocteau reinterpreted Death’s assistants as leather-clad motorcycle riders, the first appearance of the “Dark Rider” trope in film history.)
The cast included numerous other RCA students who went on to become artists and teaches of note. John Burrell, was appointed co-director of the Old Vic Theatre in London in 1948 with Laurence Olivier and Ralph Richardson. Carl Wildman had produced and played the character of Orphée for a previous London production in 1931. His translation was subsequently published in 1933 by Oxford University Press with illustrations by Picasso.
Title: Orphée Programme for the Royal College of Art production
Authors: Jean Cocteau, Carl Wildman, Virginia Woolf, John Burrell, Sam Haile
Publisher: Royal College of Art Dramatic Society, London
Publication date: between 1933 and 1935
Format: single sheet of laid paper folded once to make four pages. The upper cover is a wood engraving by Sam Haile printed in black.
Condition: Very good. Small area of staining to the right edge which is reflected on the verso of the same page. Slight discoloration of the paper on the right edge due to handling. The very tip of the upper right corner of last page turned. Otherwise very good.
Stock Number: RB03210
Programme for a double bill production of Carl Wildman’s 1933 translation of Jean Cocteau’s Orphée and, Orlando: The story of Orlando's rescue of the three knights from the enchantress, Falerina (no author given), produced by John Burrell for the Royal College of Art Dramatic Society in either 1933, 1934 or 1935. The wood engraving used to illustrate the cover is by the potter and surrealist artist Sam Haile who studied at the RCA under William Staite Murray between 1931 and 1935. The British Museum website entry for Haile describes him as making wood-engravings in his student days and the V&A collection includes a pot from 1942 with a very similar stylised design of a face. Haile relocated to the US in 1939 and in 1942 a pot by him titled Orpheus was shown in Contemporary Ceramics of the Western Hemisphere at the Chicago Art Institute.
The RCA programme lists Haile as playing Raphael in Orphée, one of Death’s two assistants, a tragic irony given his untimely death in a motorcycle accident in 1948 at the age of 39. (Coincidentally, for his film adaptation of Orphée completed the following year, Cocteau reinterpreted Death’s assistants as leather-clad motorcycle riders, the first appearance of the “Dark Rider” trope in film history.)
The cast included numerous other RCA students who went on to become artists and teaches of note. John Burrell, was appointed co-director of the Old Vic Theatre in London in 1948 with Laurence Olivier and Ralph Richardson. Carl Wildman had produced and played the character of Orphée for a previous London production in 1931. His translation was subsequently published in 1933 by Oxford University Press with illustrations by Picasso.
Title: Orphée Programme for the Royal College of Art production
Authors: Jean Cocteau, Carl Wildman, Virginia Woolf, John Burrell, Sam Haile
Publisher: Royal College of Art Dramatic Society, London
Publication date: between 1933 and 1935
Format: single sheet of laid paper folded once to make four pages. The upper cover is a wood engraving by Sam Haile printed in black.
Condition: Very good. Small area of staining to the right edge which is reflected on the verso of the same page. Slight discoloration of the paper on the right edge due to handling. The very tip of the upper right corner of last page turned. Otherwise very good.
Stock Number: RB03210
Programme for a double bill production of Carl Wildman’s 1933 translation of Jean Cocteau’s Orphée and, Orlando: The story of Orlando's rescue of the three knights from the enchantress, Falerina (no author given), produced by John Burrell for the Royal College of Art Dramatic Society in either 1933, 1934 or 1935. The wood engraving used to illustrate the cover is by the potter and surrealist artist Sam Haile who studied at the RCA under William Staite Murray between 1931 and 1935. The British Museum website entry for Haile describes him as making wood-engravings in his student days and the V&A collection includes a pot from 1942 with a very similar stylised design of a face. Haile relocated to the US in 1939 and in 1942 a pot by him titled Orpheus was shown in Contemporary Ceramics of the Western Hemisphere at the Chicago Art Institute.
The RCA programme lists Haile as playing Raphael in Orphée, one of Death’s two assistants, a tragic irony given his untimely death in a motorcycle accident in 1948 at the age of 39. (Coincidentally, for his film adaptation of Orphée completed the following year, Cocteau reinterpreted Death’s assistants as leather-clad motorcycle riders, the first appearance of the “Dark Rider” trope in film history.)
The cast included numerous other RCA students who went on to become artists and teaches of note. John Burrell, was appointed co-director of the Old Vic Theatre in London in 1948 with Laurence Olivier and Ralph Richardson. Carl Wildman had produced and played the character of Orphée for a previous London production in 1931. His translation was subsequently published in 1933 by Oxford University Press with illustrations by Picasso.
Title: Orphée Programme for the Royal College of Art production
Authors: Jean Cocteau, Carl Wildman, Virginia Woolf, John Burrell, Sam Haile
Publisher: Royal College of Art Dramatic Society, London
Publication date: between 1933 and 1935
Format: single sheet of laid paper folded once to make four pages. The upper cover is a wood engraving by Sam Haile printed in black.
Condition: Very good. Small area of staining to the right edge which is reflected on the verso of the same page. Slight discoloration of the paper on the right edge due to handling. The very tip of the upper right corner of last page turned. Otherwise very good.
Stock Number: RB03210
