Patience Harris

Patience Glossop Harris (1857 – December 1901), was a British costume designer for the theatre best known for her work with the actor Ellen Terry early in her career.

Biography

Patience Glossop Harris was the daughter of Augustus Glossop Harris, an actor and theatre manager, and Maria Ann (née Bone) Harris, a theatrical costumier.[1] She had two sisters, Ellen (Nelly) and Maria, and two brothers, Charles and Augustus, an actor and theatrical manager.[1][2]

Harris oversaw the actress Ellen Terry's costumes during the first decade of Terry's career at the Lyceum Theatre, from the late 1870s to the late 1880s[2] During this period Harris designed elaborate, heavy costumes in luxurious fabrics for Romeo and Juliet, The Merchant of Venice, and Much Ado About Nothing, among other plays.[2]: 289–94  In 1882 Terry brought the costume designer Alice Comyns Carr on board as a consultant.[2]: 304  Harris and Carr worked together until 1887, but their tastes differed, with Carr favouring simpler, more flowing designs in the Aesthetic dress style.[2]: 304–307  Their disagreements reached a head in 1887 over designs for the plays Henry VIII and The Amber Heart, and Harris resigned.[2]: 304 [3] Carr succeeded her as Terry's head costume designer.[3][4]

Harris's mother operated her costume business under the name "Madame Auguste" and supplied costumes to, among others, the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company in the 1880s.[5] Under the same name, Harris supplied costumes to D'Oyly Carte for seven productions from 1892 to 2001.[6]

At the time of her death she was working under the company name Auguste et Cie.[2]: 288  Costumes bearing this label were worn by both Terry and the actor–manager Henry Irving.[2]: 288 

The circumstances of Harris's death provoked an inquest, and it was suggested that she may have died of alcoholism.[2]: 288 [7]

References
  1. "Augustus Henry Glossop Harris, 1852-1896" The Correspondence of James MacNeill Whistler, University of Glasgow.
  2. Isaac, Veronica Tetley. "'Dressing the Part': Ellen Terry (1847-1928)". PhD dissertation, University of Brighton, 2016.
  3. "The Actor and the Maker: Ellen Terry and Alice Comyns-Carr". Victoria and Albert Museum website.
  4. Comyns Carr, Mrs. J. (Alice Comyns Carr). Mrs. J. Comyns Carr's 'Reminiscences' . London: Hutchinson, 1926.
  5. Theatre programmes, Savoy Theatre, London, for Patience (1881), Iolanthe (1882), Princess Ida (1884), The Mikado (1885) and Ruddygore (1887)
  6. Theatre programmes, Savoy Theatre, London, for Haddon Hall (1892), Utopia, Limited (1893), The Chieftain (1895), The Grand Duke (1896), H.M.S. Pinafore (revival 1899), The Rose of Persia (1899) and The Emerald Isle (1901)
  7. "Death of Miss Patience Glossop Harris". The Derbyshire Times, 4 January 1902.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.