Rosemary Joyce Vercoe (29 April 1917 – 28 July 2013) was a British actress and costume designer, perhaps best known for being a long-term collaborator with

Jonathan Miller Sir Jonathan Wolfe Miller CBE (21 July 1934 – 27 November 2019) was an English theatre and opera director, actor, author, television presenter, humourist and physician. After training in medicine and specialising in neurology in the late 19 ...

on his opera and theatre productions.

Early life

She was born on 29 April 1917 at Old Court nursing home,

Hanger Hill Hanger Hill or Haymills Estate is a local area and ward of the London Borough of Ealing around Hanger Lane (A406 road). It was developed in the interwar period when affluent Londoners began to move out of Central London for more green spaces. Th ...

Ealing Ealing () is a district in West London, England, west of Charing Cross in the London Borough of Ealing. Ealing is the administrative centre of the borough and is identified as a major metropolitan centre in the London Plan. Ealing was histor ...

, London, the second of five children of Richard Herbert Vercoe (1884–1930), of

Southall Southall () is a large suburban county of West London, England, part of the London Borough of Ealing and is one of its seven major towns. It is situated west of Charing Cross and had a population of 69,857 as of 2011. It is generally divided ...

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...

, a doctor, and his wife, (Elizabeth) Selina Vercoe, née Skinner (1881–1960). Vercoe was educated at

Chelmsford County High School for Girls Chelmsford County High School for Girls or "CCHS", is a selective grammar school for girls aged 11–18 located in Chelmsford, Essex, England. Entrance to the school is by an academic selection test. CCHS is traditionally rated among the most co ...

, followed by

Chelsea School of Art Chelsea College of Arts is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London based in London, United Kingdom, and is a leading British art and design institution with an international reputation. It offers further and higher educat ...

, where her teachers included

Graham Sutherland Graham Vivian Sutherland (24 August 1903 – 17 February 1980) was a prolific English artist. Notable for his paintings of abstract landscapes and for his portraits of public figures, Sutherland also worked in other media, including printmaking ...

and

Henry Moore Henry Spencer Moore (30 July 1898 – 31 August 1986) was an English artist. He is best known for his semi- abstract monumental bronze sculptures which are located around the world as public works of art. As well as sculpture, Moore produced ...

Career

She first worked for the London District Theatre Unit as an actress and costume designer, before joining the

Players' Theatre The Players' Theatre was a London theatre which opened at 43 King Street, Covent Garden, on 18 October 1936. The club originally mounted period-style musical comedies, introducing Victorian-style music hall in December 1937. The threat of World ...

costume department during the Second World War. After the war, Vercoe worked in Stratford-upon-Avon's

Shakespeare Memorial Theatre The Royal Shakespeare Theatre (RST) (originally called the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre) is a grade II* listed 1,040+ seat thrust stage theatre owned by the Royal Shakespeare Company dedicated to the English playwright and poet William Shakespea ...

, where she was the costume designer for ''

The Taming of the Shrew ''The Taming of the Shrew'' is a comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1590 and 1592. The play begins with a framing device, often referred to as the induction, in which a mischievous nobleman tricks a drunken ...

'', and toured with the company in Australia in 1949–50 as a costume designer, and as an actress understudy. After this, she essentially became a costume designer full-time, and stopped acting. Vercoe was a regular collaborator with

on his opera and theatre productions. She was known for her meticulous historical research, and for using ordinary everyday clothes of the period, rather than "costumes". Miller's 1982 production of

Verdi Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi (; 9 or 10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901) was an Italian composer best known for his operas. He was born near Busseto to a provincial family of moderate means, receiving a musical education with the h ...

's opera ''

Rigoletto ''Rigoletto'' is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the 1832 play ''Le roi s'amuse'' by Victor Hugo. Despite serious initial problems with the Austrian censors who had cont ...

'' for

English National Opera English National Opera (ENO) is an opera company based in London, resident at the London Coliseum in St Martin's Lane. It is one of the two principal opera companies in London, along with The Royal Opera. ENO's productions are sung in English ...

, set in 1950s New York, was set designed by Patrick Robertson and costume designed by Vercoe. It was most recently revived in 2017, using Vercoe's costume design, which reviewers still comment on, "the mafia concept, although prolific in opera stagings these days, is still a perfect fit for Rigoletto". London's

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

includes Vercoe's costumes from the 1979

production of ''

The Turn of the Screw ''The Turn of the Screw'' is an 1898 horror novella by Henry James which first appeared in serial format in ''Collier's Weekly'' (January 27 – April 16, 1898). In October 1898, it was collected in ''The Two Magics'', published by Macmill ...

''. The V&A also houses her extensive archives.

Personal life

She was married to the set designer Patrick Robertson, and they were frequent collaborators.

Later life

Vercoe died at the Highgate Nursing Home, 12 Hornsey Lane,

Islington Islington () is a district in the north of Greater London, England, and part of the London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's High Street to Highbury Fields, encompassing the ar ...

, London, on 28 July 2013.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vercoe, Rosemary Joyce 1917 births 2013 deaths Alumni of Chelsea College of Arts English costume designers English stage actresses People educated at Chelmsford County High School for Girls People from Ealing