Interview: "It's Utterly Magical": Leslie Travers on Curating MYTHIC REINVENTION at the Royal Exchange Theatre

As a part of its 50th anniversary celebrations, the Royal Exchange Theatre has created a costume exhibition, Mythic Reinvention: An Exhibition Celebrating 50 Years of Costume & Craft. We had the chance to speak Leslie Travers, the curator of Mythic Reinvention. We discussed how he first got started in the world of design, what it has been like to curate the exhibition and his favourite costume on display.

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How did you first get started in the world of design? 

The Exchange was the very first theatre I actually walked into. I'm from Hartlepool in the Northeast and grew up with my grandparents. Every summer, to take the pressure off them, I'd come and stay with my great uncle Roy and my great auntie Eileen in Altrincham, and they used to bring me into the centre of Manchester. My uncle Roy said, “There's something I really want to show you,” and he took me up those steps - I get quite emotional thinking about it! - and we just walked into that hall, and I was blown away by it. And he explained to me that it was a theatre, and at that age, I had no idea what theatres were and how they should look, and this was completely different! I was just in awe of it. It just started something in me. 

So the Royal Exchange is the beginning point of my journey of having a life within theatre. And I was lucky to see the Royal Shakespeare Company when they used to do seasons in Newcastle, and I just became obsessed with theatre. At that same time, my love of drawing and sketching and making things out of bits of things that my grandparents were throwing away - I used to use my grandmother's old curtains to make costumes, and I did puppet shows, which a lot of people did who ended up in this profession. Then I joined the National Youth Theatre as an actor, which I loved, but it was nerve-racking. But what they had were the productions in London, designed by professional designers, and I just put two and two together. I thought, “That's what I really, really want to do,” and that was it! That was about the age of sixteen, and here I am now. 

And what made you want to curate Mythic Reinvention? 

Well, I have such a long involvement with this building, which goes back all the way from childhood, and I was really lucky to be asked to. The first thing I ever designed for the exchange was a production of Twelfth Night, directed by Jo Davies, which is one of my favourite plays. We did a very Mancunian version of the play. The characters in it were very familiar and hyperreal, and we worked really hard to capture some of the energy of Manchester. And it's interesting working within that space - it's utterly magical. 

So when Selina [Cartmell, Artistic Director/Co-CEO] asked me to curate the exhibition, I just thought, “What a great honour! What a huge responsibility!” But of course, the only word I could say was, “Yes!” And also, it's given me a chance to dig into the archive and the history of the building, and to look quite deeply through the lens of costume at the people who've worked here. The costume department has such an incredible reputation, and well-deserved! When you come to the exhibition, you can see that the craftspersonship is extraordinary. 

The difficult thing has been to select so much stuff that's just incredible, but we can't have everything! So it was a real process. It was a deep dive. I went through pictorial archives from productions and written archives. But we have this amazing facility at the Exchange, so many of the costumes are still in existence. And I worked closely with the Head of Costume, Tracy Dunk, who has an encyclopaedic knowledge of the stock. Someone said there were 27,000 items, but I think there's much more!

Can you tell us a bit about the process of curating and selecting costumes for the exhibition?

It was extensive - fifty years of history is a long time, and the building, apart from brief periods in its history - the bomb and the pandemic - has been so active. There are two spaces. There is the module, the big space in the middle of the hall, but there's also amazing studio space as well. And I just dived in! The selection process took a long time, and when I did my first list, it was epic - from each year, I could have filled the hall with costumes! And just a process of collaboration and talking with Selena, Tracy and other members of staff, because there's so much to represent. Our society as it is, the makers who made those pieces, the designers who conceptualised the design, and just taking care of good representation as well. 

I always get so emotional talking about this, but we've got a costume from Phyllida Lloyd’s production. Phyllida Lloyd was the first woman who directed a play at the Exchange, and it felt very important to have that costume in there. And also, there were two costumes from Marianne Elliott, the daughter of one of the founders of the Royal Exchange, an amazing director who went on to direct things like War Horse. There are two costumes from her production of As You Like It here, and I love them because the energy of them is so exciting. So, just to represent those really important moments, and the Exchange's history feels like an honour. But, through that process, we've got to a select number of costumes, and the energy that I feel that we've created in the hall feels absolutely right - they're the right choices. 

And what was it like using your experience as a set designer to set up the exhibition?

It's really interesting because it's the first thing I've ever curated, and I've enjoyed it so much - I would love to do it again! But I have a detailed experience of the space, especially during Road this year, where we really tested the building. It's really interesting, because the Exchange wants you to challenge it. Listening to interviews of people who worked in the building right at the beginning, they also felt the same. Even from day one, there was an instinct to challenge it. Also, we're not in a gallery space. We're in a great hall, but in the middle of it, there is this powerful, resonant orb of glass, the module. To playfully place these characters back in the space, sometimes it's quite surprising. We have costumes on the module, and in different spaces. We have an imagined dressing room. 

We have an imagined workshop in the space, which is really important because in there, you can go and listen to the artists, the costumemakers, and their stories. It felt really important to have representation of that in the exhibition space. That was one of the first things in my thought process - to make and create a space that has a sense of discovery. So the rhythm of it is dynamic.

It's not avenues of pictures, although we do have lots of visual references. It's all very tied together, and there are images of the performers in the costumes themselves, just to make it as exciting as possible, in that Royal Exchange tradition. The Exchange was founded in the mid 70s, and it was such a challenging time, but it was also the birth of punk and art, and interestingly, amazing theatres, such as this one. So it's not just a dry costume exhibition. Also, I want to make something where you can come and spend a little bit of time and see a few things, and then come back to it. I'll see it all and still come back! Because I'm a theatre designer, I wanted to show those costumes and stories in the best possible way. 

Do you have a favourite costume from the exhibition? 

It's so difficult to do that because it changes all the time. At the moment, I really love a red velvet coat from Volpone. It's ombre-dyed- red at the top, and then it goes into purple. We've put it next to the workroom, which we've created out of a box of costumes, which are all very cream and delicate. And the red in the hall is incredible. It's from twenty years ago, and it looks brand new. But for me, as a Costume Designer, the making on it is absolutely exquisite. It's just perfection, and it shows off what this building is really brilliant at - making beautiful work. 

What do you hope audiences take away from this exhibition?

I would like people to feel a sense of pride that Manchester has this incredible, significant powerhouse of a space in its heart. Of wonderful theatrical productions, but also of creative artists. Many people over the years have graced that space. It's just so wonderful at the Royal Exchange. I hope there's an uplift when you walk in. The energy of the costume exhibition in the hall is very amenable and fun, so I hope it brings that wonderment and admiration for it. I deeply hope that young people will come and see it, and from whatever age, like I did at the beginning, walk into that space and get a buzz. Maybe it will lead to something in their lives, a creative pursuit. To help that journey, that would be really great. Also, just for people to spend time in that wonderful space, and maybe, if they haven't seen a production at the Royal Exchange, take that dive and go and see something. 

And finally, how would you describe the exhibition in one word? 

Celebratory.

Mythic Reinvention: An Exhibition Celebrating 50 Years of Costume & Craft runs from until 15 November at the Royal Exchange Theatre