RSC to sell trove of costumes from history of theatre

The Royal Shakespeare Company's costume department, a treasure chest of historical stage garments ranging from motley Elizabethan knickerbockers to the crimson robes of Roman kings, is to undergo a radical spring-clean after the company announced it was selling more than 4,000 of its costumes.

Many of the items sifted from the RSC's enormous collections can be bought for as little as £2 and include garments worn alongside some of the theatre company's most famous thespians such as Judi Dench, Ian McKellan, Helen Mirren and Simon Callow.

Items for sale include a shimmering white coat of the White Witch character in the 1998 production of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe that was worn by several actresses, including Estelle Kohler and Joanne Pearce. More than one coat was made for the three runs of the show and one is being retained by the RSC.

The imposing black leather coats and wolf masks worn during Laurence Boswell's Beauty and the Beast are also up for sale as well as the Elizabethan paraphernalia from Merry Wives, The Musical, which was staged in December last year and starred Judi Dench, Simon Callow and Alistair McGowan.

The sale items have been plucked from the hire wardrobe, which rents out garments after they have finished being used in its productions. Some of the garments, animal costumes and masks have been retained in the theatre's enormous stage archive since the 1960s. The wardrobe is home to more than 40,000 costumes and the RSC said the sale - the first in six years - would create space for clothes from their latest productions.

Alistair McArthur, the RSC's head of costume, and Alison Mitchell, who runs the hire wardrobe, selected the costumes for sale over several weeks, with each item being held up for assessment and review.

Sara Aspley, from the RSC, said: "We have items for sale from every area of the wardrobe. The sale will include costumes worn by many RSC associate artists, often as they were starting their careers, as well as unique one-off pieces such as the White Witch's coat. With many items starting at just £2 we hope people will take the chance to purchase a piece of theatre history."

The theatre company's costume department is world-renowned, with the RSC's costume supervisor and designer deciding on the best way to create a character's clothes, working on how to "interpret" a costume on a particular actor, after measuring up actors at the beginning of a rehearsal period.

The wardrobe incorporates shoes, hats, armour, underwear and jewellery, and many of the costumes are "distressed" to look worn or aged, with the department using cheese graters, sandpaper, Stanley knives and blow-torches to achieve an aged look.

The hire wardrobe is distinct from the RSC Collection which archives clothes and props worn by notable actors through the ages, including Laurence Olivier's Macbeth costume, from 1955, Vivien Leigh's Lady Macbeth from the same production, David Tennant's Romeo costume from 2000 and Patrick Stewart's Prospero costume from The Tempest, staged last year.

The Collection was created in the late 19th century, and includes 700 precious period costumes, prints, drawings and props. Until recently, it was partly displayed in the RSC's Swan Theatre exhibition area, now closed for refurbishment.

The sale will be in the RSC's Stratford-Upon-Avon rehearsal rooms on 28 and 29 September.

The clothes up for grabs

* A coat for the White Witch, from the 1998 production of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

* Black leather coats and masks, worn by the wolves from Beauty and the Beast

* A pair of trousers worn by Brian Glover in As You Like It, (1973)

* Two dresses from Merry Wives: The Musical (2006) worn by Alexandra Gilbreath (Mistress Ford) and Haydn Gwynne (Mistress Page), designed by Stephen Brimson Lewis

* Two dresses worn by Beauty's sisters, Veronique and Marie-Claire, played by Sirine Saba and Beth Vyse, in Beauty and the Beast