Costume Centre Stage: Re-membering Ellen Terry

This chapter illuminates the important function that stage costumes can have in what Marvin Carlson termed ‘ghosting’ (Carlson 2003). Having established the role of costumes as ‘carriers of identity’ and ‘memory’ this chapter considers why and how performers might deliberately reference their own past roles by re-creating or alluding to costumes which reference a previous performance or a specific aspect of their celebrity. Through the close analysis of specific examples from the wardrobe of celebrated Victorian actress Dame Ellen Terry (1847–1928), it will highlight the degree to which costumes are haunted by ‘ghosts’ of ‘performers’ and ‘performances’ both during the lifetime of their original wearer(s) and after their death.