Laughing Matters: The State of a Nation

This display reflects on the role of humour in debates around identity, empire and power over the past two hundred years

Display

  • On now until Monday, 23 December 2024

  • V&A South Kensington

  • Free

+44 (0)20 7942 2000

  • Thursday, 21 November – Monday, 23 December 2024

  • V&A South Kensington

    Cromwell Road
    London, SW7 2RL

  • British Galleries, Room 55, Clore Study Area,

  • Free event

Through over 30 objects, ranging from costumes to scripts, from puppets to music, this display unpicks the punchlines to discover what humour since the Victorian era – whether subversive, surreal, mocking or celebratory – can tell us about what it means to be British today.

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Header image: Brexit Dress. Pantomime dame costume designed by Lotte Collett for Sleeping Beauty at the Hackney Empire, 2016 © Victoria and Albert Museum, London