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
  • Friday, 29 March 2019 – Sunday, 29 March 2020 at V&A South Kensington
  • V&A South Kensington
  • Past event
+44 (0)20 7942 2000

  • Friday, 29 March 2019 – Sunday, 29 March 2020

  • 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.

Look out for the Lunchtime Lecture on 1 May at 13.00, Hochhauser Auditorium. On 2 May the In Focus Tour at 13.00 starts from the Grand Entrance, Meeting Point.

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

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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