To buy or not to buy, that is the question as RSC has clear-out

The crowds went to a sale of about 10,000 items including costumes, shoes, hats and accessories at the company’s rehearsal rooms in Stratford-upon-Avon.

With prices ranging from 20p to £150, fans had the chance to get famous costumes, including items worn by Sir Ian McKellen, Sir Ben Kingsley and David Tennant.

An RSC spokeswoman said hundreds of people had queued up for the sale yesterday.

She said: “It went really well. We sold huge amounts of items.

“We had queues of around 700 people waiting to get into the building.”

She said any money raised would go back into the RSC’s costume store to buy new costumes.

The sale featured some 10,000 items including costumes, shoes, hats and accessories.

More than 1,000 pairs of shoes, 500 shirts, 300 hats, Egyptian head-dresses, military uniforms, cloaks, clerical outfits, jewellery and chain-mail, were up for grabs.

Costumes covered a range of periods, including retro, vintage, early English, Elizabethan and the 20th century.

Among the items for sale were soldiers’ tabards and chain-mail from the RSC’s 1984 production of Henry V, starring Kenneth Branagh, and later seen in Mel Gibson’s film Braveheart.

It also included a light blue 18th century waistcoat worn by Charles Dance in As You Like It, a coat worn by Sir Ben Kingsley, a selection of shirts worn by Sir Ian McKellen in The Seagull and his over-robe from King Lear, and numerous items worn by David Tennant.

The clothing was chosen from the RSC costume store, currently home to more than 40,000 outfits