The collection of items will include clothes, shoes, hats and accessories all made by the company's wardrobe department.

They come from various periods including early English, Elizabethan and 20th Century as well as one off special items from shows such as Beauty and The Beast, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe and Merry Wives - The Musical.

The pieces are from the RSC hire wardrobe, which is home to 40,000 costumes and where items go after they are used in productions.

There has not been a sale for over six years and the RSC needs to free up space to create better storage conditions and make room for new outfits.

Alistair McArthur, RSC head of costume and Alison Mitchell head of the hire wardrobe, have been going through every costume in the wardrobe to select those that will go into the sale.

Head of enterprise Sara Aspley said: "Looking through the wealth of costumes stored at hire wardrobe has taken weeks of work. It's been a mammoth task, with each of the 40,000 garments held there having to be assessed and reviewed by the RSC team.

"We have items for sale from every area of the wardrobe, including costumes that first made their debut on the stage back in the 1960s.

"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 Snow Queen's coat from The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe.

"With many items starting at just £2 we hope that people will take the opportunity to come along and purchase a piece of theatre history."

The sale will take place at the RSC rehearsal rooms in Arden Street.

Regular hirers and trade customers will be able to make an appointment to browse the clothes on Friday, September 28, between 11.30am and 5pm.
The sale will be open to the public on Saturday, September 29 from 10am to 5pm.

For more information call 01789 272327.