This essay considers the effect of World War I on Charles Ricketts’ work for the stage as an avant-garde set and costume designer. It looks at his cosmopolitan designs in the context of European symbolism. The first part of the essay focuses on Ricketts’ symbolist manifesto ‘The Art of Stage Decoration’ (1913). The essay then examines his designs for three Shakespearean plays that toured Le Havre in 1918 to entertain the troops. I argue that, in the aftermath of the war, Rickett’s symbolism became the lens through which he assessed the complex political landscape of the 1920s. I suggest that his stance against realism politicised his practice and explains his interest in Mussolini’s fascism
