It is an autumn sale for the most devoted of theatre-goers, the most courageous of fashionistas and anyone who takes fancy-dress parties extremely seriously.

Today 40 years’ worth of costumes produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company and formerly inhabited by some of Britain’s finest actors go on sale to the public at Stratford-upon-Avon.

The range is nothing if not dramatic: 10,000 garments from every period, doublets that were once filled by Derek Jacobi, David Suchet and David Tennant, a fat-suit worn by Simon Callow, along with all the accoutrements of Shakespeare’s stage – royal robes, bloodied soldiers’ tunics, horses’ heads and several very distinguished and well-travelled codpieces. Everything must go.

The sale began yesterday for theatre managers, costumiers and a lot of very excited amateur dramatists. Veronica Randle, 69, from Devizes, told The Times: “I couldn’t sleep last night. I was too excited. I feel like a child at Christmas.”

Mrs Randle, who formerly worked in the drawing office of the Ministry of Defence, now spends all her waking hours in the manufacture of costumes for various local theatre groups. Her suits of armour, in heavy-duty vinyl for a recent production of King Lear, were pronounced a huge success and “very comfortable to die in”.

“Costume is an obsession,” she said. “It’s better than drugs.” Angela Hodgson and Margaret Burbidge, retired primary-school teachers from Bognor Regis, had come to purchase costumes for the Regis Players, but decided that some Shakespearean outfits would nicely augment their wardrobes.

Mrs Hodgson, 59, was torn between the golden gown of Tatiana, worn by Julia Mole in an early Nineties production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream starring Alex Jennings, and a rigid black lace ballgown worn in the same production. She thought that she might wear both outfits at her 60th birthday.

The impetus for the RSC’s autumn sale came six months ago when it became clear that its warehouse on the outskirts of town was no longer big enough to house all the company’s outfits.

For Delfina Angiolini, who has worked in the wardrobe of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre for 20 years, each costume brings back memories of past triumphs and failures.

“This jacket was for Josette Simon, who was Tatiana in Dream. It was really heavy, and in one costume change it caught on the skirt and unhooked it. As she walked on stage her skirt began to come off. I thought: ‘Here comes my P45’.”

The prize items are to be auctioned, but not every garment on sale has been thoroughly checked and some jewels are yet to be discovered.

Later Mrs Burbidge found a red velvet cape worn by David Suchet as Achilles in Troilus and Cressida: “The Greeks wore this sort of thing, I suppose. It will make a lovely skirt.”

Everything must go

Simon Callow’s fat-suit, from The Merry Wives of Windsor – £20

The White Witch’s coat from the 1998 production of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe – £50

Velvet coats from Peter Brook’s 1970 A Midsummer Night’s Dream – £30

Josie Lawrence’s wedding dress from The Taming of the Shrew – £20

Swords – £20/Daggers – £15

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