1975 » Great Britain » Stage and costume design

VELKÁ BRITÁNIE

Scenarist of the exhibition: John Bury The designers representing Great Britain at the 1975 Prague Quadrennial, John Bury, Ralph Koltai and the team of Timothy o'Brien and Tazeena Firth, have come to prominence in the theatrical life of their country, holding in common a belief in the immediacy of communication. They inherited their role from a previous generation, active as decorators, bred in a theatre that served to entertain the moneyed classes. Today's designers have benefited from changes in social attitudes and work for an audience with a less frivolous outlook. Today, as in Shakespeare's time, the theatre of Britain is a writer s theatre and the concern of British designers is a proper response to the text and the author's meaning. These designers, working often on Shakespearean productions, respond to Hamlet's words to the Players: "that you o'erstep not the modesty of nature; for anything so overdone is from the purpose of playing, whose end both at the first and now, was, and is, to hold as twere, the mirror up to nature". This leads to a concrete approach to their work in an endeavour to bring truth and reality to the stage, to a respect for materials, to an interpretive solution. Respecting the text, it follows that they work with the greatest possible variety, rejecting the development of a self-advertizing style, either as a group oř as individuals. They believe that the best way to put an idea on stage is to put a man on stage possessed by that idea, and this puts the actor and the singer safely at the centre of their work, diminishing for them the interest in stage mechanics for their own sake, and nourishing a belief in an economy of means of expression. This point of view, akin to Puritanism, prompts fundamental approaches. Not for nothing did Peter Brook call his book "The Empty Space". To start with the naked actor and the floor upon which he stands and the recognition that everything added to these must spring from the needs of the work leads to clarity and beyond that to something which is more then the sum of its parts, to surreal connections, arresting metaphores, and moments of vision. Perhaps the British contribution to design is not rhetoric but poetry. The British entry to the Prague Quadrennial has been sponsored by: THE BRITISH COUNCIL THE ROYAL OPERA HOUSE, COVENT GARDEN THE NATIONAL THEATRE OF GREAT BRITAIN THE ROYAL SHAKESPEARE THEATRE THE ENGLISH NATIONAL OPERA COMPANY THE GLYNDEB0URNE FESTIVAL OPERA RANK STRAND ELECTRIC THEATRE PKOJECTS LTD. P.E. KEEP /ENGINEERS/ LTD. To these and the many others who have helped us we extend our gratitude.

Exhibiting artists / ateliers

• Ralph Koltai

* 1924, Hungary
Specialization: set designer, costume designer
Additional information: He graduated from Central School of Art and Design in London, works as freelance set designer He has designed some 200 productions of opera, drama, dance and musicals around the world. This includes 30 productions as Associate Designer for the Royal Shakespeare Company; also for the National Theatre, London's West End and Broadway. Opera and dance includes productions for Royal Opera, Royal Ballet, English National Opera, Orange, St Petersburg and Venice. He was Head of the Theatre Design Department, Central School of Art and Design (1965-72) and teached at Central Saint Matins College of Art and Design, London too. At the PQ 1975 he participated in the exposition awarded the Gold Medal for stage design (collective) and at the PQ 1979 in the exposition awarded the Golden Triga — the main prize. At the PO 1999, we could see the Ralph Koltai Retrospective in Prague. PQ 1975 - Gold Medal ( Groat Britain) PQ 1979 - Golden Tiiga ( Great Britain) PQ 1987 - Silver Medal for stage design 1991 - Golden Triga (Great Britain) 1967, 1981 Drama Critics Award 1984 - Elected to The Royal Society of Arts 1993 - Distinguished Service to the Theatre, USITT Society of West End Thoatro: Designer of the Year 1978 and 1984

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Exhibiting works

• : (As You Like It), National Theatre of Great Britain at the Old Vic 1967
• : (Tannhäuser), Sydney Opera House 1973
• John BURY

Additional information: Born in Aberystwyth in 1925, John Bury was educated at Hereford Cathedral School and University College, London, where he read chemistry. He joined the Royal Navy 1942-1946. Joined Joan Littlewooď s Theatre Workshop Company, touring then at Stratford, East London until 1962. Responsible there for designing A Taste of Honey, The Quare Fellow, Oh What a Lovely War ! In 1962 he joined Peter Hall at Royal Shakespeare Theatre, and was Head of Design at Stratford from 1962-1968. Responsible there for The Wars of the Roses, The Quatrocentennial History Cycle, Hamlet with David Warner, and the Scofield Macbeth. Since 1973 Head of Design at National Theatre, London; designs three or four productions there a year; most recently: Volpone, Strife, Betrayal, Fruits of Enlightenment. Is Chairman of the Society of British Theatre Designers, and British Delegate to the OISTT. In 1975 he won Gold Medal for best individual stage design to - gether with others at the PQ 75. Has designed all over the world - Japan, USA, Canada, etc.

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• Timothy O'BRIEN

Additional information: Timothy O'Brien and Tazeena Firth (common exhibits) began working together in 1961, both in the London theatre designing first productions of plays by Orton and Saunders and operas at Sadler's Wells. In 1964 they worked with Samuel Beckett on Waiting for Godot. Since 1964 they have worked principally for the Royal Shakespeare Company designing Days in the Trees, Tango, Staircase, All's Well That Ends Well, As You Like It, Romeo and Juliet, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Troilus and Cressida, Pericles, Women Beware Women, Bartholomew Fair, Measure for Measure, The Merchant of Venice, Enemies, The Lower Depths, Richard II, Love's Labour's Lost and Summerfolk. At the National Theatre they have designed Next of Kin for Harold Pinter and John Gabriel Borkman for Peter Hall, and at the Comédie Francaise Pericles for Terry Hands. For the Royal Opera they have designed The Knot Garden /1970/ and Peter Grimes /1975/, and for the English National Opero The Bassarids /1974/. In 1976 their designs for Woyzeck will be seen at the Adelaide Festival. Timothy O'Brien is Chairman of the Designers Working Group of the Arts Council of Great Britain.

Exhibiting works

• : (Summerfolk), Aldwych Theatre 1974
• : (The Bassarids), London Coliseum 1974
• : (The Lower Depths), Aldwych Theatre 1972
• : (As You Like It), Arts Theatre 1972