Visual Ideas I've Been Toying With

a wood scene for a childs fairytale

Reflections on Collaboration - Considering the work of one of the most influential collaborative theatre designers in Britain today

“The Designer is a Very Lonely Animal”
-Ralph Koltai-


Scenic design is an art form which is demanding of both the emotion and the intellect of the designer (Parker et al., 1990; 31). Ralph Koltai has both these qualities in profusion. For the last five decades Koltai has been revolutionising the discipline of scenography. As modern theatre has constantly reinvented itself, Koltai has been a forerunner in the field. He has immeasurably inspired the work of other generations of scenic designers such as John Napier, Alison Chitty, Nadine Baylis, Maria Bjornson, Terry Parsons and Sue Blane. In this post I intend to explore the work of Ralph Koltai. In so doing I will consider his methods and his approach to design. I then hope to continue by examining some of his design concepts. But to begin however I would like to reflect on how he came to be ‘the father of modern British theatre design’ (Nunn, 1997; 13).

Ralph Koltai fled to Britain in 1939 at the age of 13 as a refugee. Being a Jewish German, he was only saved from the concentration camps by the foresight of his father, a Hungarian-born doctor who smuggled the teenager out of the country with the assistance of the Quakers. Koltai joined the Royal Army Service Corps towards the end of the war and later became a member of the British team at the Nuremberg trials. Once Koltai was released from his duties, like many soldiers, he found himself in need of employment. His decision to go into the theatre was influenced by his girlfriend, a ballerina at Sadler's Wells. "I wanted to follow her into the business and the only thing that I was qualified for was design". As a result he signed up at Central St Martins School of Art in London and this was to be the beginning of a long illustrious career in the arts. (Davis, 2001; 28)

Ralph Koltai has since designed some two hundred productions of opera, drama, dance and musicals in the United Kingdom, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bulgaria, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Israel, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Norway, Switzerland, Sweden, and the United States. Koltai is a recipient of many honors and awards attesting to his pre-eminence in the art of theater design. For example he was awarded the CBE in 1983; was elected to The Royal Society of Arts (RDI) in 1984 and received a special Award for Distinguished Service to the Theatre by the USITT. He has received numerous other national and international awards including: London Drama Critics award 1967 and 1981; Society of West End Theatre: Designer of the Year 1978 and 1984; he was part of the Gold Medal winning team at the Prague Quadrennial in 1975, Silver Medal at PQ in 1987, and 'Golden Troika' National Award at PQs in 1979 and 1991. Ralph is also a Fellow of The Academy of Performing Arts, Hong Kong and of the Central Saint Martin's College of Art and Design, London
(http://www.theatredesign.org.uk/desbio/rako.htm).

The reason that Ralph Koltai has received such acclaim is that his designs are distinctively innovative. He often uses materials which are not the ‘conventional’ materials for scenic design. Koltai is recognized as one of the seminal designers who moved scenography away from the customary French flats. He often opts for reflective materials which are traditional avoided at all costs to reduce glare from the stage lights. However Koltai has used these to beautiful effect in his designs for such shows as Twelfth Night, Planets, Othello, Madam Butterfly,, A Midsummer Marriage and Much Ado About Nothing (Nunn, 1997; 39). Critics of ‘designers theater’ often suggest that Koltai is ‘mechanizing the stage’. John Napier is quoted as saying ‘When Ralph and I use a piece of machinery on stage we are regarded as philistines for departing from the bare boards and the actors voice’ (Nunn, 1997; 13). However Koltai is not the type of designer to prescribe to fanatical theatrical dogma which often ties the hands of other scenic designers.
Instead Ralph Koltai uses ultimate interpretive boldness. He looks instinctively and intuitively for the metaphor with in a piece. This is because he believes that true design is not about pictorial representations of the script but rather about the manipulation of abstract objects in a space in order to give that space an atmosphere so that the nature of what happens in that space is enhanced (Nunn, 1997; 13). For Koltai the pivotal person to consider when designing a set is the actor. He believes that a stage should be incomplete without the actor. He has worked with almost all of the biggest names in theatre but it still gives him pleasure when actors such as Jeremy Irons, Dame Judi Dench and Kenneth Branagh sing his praises. Making the actors job easier means far more to him than compliments from directors, although he has had happy working relationships with many of the biggest names including Terry Hands and Clifford Williams. (http://www.britishtheatreguide.info/otherresources/interviews/RalphKoltai3.htm)

Another thing that Koltai is recognised for is that he is an opportunist who capitalises on ‘the accident’. For this reason his designs often begin with a model. He believes that accidents can happen when working with a model that can’t happen when drafting. These accidents can be the source inspiration. For example he uses an accident in his design for the show Metropolis. A box he used to carry materials to make his model ultimately influenced his final design. (Davis, 2001; 28)

Ralph Koltai is quoted as having said that ‘despite a production being a collaborative effort, the designer is a very lonely animal’. However he strives to change this. When he designs he attempts to be part of the whole production not purely be the estranged absentee set designer. He often attends the rehearsals of a production he is designing for in order to make the process a more collaborative effort. He would like theatre to be a community with little or no divide between the scenic designer, lighting designer, director, writers, actors and indeed the audience. For me Ralph Koltai work has energy and power that is rarely seen in theatre design. He can be bold and shocking and still not obscure the true sentiment of a piece of theatre. ‘His enthusiasm, his talent and his fantastic skill as a raconteur’ gives him the capability to create sets which are ‘vibrant, sensual, wonderfully observed and sexy’ (Nunn, 1997; 13).



Bibliography



Davis, T. (2001) Stage Design. Switzerland. RotoVision.
http://www.britishtheatreguide.info/otherresources/interviews/RalphKoltai3.htm

http://www.theatredesign.org.uk/desbio/rako.htm

Nunn, T. (1997) Ralph Koltai; Designer for the Stage. London. Lund Humphries Publishers.
Parker, W.O., Wolf, R.C., (1990) Scene Design and Stage Lighting, sixth edition. San Francisco. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc.
Warre, M. (1966) Designing and Making Stage Scenery. New York. Studio Vista.

Macbeth

Earlier this year I completed a night-course in welding. While there I experimented with heating iron. When the metal is over heated it changes colours. I have used this technique here to make a model box for Shakespeare’s Macbeth. The metal melts and the silver colour is replaced by beautiful reds, purples and greens.

This model is made of welded iron plates, wood and EVA plastic

she swallowed the spider to catch the fly

She Swallowed A Fly

She Swallowed a Fly

There was a girl who lost her mind
It left her floating far behind
Which gave the grownups quiet a fright
So deftly in the dead of night
They sent her with alarming pace
To and unfamiliar place
Where she could be quiet at home
for there she would not be alone
Everyone in this place you see
had lost their minds, just like she
They floated off into the sky
Leaving there bodies by and by

Among these others our protagonist sat
And on the outside it appeared that
She had a rather good grasp on thing
But inside of her
There were rumblings

In spite of this inner disquiet
The girl was known to be quiet the riot
She had the sutures nurse in stitches
Imitating shock therapy twitches
Soon enough, In no time at all
She was good friends with one and all

Ah, but let us not forget
The reason why these friends had met
Each one of them the whole blooming lot
Simply put had lost the plot

But have no fear, worry not
Because in a jiffy, in a shot
Modern science will save the day
If of course you can afford to pay
Men in white lab coats will arrive
with magical powers to prescribe
Lotions and potions and a whole array
Of things to keep madness away

So returning to our leading lady
Who’s talented, funny, and of course crazy
She told the doctor she felt sad
He whipped out he trusty prescription pad
A shiny red pill morning, noon, and night
Would keep her happy, chipper and bright

But, it also made it had to sleep
The doctor paused and though real deep
Being such a clever guy
He found a yellow pill near by
To help her get her 40 winks
But not to be mixed with alcoholic drinks

Eventually it was noted the girl was always feeling bloated
Her appetite was totally through
But our friend the Doc knew what to do
This pill was a colour dark and black
And although it gave her her appetite back
It also made her loose her hair
But she said that she didn’t care
She tried to say when the pills would let her
“Thank you do I feel much better”

"There was an old woman who swallowed a fly,
I don't know why she swallowed a fly,
Perhaps she'll die. There was an old woman who swallowed a spider,
That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her,
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly,
I don't know why she swallowed the fly,
Perhaps she'll die. There was an old woman who swallowed a bird,
How absurd! to swallow a bird,
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider,
That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her,
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly,
I don't know why she swallowed the fly,
Perhaps she'll die. There was an old woman who swallowed a cat,
Imagine that! to swallow a cat,
She swallowed the cat to catch the bird,
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider,
That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her,
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly,
I don't know why she swallowed the fly,
Perhaps she'll die...."


Eventually our sad friend stopped taking these colourful pills
Instead she saved them all up for a rainy day when she might really need them
When that rainy day eventually came
She gobbled them all up
And she would never be sad again

She Swallowed A Fly

I would like to invite you all to attend a short performance
on Monday the 8th of December.
at either 3.30 pm 5.30pm or 7.30 pm
in The Observatory Space of The Wimbledon College of Art
I look forward to seeing you there

The Collaborative Project

During our Collaborative Project I have had the opportunity to experiment with the recording, editing and mixing of sound. After two extremely interesting workshops with Carolyn Downing, a London based sound designer, I am now trying to put into practice the skills that she has taught us. In our most recent workshop Carolyn divided the sound design for our upcoming Collaborative Project into three parts. Each of the students present at the workshop began by choosing which character we would design the sound for. In this way each of the separate characters will have very different soundscapes, which will be particularly effective for this performance as The Overlook Project is to be an unscripted piece of theatre.

For teh past week, I have been designing the soundscape for the character of Jack Torrance, the male lead in Stanley Kubrick's The Shining. Jack is defined by his paranoia and his resentment. He is a man who is frustrated by his place in the world and this anger is further compounded by his inability to be productive and to create. My design for Jack’s soundscape attempts to emphasize the controlling, misogynistic and obsessive elements of his character. I did this by recording naturalistic sounds and then editing them into abstraction. I recorded the sounds of drumming fingers, grinding teeth, and tearing paper. These were then mixed with metallic sounds distorted laughter and ominous droning noises.

Here is a sample of the work so far... But be warned... You are listening to the rattlings of a mad man in an empty house... This ain’t gonna be pleasant listening!

Is there life in the old dog yet... or should we let the poor beast die?

A review of The Mousetrap, by Agatha Christie, performed at St. Martins Theatre, London, November 2008.

The Mousetrap is widely acclaimed as being the longest running play in British theatre. It has now been running for over 56 years, during which time over 23,000 performances have been given. In fact, the official website for the production boasts that during this time the theatre has sold an impressive “415 tonnes of ice cream".

Last weekend I became one of the many poor suckers who have bought the overpriced ice-cream sold at The Mousetrap. Yes, I too have joined ranks with the vast legions of spectators who have visited St Martin’s Theatre to experience this relic of British drama.

From a design perspective the set was of little interest, except perhaps out of antiquarian curiosity. Bafflingly, the original design has been preserved ever since the show began its run in 1952. If the truth be told, however, I had a very enjoyable night. I laughed at all the appropriate moments and clucked my tongue in bemusement at all outmoded gender stereotypes. Yet, I did pause to wonder - how has this play persisted to find audiences while new performances struggle to gain recognition.

Allow me to be harshly critical for a moment. It seems to me that The Mousetrap is a perfect example of what Peter Brook would probably term “The Deadly Theatre”, which simply means a theatre without life or vitality.

In his seminal piece of literature “The Empty Space”, the author makes a very strong argument against playing a show, “the way it was written”, or in the style that it has previously been performed. Brook warned that theatre can quickly transform from the “lively to the moribund” when exact reproductions of performances are recreated outside of their original context. By using “imperial gestures and royal values [that] are fast disappearing from everyday life” each generation will find these performances more and more hollow and meaningless.

Unfortunately, Brook’s theories of “The Deadly Theatre” paint The Mousetrap in a rather abysmal light. And I do not wish to give such a negative review of what was really quiet a nice show. However, I do believe that theatre artists must not become slaves to tradition. ‘In the theatre, every form once born is mortal; every form must be reconceived’ (Brook, 1968 : 16)

With this in mind one begins to wonder... if the Guinness Book of Records saw it fit to award David Raven with the title of 'Most Durable Actor' for his 4575 performances as Major Metcalf in The Mousetrap, perhaps they should also acknowledge the long suffering audience with the title of “Most Durable Audience”.

It is time to reinvent. Not time to re-enact.