Download The Art of Chichester Festival Theatre: A Celebration

 PRESS RELEASE 2012
The Art of Chichester Festival Theatre: A Celebration
3 March to 3 June 2012
The theatre has long been a source of inspiration for
artists and a place to experiment with innovative
costume and set designs. To mark the 50th anniversary
of Chichester Festival Theatre – the birthplace of the
National Theatre - Pallant House Gallery presents a new
exhibition celebrating the ways in which visual theatre
artists responded to the challenge of designing for the
first purpose-built thrust stage theatre in the UK.
Curated and designed by renowned scenographer Professor
Pamela Howard OBE, the exhibition will feature set models,
drawings, paintings, costumes, props and designs from the
early productions by artists such as Michael Annals, Daphne
Dare, Jocelyn Herbert, Julia Trevelyan Oman, Sean
Kenny, Ralph Koltai CBE, Malcolm Pride, Peter Rice and
Alan Tagg, many of which will be shown for the first time.
The works will be assembled in a specially-constructed
installation of the theatre park designed by Pamela Howard,
in the galleries of Pallant House Gallery.
Focussing on the early period of the Theatre (1962 – 1988)
and its inception, the exhibition will explore how the
standards and practices of Chichester Festival Theatre
influenced designers and interpreters. The ‘thrust’ stage in
particular, which enabled spectators to see the players from
all angles for the first time, posed new challenges for
costumiers who began to make garments in meticulous
detail which would be interesting for the entire audience: ‘’All
the old theatre sayings like ‘you won’t notice that from the
front’ or ‘it will be alright when it’s lit‘ just would no longer
apply’, says Pamela Howard of that time. ‘We had entered
the new age of reality and perfection in construction and
materials, and the age of theatrical fakery had passed’.
Elsewhere, the innovative lighting rig mirroring the pentagon
roof shape gave birth to lighting designers as artists and a
profession in their own right; and the angle of the
auditorium, with the audience looking down from three sides,
forced the stage floor to take on the importance of the INFORMATION | IMAGES | INTERVIEWS
Emma Robertson
Head of Press & Communications
01243 770841
[email protected]
Pallant House Gallery
9 North Pallant
Chichester
West Sussex
PO19 1TJ
United Kingdom
James Neave, drawing of the first production ‘The Chances’ The London
Illustrated News, 7 July 1962 © the artist
conventional backcloth of the proscenium theatre as the
background against which actors were seen. As designers
responded to the architecture of the theatre, a simple and
dynamic theatre language evolved.
The exhibition includes celebrated British theatre designer
Ralph Koltai’s striking sculptural evocation of Prospero’s
Island in The Tempest (1968) –a collection of perfect
white spheres and triangles balancing on a white pentagon
with a concave floor; the set model for the 1981 production
The Mitford Girls, which starred Ned Sherrin and Caryl
Brahms, designed by Stefanos Lazaridis, which explored
the whole height of the stage space (one of the principal
design challenges); and designs and props for The Royal
Hunt of the Sun (1964), which evoked the ancient Aztec
Empire through the unity of costume, mask, and staging.
Other exhibits include three time Oscar winner Anthony
Powell’s designs from the 1974 production of ‘The
Confederacy’, which starred Dora Bryan, Nicholas Clay
and Gemma Craven, and a number of designs by Carl Toms
OBE, including costume designs for Vivat Vivat Regina!
(1970) which starred Eileen Atkins as Queen Elizabeth, and
Sarah Miles as Mary Queen of Scots.
Cont.
01243 774557
[email protected]
www.pallant.org.uk
Adult £7.50, Child £2.30
Student £4, Family £17
Tues-Sat 10am-5pm
Thurs 10am-8pm
Sun 11am -5pm
Closed Mondays
Charity No. 293093
PRESS RELEASE 2012
Professor Pamela Howard began her career as a headdress
maker for ‘The Broken Heart’, one of the first productions
in 1962, and her installation, which provides the backdrop to
the exhibits, will literally bring the park setting into the
Gallery.
Notes to Editors:
Professor Pamela Howard will be available for interviews.
Please refer all requests to Emma Robertson,
Head of Press and Communications at Pallant House Gallery
[email protected].
Chichester Festival Theatre’s 50th Anniversary season of 11
productions will include a diverse mix of re-imagined classic
plays and musicals alongside explorations in new writing.
Accompanying events will include arts exhibitions, a
commemorative book by local author Kate Mosse, local free
public events, and the creation of a temporary structure
Theatre on the Fly which will house new work from
Chichester Festival Theatre’s team of graduate directors
during Festival 2012. For more information about the
Chichester Festival Theatre anniversary season please go to
www.cft.org.uk.
INFORMATION | IMAGES | INTERVIEWS
Emma Robertson
Head of Press & Communications
01243 770841
[email protected]
Pallant House Gallery
9 North Pallant
Chichester
West Sussex
PO19 1TJ UK
Charity No. 293093
Tues-Sat 10am-5pm
Thurs 10am-8pm
Sun 12.30-5pm
closed Mondays
Adult £7.50, Child £2.30
Stdnt £4, Family £17
t. 01243 774557
e. [email protected]
w. www.pallant.org.uk