 |
|
|
||||||||
|
Interviews
|
||||||||
|
|
Ralph Koltai: Designer for the Stage Philip Fisher meets Ralph Koltai, associate designer at the RSC for almost thirty years Most men of 80 are likely to have retired 15 or 20 years ago. As his retrospective exhibition opens at the National Theatre, one of the great Abstract theatre designers is looking to the future as much as the past. Ralph Koltai CBE may be an octogenarian but the twinkle in his eye and his enthusiasm for new projects is as great as ever. Over the last three months, he has been drifting from theatre design into fine art, exemplified by a series of collages called Explorations, which form part of his exhibition. This does not mean that he has forsaken theatre design, far from it. He is just waiting for the right invitation at which point it is likely that he will travel to some far-flung outpost. In recent years, his work has been seen in the United States, Britain and, Denmark, Russia, Italy and Israel. His life story is fascinating. A German Jew, 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 in early 1939. Happily, he was able to follow himself not too long afterwards. After a couple of years working on a Scottish farm and a job from which he was dismissed as an enemy alien, Koltai joined up towards the end of the war. He joined the Royal Army Service Corps and because of his dual skills as typist and German speaker, was soon sent to Essen to report on the trial of Krupp the German armaments manufacturer. He followed this with a year-long engagement as part of the British team at the Nuremberg trials. He chuckles at the knowledge that when Trevor Nunn was directing David Edgar's Speer, possibly the only remaining British eyewitness was somebody that he knew better as a designer. When Koltai attended the opening night and told Nunn that he might well be the last survivor from the British trials team, he caught a momentary sign of Sir Trevor's frustration at missing out on a first-hand source in his own backyard. Once he was demobbed, his decision to go into the theatre was influenced by 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". He soon signed up at Central and by 1950 while he was still something of a star student, had designed his first professional opera set. Through the Fifties, he specialised in opera and ballet design, doing much work with Marie Rambert's company. The crossover into theatre came when he assisted John Barton on his first foray into opera with Carmen. He was seen by Bill Gaskill who commissioned him to work with the RSC where he has now been an associate designer for almost 30 years. In that time, 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. For some reason, this 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. Koltai's reputation is likely to live forever as a result of his meticulously modelled prototypes for stage sets, many of which form a part of the exhibition. Some of the best examples include his Twelfth Night at Copenhagen in 1966, a colourful extravaganza at the figurative end of the scale; his As You Like It at the National featuring adaptable stalactites; and perhaps most interesting of all, the abstract dream that forms the set of his Tempest at Chichester in 1968. This last can as easily have been a sculpture created by Anish Kapoor as a set design. Sadly, the effort involved in removing it from the V&A has meant that one of his masterpieces, his design for the adaptation of Fritz Lang's film Metropolis which conjures up thoughts of an industrial nightmare, could not form part of the exhibition. The good news is that the sumptuous catalogue contains far more material than the exhibition itself. This is available from Nick Hern Books at £25 and demonstrates the stunning beauty of so much of Koltai's work. This includes the Luca Fontana-influenced front cover that forms part of his mammoth sets for the Geneva Opera's Tannhauser in 1986. The exhibition is free and runs until 2nd October. If you are visiting the National at any time before that date, it is strongly recommended that you arrive half an hour, or even just ten minutes, early to enjoy the spectacle. Images of Koltai's work
|
|||||||
|
|
