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Interviews
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William Dudley - There Ain't Nothing Like Three Dames! Philip Fisher meets William Dudley, possibly Britain's top theatre designer. It is something of a surprise to meet and talk to Bill Dudley. He appears to be somewhere in his mid-forties until he starts talking about beginning his professional career in the mid-1960s. This grey-haired man dressed all in black topped by a leather jacket looks very much the artist. He also has a phenomenal memory, which means that he seems to be able to remember every production that he has ever designed together with its date. In the last 35 years, he has been one of the most influential and innovative theatre designers in the world, having won no fewer that six Oliviers, not to mention numerous other awards. He spent some years at the Royal Court and, more recently, he has become a steady fixture at the National Theatre. He worked hand-in-hand there with Bill Bryden on the opening productions in the Cottesloe Theatre and having marked his 50th production with Sir Tom Stoppard's epic trilogy The Coast of Utopia, has recently working in the Cottesloe again on Honour by Joanna Murray-Smith, starring Dame Eileen Atkins. As he says, that almost completes the set, as he has now worked with three of the four British theatrical dames in the last few months (This was written before the announcment that Helen Mirren is to become a Dame) He also designed the set for David Hare's The Breath of Life starring Dames Maggie Smith and Judi Dench. To get a full hand, it will be necessary for somebody to persuade Dame Diana Rigg to return from her long run of Medea, which has been playing on Broadway. This is all a far cry from early days in Islington where Dudley was born just after the end of the Second World War. From the age of four, he could draw as well as an adult and after a grammar-school education went to St Martin's Art School. As he admits, this was possibly the biggest mistake of his life. Dudley did not get on with the "charlatans charter" of abstract art that was de rigueur at the time and was only rescued from despair by the artist Leon Kossoff. He took the young man who wanted to paint like Edward Hopper under his wing and introduced him to the work of Frank Auerbach, Lucien Freud and Francis Bacon. They painted together in a £5 a week factory located on the current site of the Barbican Theatre. Kossoff introduced Dudley to the concept that "painting expresses what it is like to be alive, so that the work of Rembrandt and of Samuel Beckett can be seen to have the same roots". From the time that he was an art student, Dudley was keen to convert the love of theatre that he derived from an early visit to see his first "big wake up call" as a 13 year-old into something more serious. That was Lionel Bart's Oliver designed by the late Sean Kenny. His next major influence was Blitz, also produced at the Theatre Royal Stratford East by Joan Littlewood. In 1964 to 1965, he worked with a semi professional group at the Tower Theatre, the Unity Theatre and Stratford East. As he puts it "I ran away from art school to join the Theatre". By 1966 he was beginning to work with the Royal Court team, who adopted him during the first five years of his career. While he was there, he worked with directors like Tony Richardson, Anthony Page and Peter Gill, the last-named "another Peter Brook, a huge influence who is finally being recognised. I'm really happy for him now that he is finally getting noticed". In 1970, Dudley made his professional debut at the Nottingham Playhouse in a Royal Court production of Hamlet starring Alan Bates and Celia Johnson that subsequently transferred to the Cambridge Theatre. This was not a bad start for somebody fresh out of college. He still fondly recalls wandering through the streets of Nottingham with Alan Bates. Here was the tyro with a man who was instantly recognisable to a public that had loved his performance in the newly released Far from the Madding Crowd. Dudley is still a committed socialist and therefore feels very comfortable working with radical theatre companies like those at the Royal Court and 7.84. One of the highlights of his career was working at the recently closed Harland and Woolf shipyard in Glasgow making The Ship with Bill Bryden. For this, he built a 67 ft wide model of the inside of a ship that housed no fewer than 1200 people. As Dudley recalls "I was the token Englishman. At the close of each performance, the audience was led down the shipway. This was real people's theatre - you had to weep". This set was also used for The Big Picnic, which followed a group of Govan boys to the Western Front. In this very cinematic production, the audience followed the soldiers into no-man's land where they had to duck laser-generated tracer bullets. In 1977, Bill Bryden invited him to become part of the creative team that opened the new small stage at the National, the Cottesloe. "We explored the possibilities of that stage for six years putting on shows like The Mysteries and Lark Rise". His innovative work at the National continued in 1988 when he designed Howard Davies' production of The Shaughraun starring Stephen Rea, which was the first show to use the Olivier's new revolve. More recently, he has come up with what may be the crowning glory of his theatrical design career. The story leading up to this is interesting. He had been working on Roman Polanski's The Dance of the Vampires in Vienna and was invited to take the production across to New York. However, there was a last minute change of heart by the producers and Dudley found himself with a gap in his diary. At the same time, he was invited for discussions with Sir Tom Stoppard and Trevor Nunn with a view to his recruitment as designer for Sir Tom's three-play epic, The Coast of Utopia. He explained his vision for a 3D screen showing computer-generated images and after seeing a short sample of a storm at sea, they were sold on the idea and his diary was filled. This capitalised on his dozen years of experience with computer-generated theatre design. In the past though, the computer designs were built as physical models and then converted into traditional stage backdrops. Combining the Olivier's revolve and a semi-circular screen to give the images depth, Dudley created nine hours of background pictures to support what may ultimately be regarded as Stoppard's most significant piece. Interestingly, on accepting the proposal, Nunn's only condition was that the screen must not be blank at any time throughout the three plays. This presented a real challenge to his designer. Those who saw any one of the plays will realise that they were in at the inception of something very special. There is little doubt that in the future, all theatre designers will use computer-generated images as standard. While there was a concern amongst some theatre traditionalists that the images would detract from the performances of the actors and that Theatre might become designer-led, Dudley's work will have led the way for future generations. This was recognised by his Olivier nomination and Critics Circle award for Best Design last year. He followed this up with some sensational images for Terry Johnson's Hitchcock Blonde at the Royal Court. The star turn was a hologram of a naked woman. This was so realistic that actor David Haig seemed to embrace "her" before the image dematerialised. Dudley is a great believer in a vibrant British theatre. He recalls the story of the newspaper advert offering Centre Court tickets for the Wimbledon Finals in exchange for a pair to see the Maggie Smith/Robert Stephens Much Ado About Nothing. Even Madonna can't match that. He worries that things have got bad, now that youth do not believe in live theatre. He hopes that some of the computer-generated innovations that he is currently introducing will appeal to the Play Station generation and draw them back into theatres. His desire is clear as he says "What I'm proposing is just one possible way of getting young audiences back into theatre". As well as his work in theatre, Bill Dudley has also been a significant designer in the world of opera. His work has recently been seen in London with the English National Opera production of The Cunning Little Vixen. Perhaps his finest operatic moment was working with John Schlesinger and Placido Domingo on The Masked Ball. Sadly, the conductor with whom he was originally supposed to be working, Herbert von Karajan died, although his successor was hardly less distinguished, being Sir Georg Solti. The other side of the opera experience is demonstrated by his unhappy "three years of hell" from 1980-1982 working with Sir Peter Hall and John Elliott Gardner on the Ring Cycle in Bayreuth. This was a job that Dudley was delighted to see the back of. As he explains "The idea of the despoliation of nature was good but the world was not ready. This 'Green' production was way ahead of its time". Altogether, Bill Dudley has had a glittering career working with the biggest names in theatre and opera. He has been one of the great innovative designers of his generation and has never been afraid to experiment. His Lucia di Lammermoor at the Opera Bastille in Paris was so revolutionary that he and director Andre Serban were banned from their own first night party! Even after 35 years, he is still refreshingly excited about every project that he carries out. He has been really pleased to work again with Roger Michell on Honour. He greatly respects Michell after working together on The Homecoming, Blue/Orange and Jonathan Miller's Marya. He also the opportunity to learn a little more about minimalism, a genre for which he has not previously been noted. Most people look at the names of the actors, the playwright and occasionally the director before deciding to go to a show. In future, also look for the name of William Dudley amongst the credits. That is a good indication of a rewarding evening's entertainment ahead. The next opportunity will be the West End transfer of Hitchcock Blonde by Terry Johnson, opening at the Lyric this week. June 2003
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