William Dudley (designer)
Encyclopedia
William Dudley is a British
theatre designer.
Dudley is the son of William Stuart Dudley and his wife Dorothy Irene. He was educated at the St Martin's School of Art and the Slade School of Art. He is a member of the Society of British Theatre Designers.
for Nottingham Playhouse
.
Since then, he has designed the following productions:
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
theatre designer.
Dudley is the son of William Stuart Dudley and his wife Dorothy Irene. He was educated at the St Martin's School of Art and the Slade School of Art. He is a member of the Society of British Theatre Designers.
Career
He designed his first production in October 1970, HamletHamlet
The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
for Nottingham Playhouse
Nottingham Playhouse
The Nottingham Playhouse is a theatre in Nottingham, England. It was first established as a repertory theatre in the 1950s when it operated from a former cinema. Directors during this period included Val May and Frank Dunlop.-The building:...
.
Since then, he has designed the following productions:
- The Duchess of MalfiThe Duchess of MalfiThe Duchess of Malfi is a macabre, tragic play written by the English dramatist John Webster in 1612–13. It was first performed privately at the Blackfriars Theatre, then before a more general audience at The Globe, in 1613-14...
(Royal CourtRoyal Court TheatreThe Royal Court Theatre is a non-commercial theatre on Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is noted for its contributions to modern theatre...
) 1971 - Man Is ManMan Equals ManMan Equals Man , or A Man's a Man, is a play by the German modernist playwright Bertolt Brecht. One of Brecht's earlier works, it explores themes of war, human fungibility, and identity...
, Bertolt BrechtBertolt BrechtBertolt Brecht was a German poet, playwright, and theatre director.An influential theatre practitioner of the 20th century, Brecht made equally significant contributions to dramaturgy and theatrical production, the latter particularly through the seismic impact of the tours undertaken by the...
(Royal Court) 1971 - Anarchist (Royal Court Upstairs) 1971
- Tyger (co-designed for the National TheatreRoyal National TheatreThe Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company...
at the ) July 1971 - Cato Street (Young Vic) 1971
- The Good Natur'd Man (National) 1971
- Live Like Pigs (Royal Court Upstairs) 1972
- I Claudius (Queen's TheatreQueen's TheatreThe Queen's Theatre is a West End theatre located in Shaftesbury Avenue in the City of Westminster. It opened on 8 October 1907 as a twin to the neighbouring Gielgud Theatre which opened ten months earlier. Both theatres were designed by W.G.R...
) 1972 - The Baker, the Baker's Wife and the Baker's Boy (Newcastle) 1972
- Rooted (Hampstead TheatreHampstead TheatreHampstead Theatre is a theatre in the vicinity of Swiss Cottage and Belsize Park, in the London Borough of Camden. It specialises in commissioning and producing new writing, supporting and developing the work of new writers. In 2009 it celebrates its 50 year anniversary.The original theatre was...
) March 1973 - Magnificence; Sweet Talk and The Merry-Go-Round (Royal Court) 1973
- Ashes (Open Space) January 1974
- The Corn is Green (Watford Palace) 1974
- Twelfth Night, director Peter Gill (RSCRoyal Shakespeare CompanyThe Royal Shakespeare Company is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs 700 staff and produces around 20 productions a year from its home in Stratford-upon-Avon and plays regularly in London, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and on tour across...
Stratford) August 1974 - Harding's Luck (Greenwich TheatreGreenwich TheatreThe Greenwich Theatre is a local theatre located in Croom's Hill close to the centre of Greenwich in south-east London.-Building history:The building was originally a music hall created in 1855 as part of the neighbouring Rose and Crown public house, but the Rose and Crown Music Hall was...
) December 1974 - Fish in the Sea (Half Moon TheatreHalf Moon TheatreThe Half Moon Theatre Company was formed in 1972 in a rented synagogue in Alie Street, Aldgate, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Half Moon Passage was the name of a nearby alley...
) February 1975 - As You Like It (Nottingham PlayhouseNottingham PlayhouseThe Nottingham Playhouse is a theatre in Nottingham, England. It was first established as a repertory theatre in the 1950s when it operated from a former cinema. Directors during this period included Val May and Frank Dunlop.-The building:...
) 1975 - The Fool (Royal Court) 1975
- The Norman ConquestsThe Norman ConquestsThe Norman Conquests is a trilogy of plays written in 1973 by Alan Ayckbourn. The small scale of the drama is typical of Ayckbourn. There are only six characters, namely Norman, his wife Ruth, her brother Reg and his wife Sarah, Ruth's sister Annie, and Tom, Annie's next-door-neighbour...
(Berlin) 1976 - Small Change, Peter Gill (Royal Court) July 1976
- As You Like It (opening of Riverside StudiosRiverside StudiosRiverside Studios is a production studio, theatre and independent cinema on the banks of the River Thames in Hammersmith, London, England. It plays host to contemporary and international dramatic and dance performance, film, visual art exhibitions and television production.-History:In 1933, the...
) May 1976 - Ivanov, director David Jones (RSC Aldwych TheatreAldwych TheatreThe Aldwych Theatre is a West End theatre, located on Aldwych in the City of Westminster. The theatre was listed Grade II on 20 July 1971. Its seating capacity is 1,200.-Origins:...
) September 1976 - The Cherry OrchardThe Cherry OrchardThe Cherry Orchard is Russian playwright Anton Chekhov's last play. It premiered at the Moscow Art Theatre 17 January 1904 in a production directed by Constantin Stanislavski. Chekhov intended this play as a comedy and it does contain some elements of farce; however, Stanislavski insisted on...
, director Peter Gill, (Riverside Studios) January 1978 - That Good Between Us (RSC Donmar WarehouseDonmar WarehouseDonmar Warehouse is a small not-for-profit theatre in the Covent Garden area of London, with a capacity of 251.-About:Under the artistic leadership of Michael Grandage, the theatre has presented some of London’s most memorable award-winning theatrical experiences, as well as garnered critical...
) July 1977 - Lavender Blue (National, Cottesloe) November 1977
- Touched (Nottingham Playhouse at the Old Vic) September 1977
- The World Turned Upside Down (National, Cottesloe) 2 November 1978
- Has 'Washington' Legs? (National, Cottesloe) 29 November 1978
- Billy BuddBilly Budd (opera)Billy Budd is an opera by Benjamin Britten, from a libretto by E. M. Forster and Eric Crozier, was first performed at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London on 1 December 1951. It is based on the short novel Billy Budd by Herman Melville....
(The Metropolitan Opera HouseMetropolitan Opera House (Lincoln Center)The Metropolitan Opera House is an opera house located on Broadway at Lincoln Square in the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. Part of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, the theater opened in 1966. It replaced the former Metropolitan Opera House at Broadway and 39th St...
, New York) 1978 - Dispatches (National, Cottesloe) 6 June 1979
- Undiscovered Country (National, Olivier) 20 June 1979
- Lark Rise and Candleford (National, Cottesloe) 1979
- Don Quixote (National, Olivier) 1982
- Schweyk in the Second World War, Bertolt BrechtBertolt BrechtBertolt Brecht was a German poet, playwright, and theatre director.An influential theatre practitioner of the 20th century, Brecht made equally significant contributions to dramaturgy and theatrical production, the latter particularly through the seismic impact of the tours undertaken by the...
(National, Olivier) 1982 - Small Change (National, Cottesloe) 1983
- Cinderella, Pantomime (National, Lyttelton) — December 1983
- The Mysteries: Doomsday/The Nativity/The Passion, designed and lit (National, Cottesloe; Lyceum Theatre) 1985
- The Party (RSC The PitThe Pit-Places:* The Pit , the main indoor arena at the University of New Mexico* Elder 'The Pit' Stadium, the football stadium at Elder High School in Cincinnati, Ohio* The Pit, a 200-seat studio theatre at the Barbican Arts Centre in the City of London...
) 1985 - Richard IIIRichard III (play)Richard III is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in approximately 1591. It depicts the Machiavellian rise to power and subsequent short reign of Richard III of England. The play is grouped among the histories in the First Folio and is most often classified...
(RSC Barbican Theatre) 1985 - Today (RSC The Pit) 1985
- Mutiny, David Essex musical (Piccadilly TheatrePiccadilly TheatreThe Piccadilly Theatre is a West End theatre located at 16 Denman Street, behind Piccadilly Circus and adjacent to the Regent Palace Hotel, in the City of Westminster, England.-Early years:Built by Bertie Crewe and Edward A...
) 1985 - The Critic/The Real Inspector Hound (National, Olivier) 1985
- Edmond, David Mamet (Royal CourtRoyal Court TheatreThe Royal Court Theatre is a non-commercial theatre on Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is noted for its contributions to modern theatre...
) 1985 - The Merry Wives of WindsorThe Merry Wives of WindsorThe Merry Wives of Windsor is a comedy by William Shakespeare, first published in 1602, though believed to have been written prior to 1597. It features the fat knight Sir John Falstaff, and is Shakespeare's only play to deal exclusively with contemporary Elizabethan era English middle class life...
(RSC Barbican Theatre) 1986 and 1987 - Futurists (National, Cottesloe) 1986
- Prairie du Chien/The Shawl (Royal Court Upstairs) 1986
- Kafka's Dick (Royal Court) 1986
- Country Dancing (RSC The Pit) 1987
- Richard IIRichard II (play)King Richard the Second is a history play by William Shakespeare believed to be written in approximately 1595. It is based on the life of King Richard II of England and is the first part of a tetralogy, referred to by some scholars as the Henriad, followed by three plays concerning Richard's...
(RSC Barbican Theatre) 1987 - Entertaining Strangers (National, Cottesloe) 1987
- Girlfriends, Howard Goodall musical (Playhouse TheatrePlayhouse TheatreThe Playhouse Theatre is a West End theatre in the City of Westminster, located in Northumberland Avenue, near Trafalgar Square. The Theatre was built by F. H. Fowler and Hill with a seating capacity of 1,200. It was rebuilt in 1907 and still retains its original substage machinery...
) 1987 - Waiting for GodotWaiting for GodotWaiting for Godot is an absurdist play by Samuel Beckett, in which two characters, Vladimir and Estragon, wait endlessly and in vain for someone named Godot to arrive. Godot's absence, as well as numerous other aspects of the play, have led to many different interpretations since the play's...
(National, Lyttelton) 1987 - Cat on a Hot Tin RoofCat on a Hot Tin RoofCat on a Hot Tin Roof is a play by Tennessee Williams. One of Williams's best-known works and his personal favorite, the play won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1955...
(National, Lyttelton) 1988 - The Shaughran (National, Olivier) 1988 and 1989
- The ChangelingThe Changeling (play)The Changeling is a Jacobean tragedy written by Thomas Middleton and William Rowley. Widely regarded as "among the best" tragedies of the English Renaissance, the play has accumulated a significant body of critical commentary....
(National, Lyttelton) 1988 - The FatherThe Father (play)The Father is a 1989 play by British playwright John Osborne....
, August StrindbergAugust StrindbergJohan August Strindberg was a Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist and painter. A prolific writer who often drew directly on his personal experience, Strindberg's career spanned four decades, during which time he wrote over 60 plays and more than 30 works of fiction, autobiography,...
(National, Cottesloe) 1988 - The Voysey InheritanceThe Voysey InheritanceThe Voysey Inheritance is a play written by the English dramatist Harley Granville-Barker. Originally written in 1905, it was revived at the National Theatre in 2006.It is currently in the public domain.- See also :*...
(National, Cottesloe) 1989 - Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (dir Howard Davies) New York 1990
- AmadeusAmadeusAmadeus is a play by Peter Shaffer.It is based on the lives of the composers Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Antonio Salieri, highly fictionalized.Amadeus was first performed in 1979...
(dir Peter Hall) Old Vic — October 1998; New York — 1999 - Blue/OrangeBLUE/ORANGEBlue/Orange is a play by written by English dramatist, Joe Penhall. A sardonically comic piece which touches on race, mental illness, and 21st century British life, it premiered at the Cottesloe Theatre in April 2000, starring Bill Nighy, Andrew Lincoln and Chiwetel Ejiofor...
by Joe PenhallJoe PenhallJoe Penhall is a British playwright and screenwriter.Born in London, his first major play was Some Voices for the Royal Court Theatre, London, in 1994, which won the John Whiting Award. It has twice been revived off Broadway...
(dir Roger MichellRoger MichellRoger Michell is an English theatre, television and film director.-Personal life:He was born in Pretoria, South Africa but spent significant parts of his childhood in Beirut, Damascus and Prague as his father was a diplomat. He was educated at Clifton College where he became a member of Brown's...
), National Cottesloe — April 2000; Duchess TheatreDuchess TheatreThe Duchess Theatre is a West End theatre in the City of Westminster, London, located in Catherine Street, near Aldwych.The theatre opened on 25 November 1929 and is one of the smallest 'proscenium arched' West End theatres. It has 479 seats on two levels....
— April 2001 - All My SonsAll My SonsAll My Sons is a 1947 play by Arthur Miller. The play was twice adapted for film; in 1948, and again in 1987.The play opened on Broadway at the Coronet Theatre in New York City on January 29, 1947, closed on November 8, 1947 and ran for 328 performances...
by Arthur MillerArthur MillerArthur Asher Miller was an American playwright and essayist. He was a prominent figure in American theatre, writing dramas that include plays such as All My Sons , Death of a Salesman , The Crucible , and A View from the Bridge .Miller was often in the public eye,...
(dir Howard Davies) National Lyttelton - July 2000; National Lyttelton — August 2001 - Entertaining Mr SloaneEntertaining Mr SloaneEntertaining Mr Sloane is a play by the English playwright Joe Orton. It was first produced in London at the New Arts Theatre on 6 May 1964 and transferred to the West End's Wyndham's Theatre on 29 June 1964.-Plot summary:Act 1...
(dir Terry JohnsonTerry Johnson (dramatist)Terry Johnson is a British dramatist and director working for stage, television and film. He is a Literary Associate at the Royal Court Theatre. At The Court he directed Dumb Show by Joe Penhall and opened his play Piano/Forte...
) Arts TheatreArts TheatreThe Arts Theatre is a theatre in Great Newport Street, in Westminster, Central London. It now operates as the West End's smallest commercial receiving house.-History:...
— January 2001 - The York RealistThe York RealistThe York Realist is a 2001 play by Peter Gill. It was premiered at the Lowry in November 2001 before moving to the Bristol Old Vic and the Royal Court Theatre in January 2002 by English Touring Theatre, with Gill himself directing...
(written and dir Peter GillPeter Gill (playwright)Peter Gill, theatre director, playwright and former actor, was born in Cardiff, Wales, on 7 September 1939, son of George John Gill and his wife Margaret Mary .He was educated at St Illtyd's College, Cardiff.-Career:...
) Royal Court — January 2002; Strand TheatreNovello TheatreThe Novello Theatre is a West End theatre on Aldwych, in the City of Westminster.-History:The theatre was built as one of a pair with the Aldwych Theatre on either side of the Waldorf Hotel, both being designed by W. G. R. Sprague. The theatre opened as the Waldorf Theatre on 22 May 1905, and was...
— March 2002 - The Coast of UtopiaThe Coast of UtopiaThe Coast of Utopia is a 2002 trilogy of plays: Voyage, Shipwreck, and Salvage, written by Tom Stoppard with focus on the philosophical debates in pre-revolution Russia between 1833 and 1866...
: Voyage/Shipwreck/Salvage, trilogy by Tom StoppardTom StoppardSir Tom Stoppard OM, CBE, FRSL is a British playwright, knighted in 1997. He has written prolifically for TV, radio, film and stage, finding prominence with plays such as Arcadia, The Coast of Utopia, Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, Professional Foul, The Real Thing, and Rosencrantz and...
(dir Trevor NunnTrevor NunnSir Trevor Robert Nunn, CBE is an English theatre, film and television director. Nunn has been the Artistic Director for the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Royal National Theatre, and, currently, the Theatre Royal, Haymarket. He has directed musicals and dramas for the stage, as well as opera...
) National — August 2002 - The Breath of Life by David HareDavid Hare (dramatist)Sir David Hare is an English playwright and theatre and film director.-Early life:Hare was born in St Leonards-on-Sea, Hastings, East Sussex, the son of Agnes and Clifford Hare, a sailor. He was educated at Lancing, an independent school in West Sussex, and at Jesus College, Cambridge...
(dir Howard Davies) Theatre Royal Haymarket — October 2002 - Honour by Joanna Murray-SmithJoanna Murray-SmithJoanna Murray-Smith is a Melbourne based playwright, screenwriter, novelist, librettist and newspaper columnist.-Biography:...
(dir Roger Michell) National Cottesloe — 2003 - Hitchcock Blonde (written and dir Terry Johnson) Royal Court and Lyric TheatreLyric Theatre (London)The Lyric Theatre is a West End theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue in the City of Westminster.Designed by architect C. J. Phipps, it was built by producer Henry Leslie with profits from the Alfred Cellier and B. C. Stephenson hit, Dorothy, which he transferred from the Prince of Wales Theatre to open...
— 2003 - The Permanent Way by David HareDavid Hare (dramatist)Sir David Hare is an English playwright and theatre and film director.-Early life:Hare was born in St Leonards-on-Sea, Hastings, East Sussex, the son of Agnes and Clifford Hare, a sailor. He was educated at Lancing, an independent school in West Sussex, and at Jesus College, Cambridge...
(dir Max Stafford Clark) National Cottesloe — January 2004 http://www.britishtheatreguide.info/reviews/permanentwayNT-rev.htm - Cyrano de BergeracCyrano de Bergerac (play)Cyrano de Bergerac is a play written in 1897 by Edmond Rostand. Although there was a real Cyrano de Bergerac, the play bears very scant resemblance to his life....
(dir Howard Davies) National Olivier — April 2004 - Old TimesOld TimesOld Times is a play by the Nobel Laureate Harold Pinter. It was first performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company at the Aldwych Theatre in London on June 1, 1971. It starred Colin Blakely, Dorothy Tutin, and Vivien Merchant, and was directed by Peter Hall...
by Harold PinterHarold PinterHarold Pinter, CH, CBE was a Nobel Prize–winning English playwright and screenwriter. One of the most influential modern British dramatists, his writing career spanned more than 50 years. His best-known plays include The Birthday Party , The Homecoming , and Betrayal , each of which he adapted to...
(dir Roger Michell) Donmar WarehouseDonmar WarehouseDonmar Warehouse is a small not-for-profit theatre in the Covent Garden area of London, with a capacity of 251.-About:Under the artistic leadership of Michael Grandage, the theatre has presented some of London’s most memorable award-winning theatrical experiences, as well as garnered critical...
— July 2004 - The Woman in WhiteThe Woman in White (musical)The Woman in White is a musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber and David Zippel with a book by Charlotte Jones, based on the novel The Woman in White written by Wilkie Collins...
musical by Andrew Lloyd WebberAndrew Lloyd WebberAndrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber is an English composer of musical theatre.Lloyd Webber has achieved great popular success in musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 13 musicals, a song cycle, a set of...
(dir Trevor Nunn) Palace TheatrePalace Theatre, LondonThe Palace Theatre is a West End theatre in the City of Westminster in London. It is an imposing red-brick building that dominates the west side of Cambridge Circus and is located near the intersection of Shaftesbury Avenue and Charing Cross Road...
— September 2004; New York — 2005 - Titus AndronicusTitus AndronicusTitus Andronicus is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, and possibly George Peele, believed to have been written between 1588 and 1593. It is thought to be Shakespeare's first tragedy, and is often seen as his attempt to emulate the violent and bloody revenge plays of his contemporaries, which were...
(dir Lucy Bailey) Shakespeare's GlobeShakespeare's GlobeShakespeare's Globe is a reconstruction of the Globe Theatre, an Elizabethan playhouse in the London Borough of Southwark, located on the south bank of the River Thames, but destroyed by fire in 1613, rebuilt 1614 then demolished in 1644. The modern reconstruction is an academic best guess, based...
— 2006 - The Beggar's OperaThe Beggar's OperaThe Beggar's Opera is a ballad opera in three acts written in 1728 by John Gay with music arranged by Johann Christoph Pepusch. It is one of the watershed plays in Augustan drama and is the only example of the once thriving genre of satirical ballad opera to remain popular today...
(dir Lucy Bailey) Open Air Theatre, Regent's ParkRegent's ParkRegent's Park is one of the Royal Parks of London. It is in the north-western part of central London, partly in the City of Westminster and partly in the London Borough of Camden...
— 2011
Awards
Awards include:- Critics' Circle Theatre Awards 2002, Best Designer for The Coast of Utopia Trilogy
- Olivier Awards 2004, Olivier Award for Best Set DesignOlivier Award for Best Set DesignThe Laurence Olivier Award for Best Set Design is presented annually by the Society of London Theatre in recognition of achievements by scenic designers for commercial British theatre, most notably West End plays and musicals....
for Hitchcock Blonde
External links
- British Theatre GuideBritish Theatre GuideThe British Theatre Guide is an on-line database of specially commissioned reviews of theatre productions throughout the United Kingdom, together with theatre-related news reports, interviews with leading theatre practitioners, obituaries and comprehensive annual obituary listings.It also...
interview, June 2003: "William Dudley, possibly Britain's top Theatre Designer"