Theatre Design & Technology - Winter 2001 - 15

Figure 4. ESC student Satako Kadoya's Independent
Research Project in 1998, a performance titled Awakening.

Figure 5. The Linbury Prize winner in 1997 was ESC student
Yannis Thavoris. His scenography for Donizetti's The
Daughter of the Regiment was commissioned by the
English Touring Opera.

The students in Brooks' revised program are exposed to
a mixture of taught courses and supervised practical projects,
and their work culminates with an Independent Research
Project which "develops their creative originality and their understanding of the theoretical issues that inform scenographic
practice at this advanced level."
The taught courses were two weekly lecture series: one by
Professor Noel Witts and one by Dr. Trish Lyons. Witts, author of
The Twentieth Century Performance Reader, titled his lecture
series "Towards a Definition of Scenography." His historical
overview of the quest for "total theatre" placed contemporary
scenography within the modernist and postmodernist traditions. Witts began with Appia and Craig, continued through discussions of Meyerhold and Piscator, Brecht and Beckett, the
Bauhaus and Pina Bausch, and finished with sessions on Robert
Wilson and Tadeusz Kantor. Witts' lectures were illustrated with
video clips, and his thesis was that the prime creative force in
twentieth century theatre came from visual and choreographic artists. He argued that the scenographer's ascension in the theatrical
hierarchy should be viewed as an historical inevitability.
Dr. Lyons, a sculptor whose work has become time-based
and whose site-specific installations are sometimes described
as performances, gave a sequence of lectures exploring the
heady abstractions of contemporary cultural theory. She focused on the ways the visual and plastic arts can be the central
or inspiring image for a scenographer.
These two lecture series were augmented by guest sessions with dramaturg Henny Dorr from the Utrecht Scenography Centre and Jan Dusek from DAMU, the scenography center in
Prague. Together, this formal instruction provided an intellectual context for the students' discussions of the exhibitions
and performances they attended, as well as for the three major
studio projects undertaken between August and December.
Students were encouraged to explore the vast offerings of gallery exhibitions, dance concerts, performance
art experiences and traditional theatre that were available
in London. In my months with the course, these included exhibitions at the Serpentine and Saatchi galleries, lecture-discussions with scenographers Jocelyn Herbert, Richard Hudson and
Antony McDonald, a concert by avant-garde choreographer
Mark Morris, and a production of Roadmetal, Sweetbread

THE LINBURY PRIZE
The Linbury Prize is a biennial award given in England by the Linbury Trust. Every two years, the Linbury Prize Committee sponsors a competition which attracts nearly 150 young scenographers. In 1999 a panel of three judges (Richard Hudson, Jim Hatley
and Vicki Mortimer) selected nineteen semi-finalists. From these, twelve were chosen as finalists-three by each of the artistic
directors of four producing companies: the English Touring Opera, the Rambert Dance Company, the Royal Lyceum Theatre Company, Edinburgh and the Soho Theatre Company.
The three semi-finalists for each company then collaborated with the artistic staff on a production scheduled for the following season. The twelve semi-finalists then submitted their designs (scenery and costume) and the artistic director of each company selected a winner. The four winning scenographers were awarded a cash prize as well as a scenographer's fee for the
design, and the producing company received funds to ensure the designs would be realized. Lesser cash prizes were awarded to
runners-up. In 1999, roughly $80,000 was awarded.
Additionally, all the twelve semi-finalists' designs were given a handsome exhibition in the lobby of the Royal National Theatre. With this exhibition, their careers were launched in a very prestigious and public way.
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TD & T

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Winter 2001