British theatre designer
William Dudley OBE RDI
Early life
Dudley is the son of William Stuart Dudley and his wife Dorothy Irene (née Stacey). He attended Highbury Grammar School.[ 1]
He was educated at Saint Martin's School of Art and the Slade School of Art . He is a member of the Society of British Theatre Designers. He is married to the theatre director Lucy Bailey .[ 2]
National Life Stories conducted an oral history interview (C1173/27) with Dudley in 2007–2008 for its An Oral History of Theatre Design collection held by the British Library.[ 3]
Career
He designed his first production in October 1970, Hamlet Nottingham Playhouse . Since then, he has designed the following productions:
The Duchess of Malfi Royal Court ) – 1971Man Is Man Bertolt Brecht (Royal Court) – 1971Anarchist (Royal Court Upstairs) – 1971Tyger (co-designed for the National Theatre ) – July 1971Cato Street (Young Vic ) – 1971The Good Natur'd Man (National) – 1971Live Like Pigs (Royal Court Upstairs) – 1972I Claudius Queen's Theatre ) – 1972The Baker, the Baker's Wife and the Baker's Boy (Newcastle) – 1972Rooted (Hampstead Theatre ) – March 1973Magnificence ; Sweet Talk and The Merry-Go-Round (Royal Court) – 1973Ashes (Open Space) – January 1974The Corn is Green (Watford Palace) – 1974Twelfth Night RSC Stratford) – August 1974Harding's Luck (Greenwich Theatre ) – December 1974Fish in the Sea (Half Moon Theatre ) – February 1975As You Like It (Nottingham Playhouse ) – 1975The Fool (Royal Court) – 1975The Norman Conquests Small Change , Peter Gill (Royal Court) – July 1976As You Like It (opening of Riverside Studios ) – May 1976Ivanov , director David Jones (RSC Aldwych Theatre ) – September 1976The Cherry Orchard That Good Between Us (RSC Donmar Warehouse ) – July 1977Lavender Blue (National, Cottesloe) – November 1977Touched (Nottingham Playhouse at the Old Vic) – September 1977The World Turned Upside Down (National, Cottesloe) – 2 November 1978Has 'Washington' Legs? (National, Cottesloe) – 29 November 1978Billy Budd Metropolitan Opera House , New York) – 1978Dispatches (National, Cottesloe) – 6 June 1979Undiscovered Country (National, Olivier) – 20 June 1979Lark Rise and Candleford (National, Cottesloe) – 1979Don Quixote (National, Olivier) – 1982Schweyk in the Second World War , Bertolt Brecht (National, Olivier) – 1982Small Change (National, Cottesloe) – 1983Cinderella , Pantomime (National, Lyttelton) – December 1983The Mysteries: Doomsday/The Nativity/The Passion , designed and lit (National, Cottesloe; Lyceum Theatre) – 1985The Party (RSC The Pit ) – 1985Richard III Barbican Theatre ) – 1985Today (RSC The Pit) – 1985Mutiny , David Essex musical (Piccadilly Theatre ) – 1985The Critic/The Real Inspector Hound (National, Olivier) – 1985Edmond , David Mamet (Royal Court ) – 1985The Merry Wives of Windsor Futurists (National, Cottesloe) – 1986Prairie du Chien/The Shawl (Royal Court Upstairs) – 1986Kafka's Dick (Royal Court) – 1986Country Dancing (RSC The Pit) – 1987Richard II Entertaining Strangers (National, Cottesloe) – 1987Girlfriends , Howard Goodall musical (Playhouse Theatre ) – 1987Waiting for Godot Cat on a Hot Tin Roof The Shaughran (National, Olivier) – 1988 and 1989The Changeling The Father August Strindberg (National, Cottesloe) – 1988The Voysey Inheritance Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (dir Howard Davies ) New York – 1990Lenny Peter Hall ) Queens Theatre - July 1999 [ 4] Amadeus Peter Hall ) Old Vic – October 1998; New York – 1999Blue/Orange Joe Penhall (dir Roger Michell ), National Cottesloe – April 2000; Duchess Theatre – April 2001All My Sons Arthur Miller (dir Howard Davies) National Lyttelton – July 2000; National Lyttelton – August 2001Entertaining Mr Sloane Terry Johnson ) Arts Theatre – January 2001The York Realist Peter Gill ) Royal Court – January 2002; Strand Theatre – March 2002[ 5] The Coast of Utopia : Voyage/Shipwreck/SalvageTom Stoppard (dir Trevor Nunn ) National – August 2002[ 6] The Breath of Life by David Hare (dir Howard Davies) Theatre Royal Haymarket – October 2002[ 7] Honour by Joanna Murray-Smith (dir Roger Michell) National Cottesloe – 2003 Hitchcock Blonde Lyric Theatre – 2003[ 8] The Permanent Way by David Hare (dir Max Stafford Clark) National Cottesloe – January 2004 [1] Cyrano de Bergerac [ 9] Old Times Harold Pinter (dir Roger Michell) Donmar Warehouse – July 2004[ 10] The Woman in White Andrew Lloyd Webber (dir Trevor Nunn) Palace Theatre – September 2004;[ 11] [ 12] Titus Andronicus Shakespeare's Globe – 2006[ 13] The Beggar's Opera Open Air Theatre , Regent's Park – 2011Fortune's Fool Lucy Bailey ) The Old Vic – 2013.[ 14]
Honours and awards
Awards include:
Dudley was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2021 New Year Honours for services to stage design.[ 15]
References
^ The Stage Thursday 24 April 2003, page 9^ Maddy Costa (15 February 2011). "Director Lucy Bailey: Thinking small" . The Guardian ^ National Life Stories, 'Dudley, William (1 of 13) An Oral History of Theatre Design', The British Library Board, 2008 . Retrieved 1 February 2018^ "Lenny - UK Theatre Web" . Retrieved 31 March 2022 .^ Fisher, Philip (2003). "The York Realist, By Peter Gill, The Royal Court Theatre Downstairs – Review" . The British Theatre Guide . Retrieved 2 November 2011 . ^ "The Coast of Utopia: Voyage – Productions" . National Theatre. Retrieved 7 March 2012 .^ "Theatre review: The Breath of Life at Theatre Royal Haymarket" . Britishtheatreguide.info. Retrieved 7 March 2012 .^ "Theatre review: Hitchcock Blonde at Royal Court Theatre Downstairs" . Britishtheatreguide.info. Retrieved 7 March 2012 .^ "Theatre review: Cyrano de Bergerac at RNT Olivier" . Britishtheatreguide.info. Retrieved 7 March 2012 .^ "Theatre review: Old Times at Donmar Warehouse" . Britishtheatreguide.info. Retrieved 7 March 2012 .^ "Theatre review: The Woman in White at Palace Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue" . Britishtheatreguide.info. Retrieved 7 March 2012 .^ "The Woman in White, a CurtainUp review" . Curtainup.com. 19 November 2005. Retrieved 7 March 2012 .^ John Thaxter (8 June 2006). "The Stage / Reviews / Titus Andronicus" . Thestage.co.uk. Retrieved 7 March 2012 . ^ "Fortune's Fool - The Old Vic" . www.oldvictheatre.com . Archived from the original on 9 October 2013.^ "No. 63218" . The London Gazette
Bibliography
Who's Who in the Theatre (17th Edition), Gale (1981). ISBN 0-8103-0234-9.The National: The Theatre and its Work 1963–97 by Simon Callow , Nick Hern Books (1997). ISBN 1-85459-323-4.Theatre Record Stage Design by Tony Davis, Rotavision SA (2001). ISBN 2-88046-506-0.
External links
