Theatre Design & Technology - Spring 2019 - 42

Cyrano de Bergerac
(Rostand). Royal
Shakespeare Company,
1983. Model. Photos by
Ralph Koltai.

The Planets (Holst). Royal Opera House, 1990. Models. Photos
by Ralph Koltai.

Die Soldaten, staged at a concert hall in
Lyon and directed by Ken Russell. Russell's only directorial wish was simply to
have 'four different acting areas.' Ralph
took him at his word and the set of Die
Soldaten comprised four enormous sections of dismembered female anatomy,
which were sculpted and molded in the
UK and then shipped and assembled
in a space in Lyon without needing any
stage equipment. I recall Ralph being
very supportive of the lighting designer
who was very daunted by working with
Koltai and Russell.
"The third 1983 show was his wonderful design for Cyrano de Bergerac
for the RSC at the Barbican. The flown
autumnal tree in the last act was very
simple in construction, but breath-taking to look at.
"Ralph's next invitation to collaborate was for the 1989 musical of Metropolis-the set being based on part of

42 |

THEATRE DESIGN & TECHNOLOGY

SPRING 2019

a car engine. Sadly, the project was far
too big to juggle with my existing commitments at the time, but I was able to
make the 3D front cloth, which was metallic resins.
"1990 was the year of The Planets
ballet at the R.O.H and the creation of
a 3.2-meter diameter glass-fibre sphere,
which tested our techniques and experience to its limits. Ralph's love of the
sphere, a constant element of all his
works, was brought magnificently to the
stage.
"Ralph's invitations to collaborate
were sadly absent during his 70s. However, in 2006, we once again created
a new piece, The Romans in Britain
for the Sheffield Crucible; this was an
amazing piece of sculpture based on a
tree root he had found. It was wonderful
to be working with him again, and his
enthusiasm did not seem at all diminished. Despite budgetary limitations, we

managed to achieve what he wanted-
an image that was at once derived from
natural forms, but surreal in its scale.
"In 2007 at the age of 83, back he
came with a sculpture as part of the
British stand at the 2017 Prague Quadrennial. Again the task was to recreate
rusty metal with fiberglass, which I hope
we achieved. Our last opportunity to collaborate came in 2010 when he was
invited to design a sculpture containing
a screen to display film commemorating the Kindertransport rescue of children from Europe. His sphere within a
sphere evoked the circle of his life.
"Ralph was always respectful,
charming, and challenging. I am grateful that our last project together was a
fitting tribute to a remarkable historic
event by a truly remarkable artist."
Remarkable artists are often known
for their generosity, and Koltai shared
his practice and influenced many former assistants to become designers
in their own right. One such is Mark
Bailey who recalls his years with Koltai: "I was Ralph's assistant for 5 years
from 1984-1989 and worked with him
on 14 productions. When I worked for
Ralph, he always designed in 3D, never
drawing his ideas first. We would begin
work in the model box, sometimes using pieces from Ralph's collection of
pieces of rusty metal, Perspex, stones,
or other 'textures.' Ralph was a bit of
a magpie, always collecting potentially
useful materials. He loved to use 'the
real thing.' If he wanted rusty metal, we
would find the right piece of rusty metal
rather than painting a piece to look like
rust. He would arrive with the germ of
an idea, the evolution of which seemed
effortless, and then we would work
sculpturally until the moment of 'the

Theatre Design & Technology - Spring 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Spring 2019