August 26, 2019

RAYMOND BOYCE 1928 – 2019

Editor    posted 11 Aug 2019, 08:21 PM

RAYMOND BOYCE, theatre designer;

b May 20, 1928, London; d August 1, 2019, Wellington;

m Geraldine Kean

Dominion Post Online

by Nikki Macdonald 05:00, Aug 10 2019

Sources: Dawn Sanders; Peter Coates; Serendipity by Design, by Raymond Boyce; Serendipity, by Peter Coates 

When director Richard Campion telegrammed English designer Raymond Boyce to offer him a job with New Zealand’s first professional theatre company, Boyce asked advice from his mentor Margaret Harris.

“Of course you must go,” the Old Vic Theatre School tutor told him. “It’s only eighteen months. Make all your mistakes in the colonies and come back and work for us.”

It was 1953 and this was Campion’s second attempt to lure Boyce Down Under, to design for his nascent theatre company The New Zealand Players. Living in London and busy designing two productions destined for one of the world’s most famous theatre districts, Boyce had already politely declined.

But then funding for those projects fell through, and Boyce found himself without a job. [More]

Jennifer Shennan             posted 11 Aug 2019, 08:25 PM

Peter Coates’ documentary, Serendipity, on the life and work of theatre designer, Raymond Boyce, was screened in excerpt at his farewell at Hannah Playhouse on Saturday. In a conversation between Raymond and Jon Trimmer, reference is made to Jon’s Petrouchka costume “which Jennifer Shennan asked to borrow … but a few days later we heard it had been sold.”  The implication is that I sold the costume. In fact the opposite is the case.

In early 1990s, New Zealand School of Dance held an art auction, for which Royal New Zealand Ballet’s Wardrobe donated a number of “outdated” (read “heritage”) costumes. I was alarmed to hear of this, and doubly so that Jon’s Petrouchka costume was included. Russell Kerr’s impeccable productions of Fokine’s choreography, with designs by Raymond Boyce, after Benois, and Jon Trimmer’s (earlier Alexander Grant’s, later Douglas Wright’s) performances, after Nijinsky, represent the consummate pedigree of New Zealand ballet history.

Entry to the auction cost $65 so I chose not to attend, but asked Ashley Killar, director of RNZB, to bid on my behalf. Apparently no one else bid, so the costume came to me for $75. I have safe-kept it ever since but would willingly pass it to a Theatre Arts Museum, if only we had one.

 Jennifer Shennan

Simon Taylor      posted 12 Aug 2019, 01:32 PM / edited 14 Aug 2019, 12:04 PM

Phillip Mann’s review of Raymond’s memoir on this site ought also to be included: https://www.theatreview.org.nz/reviews/review.php?id=11207

And https://squarewhiteworld.com/2019/08/10/for-raymond-boyce-19-may-1928-1-august-2019-presented-at-the-tribute-held-10-august-2019-hannah-playhouse-wellington-nz/

Sam Trubridge   posted 20 Aug 2019, 09:30 PM

I would like to share something I wrote about Raymond’s work for the World Scenography (Vol 1) publication. This text was submitted to the principal editors and redacted to a shorter passage that included images from his 1985 design for The Cherry Orchard, directed by Colin McColl. I had submitted a range of other drawings and photographs from other productions.

What is the significance of the design in the career of the designer or the collaborative team?

British born Raymond Boyce studied in London’s influential Slade Theatre Design department under Vladimir Polunin and various luminaries of British theatre. Brought to New Zealand in the 60’s by the New Zealand Players he was part of a period of great growth in the country’s theatre history.

A defining moment for NZ theatre (and Boyce’s own practise) was the role he played in advising architects Ron Parker and James Beard on the construction of Hannah Playhouse, the home for Downstage Theatre. Run as a ‘dinner theatre’ venue, the resident company Downstage would host its audience in the auditorium for a full meal before plates were cleared and the performance began. Boyce’s designs incorporated this unique aspect of the experience at Downstage to produce designs that often looped around the seated public with terraced platforms and performance spaces of varying height.

Thus Boyce was responsible for first defining the shape of this particular theatre, and then for setting many designs into it. The images of works submitted represent an ongoing collaboration with the architectural features of the space that he helped to form, which won several awards for its modernist style and asymmetrial configuration.

What was the significance of the design on other theatre artists?

Boyce’s collaboration with Hannah Playhouse’s remarkable architecture and ‘dinner theatre’ set-up remains as a very innovative and unique aspect of New Zealand’s theatrical history. As Wellington’s major professional theatre company for many years, this radical use of the theatre space has defined several generations of practitioners, allowing for designers, directors, and performers alike to investigate new arrangements for theatrical performance.

What was the significance of the design for the producing company or organisation?

Boyce’s input on the construction of The Hannah Playhouse, and his legacy of innovative sets in this space has an impact upon the venue that remains to this day. However, his influence can also be seen in the designers that followed him – who continued to experiment with the experience of being at the theatre, pushing scenography as the manipulation of social and architectural relationships within the world of the performance.

What was the significance of the design internationally?

Among other reputable theatre architects, Jean-Guy Lecat has responded to this space in his own talks on theatre architecture, as has Dorita Hannah in her essay for Exhibition on the Stage: Reflections on the 2007 Prague Quadrennial. Through these discussions Boyce’s work on and with the space is recognised as a significant innovation in the exploration of scenographic design and architecture.

Simon Taylor      posted 26 Aug 2019, 12:10 PM

Thanks Sam!

Great to see the Hannah aka Downstage get more attention.

I’d be interested in talking an artist occupation, to raise its profile further–perhaps under Massey’s aegis?

As a student-professional co-project this would liberate imaginations–and the use of space, which, despite its designed flexibility, economic exigencies pressed into rigid and conventional use.

Best,

Simon