Theatre Directors Hand-Pick Stage Design Stars Of The Future
Linbury Biennial Prize for Stage Design Announces Finalists

17 August 2005, London: The 12 finalists for the 2005 Linbury Biennial Prize for Stage Design were announced today following a selection process at the National Theatre judged by four artistic directors from leading UK theatre companies.

The selected finalists [listed below] will spend the next three months working in closecollaboration with the four artistic directors and their production companies. Three finalists will work with each theatre company on designs and models for forthcoming productions.

The participating theatre companies for 2005 are:

Bristol Old Vic – Artistic Director, Simon Reade
The Gate – Artistic Director, Thea Sharrock
Nottingham Playhouse – Artistic Director, Giles Croft
Random Dance – Artistic Director, Wayne McGregor


The finalists will display their designs at the Linbury Biennial Exhibition at the National Theatre from 12 November – 10 December, which will be visited by key figures from the theatre industry, allowing finalists to develop contacts and generate future commissions.

At the exhibition, four winners will be selected to have their designs made into
productions and the overall Linbury Biennial winner will be announced. The winning designers will share around £50,000 in prize money, design commissions and production sponsorship.

The Linbury Biennial, founded in 1987 by Lady Anya Sainsbury, is the only prize of its kind and gives recently graduated stage designers an unparalleled opportunity to work with professional theatre companies, collaborate with writers, directors and technical teams at a crucial stage in their careers.

Thea Sharrock, Artistic Director, The Gate said: “The Gate has a long-standing reputation for excellence and imagination in stage design over its 26 year history. Working with a Linbury designer allows the Gate to do what it does best: take risks through supporting young talent.”

The 12 finalists for 2005 are:

About the Commissioning Companies
This year’s participating companies include some of the most innovative and exciting theatre and dance organisations in the UK. The diverse range of productions Linbury finalists will be working on present a unique set of challenges that will further their skills in every area of stage design and beyond.

Bristol Old Vic
Linbury Biennial finalists will be creating designs for Not the End of the World, adapted by artistic director Simon Reade from the novel by Geraldine McCaughrean, winner of the Whitbread Children’s Book Award in 2004. It will be staged in the autumn of 2006 and tells the story of Noah’s Ark from the point of view of the women, children and animals on board, addressing questions of how we co-exist with those who might share our humanity but not our beliefs. Bristol Old Vic’s home within a Georgian theatre dating from 1766 adds to the demand for imaginative and innovative design.
www.bristol-old-vic.co.uk

The Gate
Linbury finalists will be asked to design for The Emperor Jones by Eugene O’Neill. A highly political play about power, greed and race, The Emperor Jones provides an exciting opportunity for the three designers to address the expressionistic style of the play as well as take on the challenges of The Gate’s confined space. Richard Hudson, the acclaimed designer, will be designing a production of The Emperor Jones at The Gate in November this year. The winning Linbury finalist will design The Gate’s biannual Translation Award to be staged in the summer of 2006, directed by Thea Sharrock.
www.gatetheatre.co.uk

Nottingham Playhouse
Linbury finalists will be tasked with developing designs and models for a new stage adaptation of All Quiet on the Western Front from the novel by Erich Maria Remarque. Adapted for the stage by Robin Kingsland and directed by Giles Croft, the play and the theatre space demand bold interpretation of the text and confidence on the part of the designers in describing First World War trenches within a 1960s building.
www.nottinghamplayhouse.co.uk

Random Dance
Resident company at Sadler’s Wells, Random Dance has become a creative
frontrunner on the British and international dance scene, renowned the world over for its extraordinary innovations in dance. Working in collaboration with Artistic Director Wayne McGregor and Lighting Designer Lucy Carter, the three Linibury finalists will produce designs for Origin, a new professional full-length dance work for young people that will build on the success of previous shows for children by McGregor. The work will focus on giving young people the opportunity to engage with high quality, multi-disciplinary, nonliteral dance for which Random has gained an international reputation, and as a result will enable young people to access curricular subjects through the creativity of dance.
www.randomdance.org.uk


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