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Designers
Take Centre Stage At The National Theatre
- Linbury Prize for Stage Design announces
2007 winner
- Prize celebrates 20 years of success -
- New National Theatre relationship announced
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16 November 2007: Garance Marneur
has won the Linbury Biennial Prize for
Stage Design 2007, the world's leading
prize for young stage designers, it was
announced to a 100-strong audience at the
National Theatre last night.
Nicholas Hytner, Director of the
National Theatre, presented Garance with
the award which she won for her designs
for Brecht's Turandot, a forthcoming
production at Hampstead Theatre. Hosting
the awards ceremony was the prize's founder
Lady Anya Sainsbury; attending were
Alastair Spalding, artistic director,
Sadler's Wells; David Lan, artistic
director, Young Vic; actors Simon Russell
Beale and Sir Donald Sinden;
and the artistic directors from this year's
participating companies, Anthony Clark
(Hampstead Theatre), John Fulljames
(The Opera Group), Rupert Goold (Headlong
Theatre) and Nicolas Kent (Tricycle
Theatre).
The Linbury Biennial Prize celebrates 20
years of success in 2007. The Prize is responsible
for uncovering some of the UK's most well-known
stage designers including Tim Hatley,
winner of an Olivier award for Humble
Boy and a Tony for Private Lives;
Vicki Mortimer, designer for Closer,
Jumpers and A Matter of Life and
Death at the National Theatre; Anthony
Ward, designer for Mary Stuart,
Macbeth and Glengarry Glen Ross;
and Es Devlin who recently worked
with Kanye West on his US tour and with
director Sally Potter on a ground-breaking
production of Carmen at the English
National Opera.
It was also announced at the awards ceremony
that management and administration of the
Prize is soon to be handled by the National
Theatre. This follows a long and close relationship
between the Linbury Prize and the National
Theatre which has hosted the exhibition
of designs by the twelve Linbury finalists
since 1989. However, the Prize will continue
to be artistically independent and will
continue to work with theatre, opera and
dance companies from around the country,
to provide young stage designers with an
unparalleled opportunity for development
and exposure at a crucial moment in their
career.
There are two other opportunities open to
designers entering the Linbury Prize:
- The Jocelyn
Herbert Award is given by the
family of this ground-breaking designer
to a Linbury applicant who most epitomises
the spirit of Jocelyn's work. This year
Tom Scutt, a graduate of the Royal Welsh
College of Music and Drama is the recipient
of the award.
- The Royal Opera
House offers two bursaries
to applicants each lasting three months,
creating an opportunity to become familiar
with the creative process of staging opera
or dance in a large-scale house.The recipients
of these two bursaries will be announced
shortly.
Lady Anya Sainsbury, founder and chairman
of the LInbury Biennial Prize for Stage
Design said: "I am delighted
that Garance Marneur has won the overall
Linbury prize 2007 as indeed I am for three
other winners who will each receive a commission
to design a production. We all look forward
to seeing the fruit of their labours in
the coming year. The standard has been high
amongst all the finalists and I wish them
successful careers in the future. Working
with and for young designers for the past
20 years has been a wonderfully rewarding
experience which I hope continues for many
years to come."
"Our relationship with the National
Theatre has always been a close one and
we are delighted that the relationship will
be closer still when they take on the management
and administration for the Linbury Prize
"
Nicholas Hytner, Artistic Director, National
Theatre said: "The Linbury
Biennial is an irreplaceable asset to British
stage design. It encourages the most promising
young designers by awarding them the most
valuable prize of all: the opportunity to
work at the highest level. I'm delighted
that the National will be more closely involved
in years to come."
David Pritchard, Head of Production,
Royal Opera House. said: "The
Linbury Prize has established itself as
a byword for talent, quality and imagination
in stage design. Our previous collaborations
with Linbury designers has proved to be
enormously interesting and we look forward
to working with two new designers this year."
In total four Linbury winners were announced.
These were:
1. Garnace Marneur (overall winner) for
Hampstead Theatre
2. Tom Scutt for Headlong Theatre
3. Rhys Jarman for The Opera Group
4. Helen Goddard for the Tricycle Theatre
The Linbury Prize is worth £66,000
in prize money and design commissions which
is shared between the four winners and the
companies they work with. Designs and models
by the four winners and the eight other
finalists can be seen at:
Linbury Biennial Prize for Stage Design
Exhibition
Until 5 January 2007
Lyttleton Circle Foyer
National Theatre SE1
Opening Hours: 0930hrs - 2300hrs. Closed
Sundays.
Admission free
http://www.linburybiennial.org.uk
END
Further Information
A dedicated online media resource supports
the 2007 Linbury Biennial Prize for Stage
Design. It contains full information about
the Linbury Biennial and the competition.
All press releases are made available on the
site along with high-resolution pictures for
download.
View the site at: http://www.kallaway.co.uk/linbury.htm
Linbury Biennial Press Information
Anna Cusden (media) anna.cusden@kallaway.co.uk
020 7221 7883
Notes To Editors
Garance Marneur
Garnace Marneur is the overall winner of the
Linbury Prize 2007. She won for designs created
for Brecht's Turandot at Hampstead
Theatre. Originally from Chartres, France,
Garance graduated this year from Central St
Martin with a first class honours degree in
Design for Performance. She has already designed
work for number of productions and events
including an exhibition at Bankside Gallery
and a short film, The Shooting, which
was screened as part of the East London Short
Film Festival in 2006.
About the Prize
The Linbury Biennial Prize for Stage Design
was founded by Anya Sainsbury in 1987. The
prize is open to recent graduates from theatre
design courses across the country, many of
whom are originally from outside the UK. Twelve
finalists get the chance to work with four
professional performing arts production companies
and exhibit their work at the National Theatre.
Four of the 12 win a commission to realise
their designs with the commissioning companies
and one designer is awarded the overall winner's
title. The Linbury Biennial Prize for Stage
Design is sponsored by the Linbury Trust,
one of the Sainsbury Family Charitable Trusts.
Lady Anya Sainsbury CBE, Chair of the
Linbury Biennial Committee.
After a distinguished career as Anya Linden
with the Royal Ballet Company from 1951 to
1965, becoming a ballerina in 1958, she retired
from the company and went on to study stage
design at the Slade School of Art. She married
John Sainsbury in 1963 and has continued to
be actively involved with the Royal Ballet
School and the Rambert School, as a teacher
and on the latter's governing board. She retired
this year from the board of the Royal Opera
House.
About the Linbury Trust
The Linbury Trust is a charitable trust; it
was established by Lord Sainsbury of Preston
Candover KG, and his wife Anya, Lady Sainsbury,
CBE. The trustees of the Linbury Trust make
grants to organisations and towards causes
across a broad range of categories, including
the Arts; Education; Environment and Heritage;
Medical; Social Welfare; Developing Countries
and Humanitarian Aid. Trustees give priority
to causes in which they have a particular
interest and where they have particular knowledge
and experience, as exemplified by their support
for the Linbury Biennial Prize for Stage Design.
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