Design By Motley

The "New Stagecraft," which Motley helped to shape, replaced the painted, three-dimensional sets and realistic costumes of the nineteenth-century stage with fluid, representational scenery and evocative costumes. Together, the elements of the design formed a unified interpretation of the play. Motley's accomplishments were especially significant because they spanned both New York and London and set a standard for beauty and excellence in theatre design that lives on today in the work of their many students.

Theatre Design involves everything seen on stage: not only scenery but costumes, wigs, makeup, properties, lighting, sound, even the shape and material of the stage itself. Designers’ Shakespeare presents and analyses the work of a half-dozen leading practitioners of this specialist art. By focusing specifically on their Shakespearean work, it also offers a fresh, exciting perspective on some of the best-known drama of all time. Shakespeare’s plays offer an unusual range of opportunities to designers. As they were written for a theatre which gave no opportunity for scenic support or embellishment, designers are freed from any compulsion to imitate original practices. This has resulted in the extraordinarily diverse range of works presented in this volume, which considers among others the work of Josef Svoboda, Karl-Ernst Herrmann, Ming Cho Lee, Alison Chitty, Robert Wilson, Societas Raffaello Sanzio, Filter Theatre, Catherine Zuber, John Bury , Christopher Morley, Ralph Koltai and Sean Kenny. Designers’ Shakespeare joins Actors’ Shakespeare and Directors’ Shakespeare as essential reading for lovers of Shakespeare from theatre-goers and students to directors and theatre designers.

An essential introduction for students just starting project work. It guides students through choosing a topic, using the library, taking notes, writing cross-references and bibliographies.

Issues for 1965- include "Recent publications on theatre architecture," no. 13/14-