Richard Negri
Encyclopedia
Richard Negri was a British
theatre director and designer
.
in Essex
where he was educated. He served in the Royal Navy
as a radio engineer at the end of the Second World War and afterwards studied Art under David Bomberg
at Borough Polytechnic (later to become part of South Bank University). In 1951 he attended the Old Vic
Theatre School to study theatre design.
, Manchester
(which only survived for a year) and designing the productions. In 1959 he started to design for the 59 Theatre Company, based at the Lyric Theatre (Hammersmith).The company was run by Michael Elliott
and Casper Wrede, a friend from the Old Vic and, although short-lived, the company achieved considerable success with productions of Brand
(designed by Negri), Little Eyolf
and Danton's Death
. When Wrede and Elliott went on to run a season of plays at the Old Vic
in 1961 Negri joined them as designer.
In 1962 Negri began teaching as a part time lecturer at Wimbledon School of Art in the Theatre department and directed the theatre design course; by the end of 1963 he had become a senior lecturer. He eventually became Principal of the School.
The formation of the 69 Theatre Company by Wrede, Elliott, and Braham Murray
in Manchester led to Negri designing many of the productions at the University Theatre including Peer Gynt
and The Tempest
. Based upon the success of the Company the group started to look for a permanent theatre in Manchester
and eventually a new theatre was built inside the disused Royal Exchange
with Negri as the designer of the theatre and one of the founding artistic directors.
The design incorporated the ideas of the founding group; Wrede, Elliott, Murray, the actor James Maxwell
and Negri himself. According to Murray, Negri’s design was based upon a beehive and meant that no one would be seated more than thirty feet from the stage. “The audience would be suspended between the world of the gods in the outer hall and the stage where the actors who entered from that world would act out their drama.” The architects, Levitt Bernstein Associates, observed “the beginning for us was a small paper and wire model sitting in the middle of a table with Richard Negri striding round it talking about the form of a rose. How, we wondered, would we ever bring this man down to earth? Fortunately we never did.”
The theatre opened on 15 September 1976 and Negri remained as an artistic director until 1983. He directed a number of productions in addition to his design work.
He had resigned from Wimbledon in 1974 to concentrate all his efforts on the Royal Exchange but returned in 1982 to continue his lecturing. He finally retired in 1988. His legacy remains both in the theatre he designed and in the students he taught. Johanna Bryant one of key designers for the Royal Exchange was one of his students.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
theatre director and designer
Scenic design
Scenic design is the creation of theatrical, as well as film or television scenery. Scenic designers have traditionally come from a variety of artistic backgrounds, but nowadays, generally speaking, they are trained professionals, often with M.F.A...
.
Early life
Richard Negri was born on 27 June 1927 in Stamford Hill, London to parents of Italian origin: Riccardo Negri and Teresa Manattini. The family moved to ChingfordChingford
Chingford is a district of north east London, bordering on Enfield and Edmonton to the west, Woodford to the east, Walthamstow and Stratford to the south and Essex to the north. It is situated northeast of Charing Cross and forms part of the London Borough of Waltham Forest...
in Essex
Essex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...
where he was educated. He served in the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
as a radio engineer at the end of the Second World War and afterwards studied Art under David Bomberg
David Bomberg
David Garshen Bomberg was an English painter, and one of the Whitechapel Boys.Bomberg was one of the most audacious of the exceptional generation of artists who studied at the Slade School of Art under Henry Tonks, and which included Mark Gertler, Stanley Spencer, C.R.W. Nevinson and Dora Carrington...
at Borough Polytechnic (later to become part of South Bank University). In 1951 he attended the Old Vic
Old Vic
The Old Vic is a theatre located just south-east of Waterloo Station in London on the corner of The Cut and Waterloo Road. Established in 1818 as the Royal Coburg Theatre, it was taken over by Emma Cons in 1880 when it was known formally as the Royal Victoria Hall. In 1898, a niece of Cons, Lilian...
Theatre School to study theatre design.
Career
After leaving the Old Vic he spent a year designing for the Oldham Coliseum before founding the Piccolo Theatre company in Chorlton-cum-HardyChorlton-cum-Hardy
Chorlton-cum-Hardy is a suburban area of the city of Manchester, England. It is known locally as Chorlton. It is situated about four miles southwest of Manchester city centre. Pronunciation varies: and are both common....
, Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
(which only survived for a year) and designing the productions. In 1959 he started to design for the 59 Theatre Company, based at the Lyric Theatre (Hammersmith).The company was run by Michael Elliott
Michael Elliott
Michael Elliott, OBE was an English theatre and television director.-Early life:He was born in London the son of a clergyman, Canon Elliott and was educated at Radley College and Keble College, Oxford...
and Casper Wrede, a friend from the Old Vic and, although short-lived, the company achieved considerable success with productions of Brand
Brand
The American Marketing Association defines a brand as a "Name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers."...
(designed by Negri), Little Eyolf
Little Eyolf
Little Eyolf is an 1894 play by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. The play was first performed on January 12, 1895 in the Deutsches Theater in Berlin.-Plot:...
and Danton's Death
Danton's Death
Danton's Death was the first play written by Georg Büchner, set during the French Revolution.-History:Georg Büchner wrote his works in the period between Romanticism and Realism in the so-called Vormärz era in German history and literature...
. When Wrede and Elliott went on to run a season of plays at the Old Vic
Old Vic
The Old Vic is a theatre located just south-east of Waterloo Station in London on the corner of The Cut and Waterloo Road. Established in 1818 as the Royal Coburg Theatre, it was taken over by Emma Cons in 1880 when it was known formally as the Royal Victoria Hall. In 1898, a niece of Cons, Lilian...
in 1961 Negri joined them as designer.
In 1962 Negri began teaching as a part time lecturer at Wimbledon School of Art in the Theatre department and directed the theatre design course; by the end of 1963 he had become a senior lecturer. He eventually became Principal of the School.
The formation of the 69 Theatre Company by Wrede, Elliott, and Braham Murray
Braham Murray
Braham Murray, OBE is an English theatre director. He has been an Artistic Director of the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester since its foundation in 1976.-Early years:...
in Manchester led to Negri designing many of the productions at the University Theatre including Peer Gynt
Peer Gynt
Peer Gynt is a five-act play in verse by the Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen, loosely based on the fairy tale Per Gynt. It is the most widely performed Norwegian play. According to Klaus Van Den Berg, the "cinematic script blends poetry with social satire and realistic scenes with surreal ones"...
and The Tempest
The Tempest
The Tempest is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1610–11, and thought by many critics to be the last play that Shakespeare wrote alone. It is set on a remote island, where Prospero, the exiled Duke of Milan, plots to restore his daughter Miranda to her rightful place,...
. Based upon the success of the Company the group started to look for a permanent theatre in Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
and eventually a new theatre was built inside the disused Royal Exchange
Royal Exchange, Manchester
The Royal Exchange is a grade II listed Victorian building in Manchester, England. It is located in the city centre on the land bounded by St Ann’s Square, Exchange Street, Market Street, Cross Street and Old Bank Street...
with Negri as the designer of the theatre and one of the founding artistic directors.
The design incorporated the ideas of the founding group; Wrede, Elliott, Murray, the actor James Maxwell
James Maxwell (actor)
James Maxwell was an American actor, theatre director and writer, particularly associated with the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester.-Early life:...
and Negri himself. According to Murray, Negri’s design was based upon a beehive and meant that no one would be seated more than thirty feet from the stage. “The audience would be suspended between the world of the gods in the outer hall and the stage where the actors who entered from that world would act out their drama.” The architects, Levitt Bernstein Associates, observed “the beginning for us was a small paper and wire model sitting in the middle of a table with Richard Negri striding round it talking about the form of a rose. How, we wondered, would we ever bring this man down to earth? Fortunately we never did.”
The theatre opened on 15 September 1976 and Negri remained as an artistic director until 1983. He directed a number of productions in addition to his design work.
He had resigned from Wimbledon in 1974 to concentrate all his efforts on the Royal Exchange but returned in 1982 to continue his lecturing. He finally retired in 1988. His legacy remains both in the theatre he designed and in the students he taught. Johanna Bryant one of key designers for the Royal Exchange was one of his students.
Personal life
Married Jill Adams on 27 September 1956 in Bury St Edmunds. They had two sons and six daughtersProductions directed at The Royal Exchange
- The Skin of Our TeethThe Skin of Our TeethThe Skin of Our Teeth is a play by Thornton Wilder which won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It opened on October 15, 1942 at the Shubert Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut, before moving to the Plymouth Theatre on Broadway on November 18, 1942...
by Thornton WilderThornton WilderThornton Niven Wilder was an American playwright and novelist. He received three Pulitzer Prizes, one for his novel The Bridge of San Luis Rey and two for his plays Our Town and The Skin of Our Teeth, and a National Book Award for his novel The Eighth Day.-Early years:Wilder was born in Madison,...
. Directed by Richard Negri and James MaxwellJames Maxwell (actor)James Maxwell was an American actor, theatre director and writer, particularly associated with the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester.-Early life:...
with Olive McFarland and Lee MontagueLee MontagueLee Montague is an English actor noted for his roles on film and television, usually playing tough guys.Film credits include: Moulin Rouge, The Camp on Blood Island, The Savage Innocents, Billy Budd, The Secret of Blood Island, Deadlier Than the Male, The Legacy and Brother Sun, Sister...
(1977) - The Golden Country by Shusaku EndoShusaku EndoShūsaku Endō was a 20th-century Japanese author who wrote from the unusual perspective of being both Japanese and Catholic...
. European premiere with Wolfe MorrisWolfe MorrisWolfe Morris was a British film and television actor.He played character roles on stage, television and in feature films from the 1950s until the 1990s. He made his film debut in Ill Met by Moonlight. His grandparents were from Kiev and escaped the Russian pogroms, arriving in London in about 1890....
, Geoffrey Bateman and Ian Hastings (1977) - The Chairs by Eugene IonescoEugène IonescoEugène Ionesco was a Romanian and French playwright and dramatist, and one of the foremost playwrights of the Theatre of the Absurd...
with Gwen Nelson and Frank ThorntonFrank ThorntonFrank Thornton is an English actor who is best known for playing Captain Peacock in Are You Being Served? and its sequel Grace & Favour and as Truly in Last of the Summer Wine.-Early life:...
(1980) - The Emperor JonesThe Emperor JonesThe Emperor Jones is a 1920 play by American dramatist Eugene O'Neill which tells the tale of Brutus Jones, an African-American man who kills a man, goes to prison, escapes to a Caribbean island, and sets himself up as emperor...
by Eugene O’Neill with Pete PostlethwaitePete PostlethwaitePeter William "Pete" Postlethwaite, OBE, was an English stage, film and television actor.After minor television appearances including in The Professionals, Postlethwaite's first success came with the film Distant Voices, Still Lives in 1988. He played a mysterious lawyer, Mr...
and Albie Woodington (1980) - The CaretakerThe CaretakerThe Caretaker is a play by Harold Pinter. It was first published by both Encore Publishing and Eyre Methuen in 1960. The sixth play that Pinter wrote for stage or television production, it was his first significant commercial success...
by Harold PinterHarold PinterHarold Pinter, CH, CBE was a Nobel Prize–winning English playwright and screenwriter. One of the most influential modern British dramatists, his writing career spanned more than 50 years. His best-known plays include The Birthday Party , The Homecoming , and Betrayal , each of which he adapted to...
with Charlie DrakeCharlie DrakeCharlie Drake was an English comedian, actor, writer and singer.With his small stature , curly red hair and liking for slapstick he was a popular comedian with children in his early years, becoming nationally-known for his "Hello, my darlings" catchphrase...
, Jonathon Hackett and Tim McInnernyTim McInnernyTim McInnerny is an English actor. He is known for his role as Percy in Blackadder and Blackadder II, and as Captain Darling in Blackadder Goes Forth...
(1983)