insideKENT Magazine Issue 44 - November 2015 | Page 28

ARTS+ENTERTAINMENT

STAGES, BEYOND THE FOURTH WALL
interview with set designer and artist JOHN

NAPIER

BY LISAMARIE LAMB

John Napier at work © JULIAN NAPIER

Baracades Les Mis © PETER PRIOR

John Napier - Equus © JULIAN NAPIER

When I was 12 years old, my parents took me
to see Les Misérables at the Palace Theatre,
London. The music, and the story, left me
speechless, but it was the moment when the
slums of Paris came gliding magnificently across
the stage, the two halves breaking their backs
as they came together before transforming into
the iconic barricades, that left me breathless.
And it was John Napier who designed it. Just as
it was John Napier who designed the junkyard
set for Cats, the incredible helicopter for Miss
Saigon, the roller skate rink for Starlight Express,
Norma Desmond’s mighty staircase for Sunset
Boulevard, the horse for Equus, and so much
more for so many more legendary West End –
and worldwide – shows.
John Napier is also an artist, and his latest
exhibition, Stages, Beyond The Fourth Wall, runs
from 29th November 2015 until 31st January
2016 at the Towner Art Gallery in Eastbourne,
East Sussex. The exhibition is about bringing art
and the theatre together to present costume
design, three dimensional artwork, and sculptures
which have been created in parallel with his
incredibly varied career.
You studied under Ralph Kotai at the Central
School of Arts and Crafts; how was he an
inspiration on your work?
Fundamentally, I owe Ralph possibly, apart from
my original art teacher at secondary school, the
biggest thanks and the biggest praise. I was
given tickets to go see The Rise and Fall of the
City of Mahagonny, which is an opera by Bertolt
Brecht. And lo and behold, I sat in the dress
circle at Sadler's Wells, mesmerised by what was
going on in front of me, listening to the music of

Kurt Weill, and this extraordinary set. I looked at
the programme; the designer was a guy called
Ralph Koltai.
Cut to four or five years later when I began
a course at Central School, and during my first
year a guy came in and did a guest lectureship.
It was Ralph Koltai. I got on with Ralph like a
house on fire because I was a sculptor, and I
was doing things that were very ‘off the beaten
track’.
Unfortunately, after the first year of the
course I, and another student called Mike Leigh
(yes, the Mike Leigh), were asked to leave, and,
because I had to do something, I went to work
on a building site. But Ralph Koltai actually called
me up and demanded that I went back to Central
School to finish the course!
I never did actually finish it though. But
that’s because Ralph asked me if I wanted to
work with a young director in Leicester, as head
of design. And I did.
What about inspiring others? Is that something
you think is important?
You pass the baton on to those you believe can
carry that baton and run, and pass it on. And the
one question I get asked a lot these days is,
don't you miss being in the theatre? And I say
no, because I did them then, and there was a
generosity of spirit then – I've had three, nearly
four decades of success at the highest level in
a profession which is profoun Fǒ&V