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life changing interaction between people
and what goes on in their lives and how
that relates to ours is something that the
theatre has a special purchase on.
What do you think of something like
[title of show]?
I actually didn’t see it. But that’s another
slight problem in that it’s essentially
a show based on irony, and as so many
recent musicals have been, poking fun at
the idea of putting on a show. It’s a very
pleasant thing for critics because they see
so much stuff that anything that comes
with an ironic view to it is very welcomed,
but anything that is essentially sincere, or
God help us even sentimental, is fair game
for a cynical guy who sees much too much
theatre. They don’t want to have to be
made to feel anything. It’s a tough thing.
It’s a shame that the things that do seem
to reach out to get an audience’s involvement
are the things the critics find harder
to accept. That’s a shame. It’s totally understandable,
but it’s a shame.
What advice would you give to a young
scenic designer coming up?
When I was starting out I only got
negative advice. “Don’t do it! You’ll never
make any money.” And so on and so forth.
Richard Pilbrow said, “Do you remember
when we started out? Everybody said to
us, ‘Why would you do this? You’ll never
make a penny at it!’ And we’ve achieved
that beyond our wildest expectations.” I
used to say that, but now I say you have
to decide whether there’s anything else
that you feel you could profitably do,
and if there is do it. And if there isn’t, go
ahead and you’ll have the time of your life.
Because although you may not make a
living, you can occasionally make a killing.
It’s not a business to go into if you’re looking
to get a well-paid lifestyle. But it’s an
extraordinary business, because at its best
the work is about itself and not about all
the peripheral, moneymaking nonsense.
That’s the thing that I was trying to
explain that changed most for me. Over
the last 10 or 15 years, from the time
when we had the crazed producers as
opposed to the business folks today, back
in those years all the work used to be
about the work, and now it’s changed
to be about the financial success of the
work, as opposed to the achievement of
it. As we know from Sondheim, that’s not
necessarily what amounts to a great production.