Peter Farmer (set designer)

Peter Farmer (3 November 1936 – 1 January 2017)[1] was a British set designer, theatre artist, and book illustrator.

Biography

Born in Luton on 3 November 1936, the son of a hat factory owner, he studied at an art college in Luton and made his professional debut with his designs for Jack Carter's Agrionia for London Dance Theatre.[2] Starting with a production of Giselle for the Stuttgart Ballet in 1966, Farmer worked extensively in ballet, both with the Royal Ballet and Birmingham Royal Ballet, as well as other major international ballet companies. For the Royal Ballet he designed productions of Giselle (1971), The Sleeping Beauty (1973), Robert North's The Troy Game (1980) and Kenneth MacMillan's Winter Dreams (1991). For Frederick Ashton's centenary he was invited to supplement the original designs for Sylvia, and in 2006 he also supplemented Oliver Messel's legendary 1946 designs for The Sleeping Beauty. After this came Homage to The Queen, a showpiece ballet to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II's 80th birthday.[3] His final credit with The Royal Ballet came the following year, with the company's first production of George Balanchine's Theme and Variations.[4]

His productions for other companies included Ashton's The Dream (Sadler’s Wells Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet), Cinderella (London Festival Ballet), Swan Lake (English National Ballet, Royal Winnipeg Ballet), The Tales of Hoffmann (Scottish Ballet), The Nutcracker (Rome Opera Ballet, English National Ballet), Anna Karenina, Madame Butterfly and La Bayadère (Australian Ballet), La Sylphide (Rome Opera Ballet, Bolshoi Ballet), Theme and Variations and Coppélia (Birmingham Royal Ballet) and more than a dozen productions of Giselle.[3][4] His designs for MacMillan's Manon have been used by the Mariinsky Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Australian Ballet, the National Ballet of Canada and Houston Ballet.[3]

He designed over a dozen productions for London Contemporary Dance Theatre, including Robert Cohan's Stages in 1971.[3] His productions for the dramatic stage included The Night of the Iguana (1965), Man and Superman (1966) and A Woman of No Importance (1978).[2]

In 2010, he received a Prix Benois de la Danse Lifetime Achievement award.[5]

References
  1. Steven, Alasdair. "Remembering Peter Farmer (1941–2017)". Royal Opera House. Retrieved 3 January 2017.
  2. "Peter Farmer obituary". The Guardian. 20 January 2017. Retrieved 1 February 2017.
  3. "Peter Farmer: Artist and Theatre Designer". Bolshoi. Retrieved 18 June 2015.
  4. "Peter Farmer". Royal Opera House. Retrieved 18 June 2015.
  5. "Prix Benois de la Danse 2011". Tanz.at. Archived from the original on 18 June 2015. Retrieved 18 June 2015.
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