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Colt Irvin
Dr. Virginia Donnell
THEA 3050
09/15/10
The Life and Adventures of John Napier
John Napier seems to be a very famous name. In fact, there are many famous men named it. For
example, the mathematician from the 1500-1600s who is known for his work with decimal
notation and logarithms is named John Napier and the professional soccer player who just
returned from South Africa this summer for the World Cup tournament is too. The best, famous
man named John Napier would have to be the award-winning scenic and costume designer. He
is by far more interesting than all the other John Napiers put together. Napier’s history in
theatrical designs and costume aesthetics surpass all the “interesting” math functions in the world.
His talent, education, and awards make him a notable, but he is much more than that. This John
Napier is an artist.
John Napier was born in London, England on March 1, 1944. His parents were James
Edward Thomas and Florence (Godbold) Napier (filmreference.com para. 1). His parents sent
him to Hornsey College of Art where he studied the fine arts. After his days at Hornsey College
of Art he went to the highly acclaimed Central Saint Martin’s School of Arts and Crafts. While
there he studied set and scenic design with the great Ralph Koltai (reallyuseful.com para. 1).
Both of these institutions are known for producing incredible artists. John Napier is one of a
long list of notable alumni from Hornsey College of Art and Central School of Arts and Crafts.
Also, while designing costumes and designing sets Napier has been married and divorced twice.
He has two children from each wife (filmreference.com para. 1). I wonder if designing huge
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spectacles for a Broadway stage had anything to do with his divorces. It would be hard to
prioritize in that circumstance. You cannot put your family and your career first. Something has
got to give.
After John finished with school he worked with many different designers and eventually
became an Associate Designer for the Royal Shakespeare Company (reallyuseful.com para 1).
Other credentials include a member of the American Academy of Achievement, (1996) Royal
Designer for Industry (para 7), three Society of London Theatre Laurence Olivier awards, a
BAFTA, and five Tony awards for Nicholas Nickleby, Cats, Starlight Express, Les Misérables
and Sunset Boulevard (para 8). He has accomplished all this and has worked all over the world.
The English National Opera House in London, the Royal Opera House, the Glyndebourne Opera
House, Broadway, the West End of New York City, the West End of London, The Royal
National Theater of England (filmreference.com para. 3) are some of his most notable just to
name a few.
Napier’s very first show he ever designed professionally was called, A Penny For A Song
in 1967 (para. 3 line 1). He was a mere 23 years old! In the next six years Napier ended up
designing everything from comedy to ballet to Shakespeare’s classics in London. Little did he
know that this was just the beginning to his incredibly successful career as a set and costume
designer.
Throughout the rest of the 70s he is accredited to designing set and scenic pieces, but in
1981 he was the scenic designer, costume designer, and production photographer for The Life
and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby and won his first Tony Award in 1982 for Best Scenic
Design (ibdb.com para. 10). It is said that he collaborated with Dermot Hayes on this project but
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other than this instance I cannot find where he collaborated ever again. Napier may be the type
that likes to work alone and he certainly has the ability due to his successes that began after this
first Tony Award. For example, one year later John Napier designed the costumes and set for
Andrew Lloyd Webber’s (based on T.S. Eliot’s Book Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats) Cats
all himself. Cats was not only nominated for Best Costume Design and Scenic Design at the
Tony but it was also nominated for Outstanding Costume Design at the Drama Desk Awards.
He won both the Tony Award for Best Costume Design and the Drama Desk Award for
Outstanding Costume Design. Since his dual win in 1983 for Cats Napier has won 5 Tony
Awards overall and been nominated several more times (ibdb.com).
One of the things I enjoy most about Napier’s designs is that they are not limited by any
particular style. If you look at his set from Equus (from either version because he did both), it is
very minimal. The small black boxes on the stage make up all of the scenery at different parts in
the play. The horse head is simply bent metal and not even solid in the middle. He was able to
do so much with so little. Look at the costumes for Equus. Mostly I can find pictures of Alan
Strang in jeans. Even when he designed the show again in 2007 it was extremely simple. Napier
did not have the technology in 1974 but by 2007 he could have done whatever he wanted! It
would be easy to think that he is a minimalist designer based on this show but you have to take
into consideration his other designs as well. Look at his Scenic and Costume Designs for Cats
and Starlight Express. They are huge spectacles that had huge production budgets. Starlight
Express cost eight million dollars to produce. “…the most expensive production ever when it
opened on Broadway in 1987” (sptimes.com picture 3). So I can say confidently that he is
resourceful and creative in whatever way necessary. The style of the show is his style. Not
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every designer can say that about their costumes or scenery. Most designers are put into
categories. John Napier is impossible to categorize like any great art or artist.
Getting sucked into a designer’s work is an amazing feeling. I have personally worked
on Les Misérables and we were inspired by the original rotating barricade set pieces and I have
also worn his original Cats costume designs. Getting to first-hand work in the theatre as a set
builder or dancer is a wonderful opportunity and even more so is the fact that we could use such
incredible design concepts from such a brilliant designer. Our make-up for Cats easily took half
an hour to do before every performance. It took us countless hours to recreate our own (less
impressive) version of his rotating barricade but just to get to work with such wonderful design
concepts is a true blessing. John Napier’s Cats and Les Misérables designs hit the Broadway
stage in the 80s before I was even born (ibdb.com). I didn’t get to use these designs until I was
in high school, but either way I would not have gotten to do that if he had not designed these two
shows in the first place.
John Napier most definitely has made himself a place is theatrical design history and he
continues to design for the theater and outside of the theater as well. In fact, there is hardly any
other area of entertainment in which he has not put his artistic ability into a project. According
to reallyuseful.com Napier designed Disney’s Captain EO video starring Michael Jackson.
Other non-theater projects include the Siegfried and Roy Show at the Mirage in Las Vegas, and
the 1991 blockbuster Hook starring Robin Williams (reallyuseful.com para.5).
Fortunately, John Napier went back to the Broadway stage in 2000 and that winter Jane
Eyre was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Musical among several other awards and
nominations (ibdb.com). His mentor Ralph Koltai never won a Tony Award but in 1985 was
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nominated for Best Scenic Design and Best Set Design by the Drama Desk Awards for Much
Ado About Nothing (ibdb.com). John Napier also did that show in 1976 and Ralph Koltai’s
designs are very well known and he has influenced many designers from Europe and all over the
world.
Could it be that all he needed was a break from theater for a while? Does his skill have
anything to do with his education for Koltai? What is it inside of John Napier that inspires him
to design so beautifully? Why is it that he was born with this talent of art and design and others
are not? Can it be that his education in “set the stage” for his incredible success? John Napier
has a vast capacity for many types of creativity. Concentration, knowledge, resources, and most
importantly talent are in his character and who he is! I would say that he is one of the best
designers certainly of our time if not of all time. I can really appreciate his simple Equus designs
and I really personally love his huge, elaborate costumes for Cats and Starlight Express. The
way his minimal approach reaches that back of the house is astounding and his cats in Cats were
a leap in theater costume design. Pointy ears are made into the wigs and unitards were painted to
look like fur. Dressing human beings up like cats is a feat in itself. I can’t imagine coming up
with the designs for how to make a human look like a cat. These achievements were done early
in his career. One can only wonder what he will come up with next.
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Works Cited
"John Napier." IBDB: The Official Source for Broadway Information. Web. 15 Sept. 2010.
<http://www.ibdb.com/>.
"John Napier Biography." Film Reference. Web. 15 Sept. 2010. <http://www.filmreference.com/>.
"The Original Creative Team - John Napier: Designer." Home Page — Really Useful Group. Web. 15
Sept. 2010. <http://www.reallyuseful.com/>.
