Tanya Moiseiwitsch

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Tania Moiseiwitch (3 December 1914 - 19 February 2003) was an English theatre designer.

Born in London, the daughter of Daisy Kennedy, an Australian concert violinist and Benno Moiseiwitsch, a famous Ukrainian classical pianist, she attended the Central School of Arts and Crafts. A pioneering figure in 20th century theatre design, she was the founding designer of the Canadian Stratford Festival and its theatre, and designed the interior of St. Catherine's Chapel, Massey College. She also designed the Crucible Theatre, which opened in 1971.

In her career, she had as many as five productions running at the same time in London, England. Some of her more notable productions included: the Old Vic Company's 'Cyrano de bergerac', 'Peter Grimes' at Covent Garden, Chekov's 'Uncle Vanya', and Sheridan's 'The Critic'. She also designed sets and costumes for the English Stratford's 1953 tour of Australia. She designed a number of memorable sets for productions of the National Theatre. For Peter Hall, she designed the modernized production of Ben Jonson's The Alchemist in 1962, and Tyrone Guthrie's beast-fable production of Jonson's Volpone in 1977. She worked with Tyrone Guthrie At the Old Vic, and at the Stratford Memorial Theatre, in England.

She had to her credit not less than five Broadway productions: 'Uncle Vanya' and 'The Critic' in 1946, 'The Matchmaker' in 1955-57, 'The House of Atreus' in 1968, and 'The Misanthrope' in 1975. In addition, she is credited for the 2004 revival of 'King Lear', in which the scenery was based on her designs for Stratford (Ontario).

Tanya Moiseiwitch was posthumously awarded an honorary Officer of the Order of Canada for her "enormous impact on theatre arts in the 20th century".

[edit] Bibliography

Edelstein, T.J.; Barlow, Alan. The stage is all the world : the theatrical designs of Tanya Moiseiwitsch. Chicago, Ill.: David and Alfred Smart Museum of Art, The University of Chicago in association with the University of Washington Press, 134. ISBN 0-935573-14-3.