In Memoriam: William Dudley

	William Dudley

The British scenic designer William Dudley, whose work was often seen on Broadway and who did pioneering work with large-scale projection design, died on May 31. He was 78 and suffered from Alzheimer's.

Educated at Saint Martin's School of Art and Slade School of Art. He got his start in London with The Duchess of Malfi, staged in 1971 by the English Stage Company at the Royal Court Theatre. Carving out careers in theatre and opera, he amassed a stunning list of credits: Twelfth Night at Royal Shakespeare, with Janet Suzman (1974); Billy Budd at the Metropolitan Opera (1978); Hamlet at the Royal Court with Jonathan Pryce (1979); The Tales of Hoffman at Royal Opera House, directed by John Schlesinger (1980); The Ring Cycle at Bayreuth (1983); Richard II at RSC with Jeremy Irons (1986); The Merry Wives of Windsor at RSC, set in the 1950s; Waiting for Godot at the National with Alec McCowen and John Alderton (1987); Cat on a Hot Tin Roof at the National with Lindsay Duncan (1988); Lucia di Lammermoor for Lyric Opera of Chicago (1990); the groundbreaking gay play My Night with Reg at the Royal Court (1994); Dance of the Vampire at Vienna's Raimund Theatre (1997); All My Sons at the National with Laurie Metcalf (2001); Sunday in the Park with George, Theatre du Chatelet (2013); and Witness for the Prosecution, staged at London's County Hall (2017).

One of Dudley's early signature successes was with The Mysteries, a trilogy of medieval mystery plays as envisioned by a company of working-class Yorkshire folk. In contrast to this stunningly simple design, he was the first designer to take advantage of the drum revolve in the Olivier Theatre at the National. The scenic feature took years after the theatre's opening to work efficiently and, by all accounts, he employed it brilliantly in a rousing revival of Dion Boucicault's The Shaughraun (1988).

Later, Dudley became fascinated by the possibilities of large-scale projection, employing an enormous, curved screen in The Coast of Utopia, Tom Stoppard's epic trilogy about the 19th-century Russian intelligentsia. His design for the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical The Woman in White (2004) featured one of the most elaborate projection designs for a show to do. He was later involved with Peter Pan 360, a staging of the JM Barrie classic featuring an immersive projection design. Dudley's Broadway credits included a transfer of the National's Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1990) (starring Kathleen Turner and Charles Durning), a revival of Amadeus (1999) starring David Suchet, the New York transfer of The Woman in White (2005), and End of the Rainbow (2012), a bio drama about Judy Garland.

Dudley won Olivier Awards for Undiscovered Country (1979), The Mysteries and The Critic (1985), The Futurists (1985), Merry Wives of Windsor (1985), Kafka's Dick (1986), Amadeus and The London Cuckolds (1999), All My Sons (2001), and Hitchcock Blonde (2004). He also won a BAFTA Award for the production design of the film Persuasion (1995).

Dudley is survived by his wife, the director Lucy Bailey, and their two sons.