Renowned theatre designer Ralph Koltai gave a talk during the recently concluded Scenofest, which was held simultaneously with World Stage Design (WSD) 2017 in Taipei in early July.

His talk was part of a master lecture series under the theme “Breaking the Boundaries” arranged by Prof. Pamela Howard, founder of Scenofest. Another two famous theatre designers Susan Tsu and Jean-Guy Lecat were also speakers in the lecture series.

The first talk was given by Mr. Koltai, who has devoted his long career in the past 67 years to introducing innovations to the theatre, constantly breaking conventions and making use of different elements and materials in designing the stage.

The 92-year-old Koltai gave the talk in the form of a pre-recorded interview by Prof. Howard, who also gave an introduction when the talk was presented at Scenofest in Taipei. Mr. Koltai noted in his talk that for him, boundaries have never existed.

He also dismissed the idea that his work was “abstract.” He said he works from intuition, and anything around him could inspire his creativity.

He said that theatre designers often face big challenges and problems. For example, his design for “Metropolis” used a lot of metal components and gears to construct an industrial world, and he had to make sure the stage could support the weight of all the metal.

He said that over the past 67 years, he has learned how to face and solve problems without compromising his original designs, ideas and creativity.

Caption: Renowned theatre designer Ralph Koltai gives a talk at Scenofest arranged by Prof. Pamela Howard.