Voytek, or Wojciech Roman Pawel Jerzy Szendzikowski (15 January 1925 in

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

– 7 August 2014 in

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United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

), was a leading production designer, for British stage and television, for which he also directed, wrote and produced.

Career

Son of Wladyslaw, a doctor, and Maria Szendzikowski, Wojciech was born and spent his childhood and adolescence in Warsaw. As a teenage partisan during World War 2, he was awarded the Polish Cross of Valour in the

Warsaw Uprising The Warsaw Uprising (; ), sometimes referred to as the August Uprising (), or the Battle of Warsaw, was a major World War II operation by the Polish resistance movement in World War II, Polish underground resistance to liberate Warsaw from ...

of 1944. Sustaining a shoulder wound, he was captured and held as a prisoner of war in Germany. His wartime experience left its mark on the wry humour which infused his later work, a Brechtian political irony focused on class. After liberation, Voytek walked to Italy, where he joined the exiled Polish army and formed a theatre group. Arriving in Scotland in 1946, he enrolled at Dundee Art College, before joining the

Old Vic Old or OLD may refer to: Places *Old, Baranya, Hungary *Old, Northamptonshire, England *Old Street station, a railway and tube station in London (station code OLD) *OLD, IATA code for Old Town Municipal Airport and Seaplane Base, Old Town, Mai ...

's Theatre School the following year as a stage design student. There, his primary mentor was

Margaret Harris Margaret Frances Harris (28 May 1904 – 10 May 2000) was an English theatre and opera costume and scenic designer. Biography Early years Harris was born in Hayes, Kent, the fourth child and second daughter of William Birkbeck Harris, a L ...

Motley Motley is the traditional costume of the court jester, the motley fool, or the arlecchino character in ''commedia dell'arte''. The harlequin wears a patchwork of red, green and blue diamonds that is still a fashion motif. The word ''motley'' is ...

. The theatre director

George Devine George Alexander Cassady Devine (20 November 1910 – 20 January 1966) was an English theatrical manager, director, teacher, and actor based in London from the early 1930s until his death. He also worked in TV and film. Early life and education ...

suggested 'Voytek' as his professional soubriquet, as 'nobody could pronounce or remember his real name'.''Designed by Voytek'', interview with Arthur Hawkey, http://abcatlarge.co.uk/designed-by-voytek/ After a period in the mask and costume department of London's Arts Theatre, he took an extended contract in

repertory A repertory theatre, also called repertory, rep, true rep or stock, which are also called producing theatres, is a theatre in which a resident company presents works from a specified repertoire, usually in alternation or rotation. United Kingdom ...

at the

Nottingham Playhouse Nottingham Playhouse is a theatre in Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, England. It was first established as a repertory theatre in 1948 when it operated from a former cinema in Goldsmith Street. Directors during this period included Val May and F ...

as a set and costume designer, where his work attracted attention for its bold, 'metafictional' style: as he put it, 'I believe the Theatre is the essence of reality rather than a mediocre copy of our environment'. He subsequently began designing for television and cinema, where many of his main achievements were to lie. Over the seven years from 1958 he designed more than 40

Armchair Theatre ''Armchair Theatre'' is a British television drama anthology series of single plays that ran on the ITV network from 1956 to 1974. It was originally produced by ABC Weekend TV. Its successor Thames Television took over from mid-1968. The Ca ...

plays for

ABC Television ABC Television most commonly refers to: *ABC Television Network of the American Broadcasting Company, United States, or *ABC Television (Australian TV network), a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Australia ABC Television or ABC ...

, working with cutting-edge directors such as

Philip Saville Philip Saville (28 October 1927 – 22 December 2016) was a British director, screenwriter and former actor whose career lasted half a century. The British Film Institute's Screenonline website described Saville as "one of Britain's most prolifi ...

. He worked on plays featuring many stars of the era including

Diana Dors Diana Dors (born Diana Mary Fluck; 23 October 19314 May 1984) was an English actress and singer. Dors came to public notice as a Bombshell (slang), blonde bombshell, much in the style of Americans Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield, and Mamie Van ...

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and

Leo McKern Reginald "Leo" McKern (16 March 1920 – 23 July 2002) was an Australian actor who appeared in numerous British, Australian and American television programmes and films, and in more than 200 stage roles. His notable roles include Clang in ...

, with screenplays written by

William Saroyan William Saroyan (; August 31, 1908 – May 18, 1981) was an Armenian-American novelist, playwright, and short story writer. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1940, and in 1943 won the Academy Award for Best Story for the film ''The ...

, Michael Meyer and many other young writers. In 1961, he won a Guild of Television Producers and Directors Award for his contribution to the series; while the same year he collected the TV drama design

Bafta The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA, ) is an independent trade association and charity that supports, develops, and promotes the arts of film, television and video games in the United Kingdom. In addition to its annual awa ...

for ''The Rose Affair'', a modern, styled version of ''Beauty and the Beast''. He also designed several feature films, including ''

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'' (1966), directed by

Roman Polanski Raymond Roman Thierry Polański (; born 18 August 1933) is a Polish and French filmmaker and actor. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Roman Polanski, numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, three Britis ...

. Such was his prestige, that he made the unusual career move into direction, with credits including episodes of ''

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'', '' Man at the Top'', ''

The Mind of Mr. J.G. Reeder ''The Mind of Mr. J.G. Reeder'' is a British television series which was originally broadcast on ITV in two series from 1969 to 1971. It is based on a series of novels and short stories written by Edgar Wallace featuring the character of J.G. ...

'', '' The Incredible Adventures of Professor Branestawm'', ''

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'', (''Frankenstein)'', ''

Crown Court The Crown Court is the criminal trial court, court of first instance in England and Wales responsible for hearing all indictable offences, some Hybrid offence, either way offences and appeals of the decisions of magistrates' courts. It is ...

'' and ''

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''. As a producer, he took charge of the 1967 TV adaptation of Bunyan's ''

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'' and also wrote several TV scripts. His later stage work included

Ronald Eyre Ronald Eyre (13 April 1929 – 8 April 1992) was an English theatre director, actor and writer. Biography Eyre was born at Mapplewell, near Barnsley, Yorkshire and he taught at Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, Blackburn and Giggleswick Scho ...

's production of ''

Much Ado About Nothing ''Much Ado About Nothing'' is a Shakespearean comedy, comedy by William Shakespeare thought to have been written in 1598 and 1599.See textual notes to ''Much Ado About Nothing'' in ''The Norton Shakespeare'' (W. W. Norton & Company, 1997 ) p. ...

'' for the

Royal Shakespeare Company The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs over 1,000 staff and opens around 20 productions a year. The RSC plays regularly in London, Stratf ...

in 1971, and ''The Marquis of Keith'' by Wedekind (1974, also for the RSC). In 1983 he won a

Critics' Circle Theatre Award The Critics' Circle Theatre Awards, known as the Drama Theatre Awards until 1990, are British theatrical awards presented annually for the closing year's theatrical achievements. The winners, from theatre throughout the United Kingdom, are selec ...

for best designer, for his set for

Botho Strauss Botho Strauss (; written as Botho Strauß) (born 2 December 1944) is a German playwright, novelist, and essayist. Early life His father was a chemist. After finishing his secondary education, Strauss studied German, History of the Theatre a ...

's ''Great and Small'' at the

Vaudeville Theatre The Vaudeville Theatre is a West End theatre on the Strand in the City of Westminster. Opening in 1870, the theatre staged mostly vaudeville shows and musical revues in its early days. The theatre was rebuilt twice, although each new buildin ...

, which was set inside a massive, plastic tower doubling as a prison cage. He won his second Bafta for production design on the LWT miniseries ''

Dandelion Dead ''Dandelion Dead'' is a British TV mini-series produced by LWT for ITV that aired in two parts on 6 and 13 February 1994. It tells the true story of Herbert Rowse Armstrong, a solicitor in the provincial town of Hay-on-Wye, Wales, who was con ...

'' (1994), after which he retired from television work.

Personal life

His first wife was Renee Bergmann, an actor, with whom he had three children, Stefan, Joe and Julie. The marriage ended in divorce in 1971, as did his second marriage to Fionnuala (née Kenny), with whom he had a daughter, Taya.

References

External links

* * Victoria and Albert Museum, ''Voytek Archive'', https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1162873/voytek-archive-1947-1990-poster-voytek/) * BAFTA ''in memory of Voytek'', https://www.bafta.org/heritage/in-memory-of/voytek) {{Authority control 1925 births 2014 deaths British television directors Film people from Warsaw Polish emigrants to the United Kingdom