Artist Info
Peter Docherty
Peter Docherty, had a distinguished career as a designer for the stage – especially ballet. Peter and the choreographer Ronald Hynd together created memorable productions for London Festival Ballet (now English National Ballet, ENB), including The Nutcracker (1976), which annually at Christmas somehow fitted on to the cramped stage at the Royal Festival Hall.
Peter designed the sets for Ned Sherrin’s 1976 hit musical revue Side By Side By Sondheim, in the West End and on Broadway, and for a revival of The Sound of Music in 1982 in the West End starring Petula Clark. For the Royal Court he designed David Storey’s In Celebration in 1969. His most acclaimed work in opera was the English National Opera’s 1988 production of Janáček’s The Adventures of Mr Broucek.
He studied theatre design at the Central School of Art and Design, then at the Slade School of Fine Art.
Peter was a guest lecturer at the Wimbledon School of Art before being appointed a senior lecturer in theatre design at Central Saint Martins and in 1997, professor at the University of the Arts London.
In 1986 he joined John Schlesinger and Sherrin as a founding organiser for the Action Against Aids gala at the Adelphi theatre. Peter served as a committee member of the actors’ union Equity (1978-84) and with Tim White he edited the book Design for Performance: From Diaghilev to the Pet Shop Boys (1996).