Johan Engels

(1952-2014) Internationally renowned Stage Designer.

Biography

Born Johan Frederick Engels on 4 April 1952 in Scottburgh on the south coast of Natal, he grew up in Durban and had his schooling at Port Natal. Studied Fine Arts and Design at the University of Pretoria, focussing on stage and set design, with Neels Hansen as his lecturer.

He tragically died on 6th November 2014, having just completed designs for Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen in Chicago, to be premiered over the next 5 years.

Career

Engels initially designed extensively for opera, ballet and theatre in South Africa, before establishing himself internationally.

Contribution to South African theatre and performance

In 1971, during his time as army conscript, he worked in the SA Police archives and designed sets and costumes for the Suid-Afrikaanse Polisie Toneelgeselskap.

After finishing his studies he worked extensively from 1975 - 1980 for opera, ballet and theatre in South Africa. including designs for PACT and the Market Theatre, Johannesburg. Whilst working for PACT, he worked with local designers such as Aubrey Couling, Neels Hansen, Raimond Schoop, Richard Cook. In this period he designed many classical ballets, and plays and musicals.

In 1980 he took a sabbatical year, doing four terms as observer at the Deutsche Oper , Berlin; Glyndebourne Festival, England; Bayreuth Festspiele, Germany; Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and in 1981 settled in the UK to build an international reputation. He stayed there till 1986. In this period he met the British designer Ralph Koltai, who became a mentor.

Returning to South Africa in 1987 , he worked here for three years, designing several productions at The Market Theatre with Janice Honeyman, Robert Whitehead and Janet Suzman. But by 1990 he had returned to England.

Though he had by now predominantly begun to work internationally, he still on occasion returned to the country to do designs for his friends, including Janet Suzman’s productions of Othello (the Market Theatre, 1987) and The Cherry Orchard: Free State (1997), and Janice Honeyman’s productions of Die Fledermaus (2004), Showboat (2005), and The Boys in the Photograph (2010).

International career

Engels's international CV includes designs for all the important opera houses around the globe and work with many of the major directors, including Terry Hands, Anthony Freud and David Pountney.

For more information on his international work, see for example: http://www.debretts.com/people-of-today/profile/22093/Johan-Frederick-ENGELS and http://operabase.com/a/Johan_Engels/8439.