Ralph Adron Archive

Overview

Ralph Adron (1939-2023) was a British theatre designer, painter and teacher. Adron showed early talent for visual and practical crafts. He studied theatre design at Croydon College of Art under Frederick Crooke and continued his training at the Slade School of Fine Art, where he was taught by Peter Snow and Nicholas Georgiadis.

Adron began designing professionally in the early 1960s. His first major ballet commission was ‘The Wise Monkeys’ for Sadler’s Wells in 1960, and in 1961 he won the British section top prize in the International Set Designers competition for a model for the production ‘Rhinoceros’. He went on to design sets and costumes for productions across ballet, opera, drama, and children’s theatre, notably ‘The Nutcracker’ for John Cranko at the Stuttgart Staatstheater in 1967 as well as numerous productions for the Unicorn Children’s Theatre - a children’s theatre company.

In addition to theatre, Adron collaborated widely in interior and graphic design, often working with his lifelong partner, architect and designer Max Clendinning. Their homes in London and Umbria were celebrated for their originality, and their collaborations featured in exhibitions at the V&A and Ulster Museum. Adron also taught at several art schools, including Croydon College of Art, and in later years focused increasingly on painting, exhibiting at the New English Art Club and other venues. In later years Ralph largely focused on painting, sometimes completing three or four gouaches a day. These retained a highly theatrical element, some of them triptychs, depicting strange, exotic figures in intriguing landscapes.

Adron’s theatre credits include:

Lizzie Dripping & The Witch; The Elephant Calf; The Lion & The Unicorn Hullabaloo; Babay Jones & The Great Art Robbery; Silent Guns; The Blue Monster; The White Deer; Hedda Gabler; Julius Caesar; You Never Can Tell; La Création du Monde; The White Devil; Volpone; The Leader; The Nutcracker; Riders To The Sea; The Wise Monkeys; Giovanna d’Arco; The Tattoed Nude; Passacaglia; Waiting for Godot; Love For Love; Right You Are If You Think So; The Birds; Salome; Sugar Babies; La Fastidiosa; Clope; The Breasts of Tiresias; The Apple; The Mourning Bride; The Maids; Così fan tutte; War Song; The Rake’s Progress; Hansel & Gretel; Werther; The Medium; A Dinner Engagement; This Property Is Condemned; All For Love; Hamlet; But She Is Homeless; The Two Gentlemen of Verona; Amédée, or How to Get Rid of It; La Serva Padrona; Dido & Aeneas.

The Theatre Collection catalogue should be consulted for full production-level details.

What the collection holds

The University of Bristol Theatre Collection holds a named archive for Ralph Adron, including designs, and related materials that document his work for ballet, theatre and children’s productions. The Theatre collection also hold a number of his paintings produced during his later years – these are uncatalogued at present, but can be requested.

View the Ralph Adron catalogue, here.