Peter
Bucknell
(1923-1993)
Wimbledon School of Art's Principal 1964-1969
Full-time lecturer
in the Theatre Department from 1952 until 1964, during which period he
became head of the department. He began working at Wimbledon as a part-time
lecturer in 1948, soon after graduating from the Royal College of Art.
A flamboyant character with excellent lecturing skills who still delivered
a series of lectures on Theatre History to first year students when Principal.
Bucknell's evocation of a Kabuki actor riding a horse unfailingly brings
an inner chuckle, so memorable to this day. However, his appraisals of
student work could at times be brutal as Martin Morley, a student at the
time when Bucknell was still Head of the Theatre Department, remembers:
"I could have done without the ritual humiliations that Bucknell
used to hand out at the group assessments, reducing many to tears, but
he could encourage, and when he did it was good."
mp.3
format, 512 kb, 1 minute 09 seconds - Catherine
Negri (Richard Negri's eldest daughter) talking of Peter Bucknell's visits
to the Negri home.
 Bucknell posed in Principalian mode |
 As Oberon in an end of year Wimbledon production of A Midsummer's Night's Dream in 1962 |
 Bucknell as Oberon on the extreme left |
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The
Gay Lord Quex (Arthur Wing Pinero). Settings for the third
year production at the end of the academic year in June 1964. Very typical of the sensibilities of theatre design at the time, it represented qualities soon to disappear almost completely with Negri's arrival as Head of Department in the autumn. |
