Stratford Festival designer Desmond Heeley dies

Stratford Festival designer, Desmond Heeley died Friday night in New York City.

“Desmond played a formative role with the Festival second only to that of our founding designer, his friend and mentor Tanya Moiseiwitsch,” says Artistic Director Antoni Cimolino. “Throughout a stellar international career that ranged from the Metropolitan Opera in New York to La Scala in Milan, from The Old Vic to Broadway, he treated the Stratford Festival above all as his true artistic home.”

Heeley began his career at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon, where he worked with Peter Brook on productions including Titus Andronicus with Sir Laurence Olivier. He also designed for opera and ballet

It was a working relationship with former Stratford Festival Artistic Director Michael Langham, established in Stratford-upon-Avon, that brought Heeley to Canada, where, in addition to the Stratford Festival he also designed for the National Ballet and the Canadian Opera Company.

He designed nearly 40 productions for the Festival beginning with the 1957 production of Hamlet starring Christopher Plummer.

His last production with the Stratford Festival was in 2009, The Importance of Being Earnest.
The production subsequently transferred to New York’s Roundabout Theatre, winning Mr. Heeley a Tony Award for best costume design. This was his third Tony.

Desmond Heeley was 85.