Lost Colleagues

[Barry]

September 1st 2014

I lost two dear colleagues over the weekend. Down at the local theatre, we lost Brian Tickle - to say he was an active member is such an understatement, and even more of an understatement is to say he was a warm, huge hearted, generous gent. He possessed a energy on and off stage that was truly infectious and a voice and a laugh that could be heard many miles away. A good friend with many many anecdotes. He will indeed be very sadly missed.

And then the composer of my short film Next, Stuart Gordon, passed away over the weekend. He gave me, twenty five years ago, a truly dazzling and memorable score to my film, probably improving the film no end. A finely detailed and beautifully structured score, all finely worked out.

Thank you to both of you.

[Barry]

And on the 4th September we lost Nigel Cornford. Three friends and colleagues in a week is too much by any standard. Nigel joined us a Cosgrove Hall and immediately lit up the place, and suddenly his work on the costumes for the Pied Piper raised the game. No longer was it acceptable to have sticky out fuzzy felt costumes as had been the norm. Nigel took costume making for puppets to extraordinary heights, managing both the tricky art of making simply beautiful costumes that said so such about the characters, but also managing the complex practicalities needed for animation and clothes at that scale. The detail and thought that went into his work is a lesson to us all. I always loved Mole's cardigan in Wind in the Willows. He assumed Mole didn't have many clothes and that his cardigan would have been worn for ages, stretching. Between the tiny buttons were gaping holes with wonderful stretch marks, barely containing Mole's spreading girth. A lovely detail that subsequent costume makers on the show didn't quite get as Mole's cardigan just had holes with no stretch. Not the same. His work spanned my short films (oh, the costumes for Shakespeare in Next are still breathtaking), many animation tv series, live action series such as Coronation Street (I'm wondering now whether he found Hayley's red coat?), theatre and ballet, and the recent stop motion features. All of them were thoroughly believable , detailed and absolutely right for the characters. A true craftsman, who really did create an art form.

And much should be written about Nigel himself, but at the moment, it's too sad to think he is gone. Too soon.