BARRY KAY ARCHIVE

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Barry Kay - Biography - 1932-1955

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Bibliographic Notes

1932

September 1
Barry John Kay is born in Toorak, Melbourne, Australia;
the second of three children, brother to two sisters.

Parents
Samuel Kay, of Russian descent; business man, lace and trimmings merchant.
Rebecca Kay, née Kemelfield, of Polish descent; concert singer.

Preceding family history
Prior to World War I Barry Kay's paternal grandparents, together with their children, turn their backs on Russia to start a new life in Nottingham, England. Eventually Samuel Kay emigrates to Melbourne, founding his lace merchant company S Kay & Co in 1925, and where, most likely, he and Rebecca Kemelfield meet each other for the first time. They marry and start their own family.

The itemized biography about Barry Kay, spanning well over three decades of his working life, charts year-by-year engagements and assignments.

Concerning scenery and costume designs, the focus lies primarily on documenting the design process and progression as well as on recording opening nights - première and first night dates. Performance seasons at different venues or associated with special events are occasionally specified. With exceptions, follow-up performances are generally not listed as this exceeds the purpose and scope of the biography. Some of them can be found in the Omnes Alphabetical Index.

To keep these pages as compact as possible, bibliographic notes are placed in the margins, anecdotal details and accounts of oral history in the footnotes.

* * * * *

Extremely little is known to the Barry Kay Archive about Barry Kay's youth and formative years, his education, training and very early professional activities, up to 1955. Scant records exist for the period from 1956, the year he settled in London, to 1966. Only since 1967 were his professional engagements chronicled meticulously when, by chance, the Archive's founder-to-be acted out of personal interest - in hindsight, with foresight, it seems.

The documentation left by Kay is not altogether complete and coordinate. Much data, therefore, remains uncharted. In time, as more information emerges, it shall be placed on these pages.

1933

1

1938

1937 [?] Month/Day [?]
During the latter part of this period the Kay family moves to Switzerland.

January 1938
The parents are placing their son Barry as a 'day student' at the Ecole Internationale de Genève, a boarding school, where he receives his initial education. The logbook for Kay states that he enters the school in the 'lowest Primary class'. He also begins to learn French, becoming extremely proficient at the language later on.

June 1938
In her report of June 1938 Kay's class teacher affirms: "Barry est très aimé par ses camarades. Toujours obéissant, sa conduite est très bonne."

1939

1

1941

March 1939
Presumably based on the threatening political developments in Europe following the Nazi's occupation of Prague on March 16, Kay's parents are changing their plans and take Barry out of the Ecole Internationale de Genève.

March - April 1939 / Day [?]
Due to the imminent danger of a great European war, the Kays leave Switzerland via their European family hub in Nottingham, England, to permanently return to Melbourne.

May 1939 [?] - March 1942 [?]
In Australia Barry Kay attends Glamorgan Preparatory School for Boys, Toorak, Melbourne - since 1947 under the auspices of Geelong Grammar School.

Ecole Internationale de Genève, Switzerland 1937
photo courtesy Fondation de l'Ecole Internationale de Genève

Barry Kay, Switzerland ca 1939
photo © Michael Werner

Wesley College, Melbourne, Auatralia 1944
photo courtesy Wesley College, Curator of Collections

1942

1

1948

April 14, 1942
Kay enters Wesley College, attending as a 'day boy' at the St. Kilda Road Campus, Melbourne.

1947
At Wesley College, he is awarded the "Raymond Herbert Lowe Memorial Prize" for "Original Work" accomplished, a remarkable composition of music - Concerto in G Minor. [2.1]

December 12, 1948
Finalizing his studies at Wesley College. A record card preserved at the College Archives attests Kay to possess qualities of a "sensitive, artistic nature" and to be of "a sound character".

1949

December 19, 1949
Première of The Glass Slipper; Kay designs the character costumes, presumably his first-ever designs for the performing arts; ballet costumes Ann Church, scenery Hugh Stevenson; production Robert Donat; direction Garnet H Carroll; choreography Joyce Graeme; Carroll-Fuller Theatres Pty Ltd in conjunction with The National Theatre Movement of Australia; National Theatre Ballet and Rex Reid; Princess Theatre, Melbourne.

1950

1

1953

1950 - 1951
Kay wants to become a composer and moves to Switzerland to study music, probably at the Genève or Zürich [?] Conservatoire; already introduced by his mother to playing the piano, he takes lessons to perfect his skills.

With his interests developing into a different direction, Kay terminates his studies in music. He returns to Australia, matriculates at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology and enrolls in arts and design classes to eventually establish himself as a painter. [2.2] All the same, his fascination with the theatre runs just as deep.

When working as an assistant to Kenneth Rowell, he meets Walter Gore, the Scottish choreographer, who succeeded Joyce Greame as artistic director of the National Theatre Ballet, and for whom Rowell is designing.

1951
Together with Barbara Newman Kay wins a competition to design the sets for The Taming of the Shrew, a production by The National Theatre Movement of Australia presented at the Princess Theatre, Melbourne.

1951 - 1953
Once more in Europe, he is studying arts and painting at the Académie Julian in Paris [2.3]. The artists Christian Bérard and Antoni Clavé are his most influential models.

1953 (et seq.)
Following his studies in Paris Kay returns to Melbourne. He starts exhibiting as a painter and draftsman and continues designing for the theatre. Making a name for himself in both métiers, he attracts the attention of corporate business. He feels equally at home at creating smart promotional advertising art as well as accepting the prestigious commission of designing the windows for Melbourne's iconic department store Meyer.

Eventually, Kay's passionate interest in the theatre motivates him to exclusively design scenery and costumes. He rekindles his acquaintance with Walter Gore.

1953 Month/Day [?]
Première of The Rake's Progress; assignment scenery and [?] costumes; choreography / director [?]; venue [?]; location [?]. [2.4]

1953-1955 Month/Day [?]
Première [?] of Jacaranda Town; assignment scenery; script and choreography Walter Gore; possibly the Walter Gore Ballet, touring Australia as Australian Theatre Ballet; opening venue [?] maybe Melbourne. [2.5]

Ballerina Paula Hinton and her husband, Walter Gore, with artist Barry Kay (right) at the reception following the official opening by Walter Gore of an Exhibition of Paintings and Designs for the Theatre by Barry at the Peter Bray Gallery

clipping from local magazine

Melbourne 1955
photo source unknown

1954

Month/Day [?]
Première of Swan Lake, Lev Ivanov's act II; assignment scenery and/or [?] costumes; choreography and staging Laurel Martyn; Ballet Guild; Repertory Theatre [?], Middle Park, Melbourne. The design assignment constitutes Barry Kay's first commission from Laurel Martyn's Ballet Guild. [2.6]

Month/Day [?]
Première of Maldición; assignment scenery and/or [?] costumes; choreography Alison Lee; Ballet Guild; Repertory Theatre [?], Middle Park, Melbourne.

1955

May
Two letter cards, written by Walter Gore and addressed to Barry Kay c/o His Majesty's Theatre, Perth, Western Australia, suggest Kay's engagement at this house at that time, where he seems to be involved independently of Gore. No reference is made as to which production is staged. [2.7]

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July 4
World première of Soft Sorrow; assignment scenery and costumes; choreography Walter Gore; Australian Theatre Ballet; Joanna Priest's Studio Theatre, a converted church in Adelaide, South Australia. Designing this production probably constitutes Kay's true debut as a stage and costume designer.

July 18
First night of Soft Sorrow; choreography Walter Gore; Australian Theatre Ballet; restaging of above production at the Union Theatre, Melbourne University. The company returns to Melbourne in August for a second season of the same repertoire, by public demand.

November 28
Première of Summer of the Seventeenth Doll; assignment scenery and costumes; co-designer Anne Fraser [or: scenery Kay, costumes Fraser ?]; direction John Sumner; The Union Theatre Repertory Company (UTRC; now Melbourne Theatre Company, MTC); Union Theatre, Melbourne University. Duration of season November 28 - December 12, 1955.

Month/Day [?]
Presentation of the ballad Frankie and Johnnie; assignment scenery; direction [?]; company and venue [?]; location possibly Melbourne [?].

Month/Day [?]
Exhibition of paintings and designs for the theatre; official opening by Walter Gore; Peter Bray Gallery, Melbourne.

1956

forward to 1956-1965

[2.1]

Raymond Herbert Lowe entered Wesley College in 1921 and was apparently a good cricketer, being opening batsman for Keith Rigg in 1923 and 1924. His father donated the money for an annual prize in his memory. back to text

About competing for and awarding the prize, Wesley College Archive records state: "Boys who wish to compete must notify the Headmaster by 1st November stating the nature of the material they wish to submit. [...] The Headmaster was to choose the recipient who carried out the most constructive and original work, whether at home or School." back to text

[2.2]

Whereas Kay's mother, an artist herself, was fully supportive of her son's ambitions of becoming an artist, his father adamantly opposed his intentions. Wanting him to take over the lace business one day, S Kay & Co in Flinders Lane, he insisted on his son starting at the bottom - as an apprentice. For his initiation, Kay was handed a broom to clean the business premises. Sweeping an eight-storey building from top to bottom, in the centre of Melbourne, was not exactly Kay's idea of an artist's career. He quit and left for Europe... without the broom. back to text

[2.3]

It was Walter Gore, obviously recognizing Kay's potential as an artist and stage and costume designer, who suggested further training at the Académie Julian in Paris. (Frequently, Académie Julian is misspelled. The institution derives its name from its founder Rodolphe Julian.) back to text

[2.4]

The Archive holds a few of Barry Kay's set designs for The Rake's Progress. Altough, signed and year-dated, they contain no further data as to the choreographer or director, the venue, the location and the first performance date. Since Kay did not start working outside of Australia until 1956, it is assumed that the designs concern an Australian, maybe a Melbourne, production. Without further references, it can neither be determined whether they were intended for the ballet or the opera, both of the same title. back to text

[2.5]

Walter Gore directed the National Theatre Ballet Company, Melbourne, in 1952. Later, he toured his own company, the Walter Gore Ballet, established in London in 1954, which for the Australian tour assumed the name Australian Theatre Ballet (compare Australia Dancing). As Barry Kay was still studying in Paris in 1953, he probably provided his design for Australian Theatre Ballet between 1953 and 1955. back to text

[2.6]

Laurel Martyn’s Ballet Guild was successively renamed: Victorian Ballet Guild (1959), Victorian Ballet Company (1963) and Ballet Victoria (1976). Reference Australia Dancing. back to text

[2.7]

Walter Gore signed the two cards "Wal" and "Wal Paula", respectively. Paula was his wife, the ballerina Paula Hinton. He mentions that they are on tour and discusses problems concerning "Perth" and "other things". There are references to "ABS" and the "Society", but it is not clear who they are. (The Australian Ballet Society did not exist until 1966.) - Barry Kay kept these cards and other correspondence with Gore throughout his life. It is believed that he did so as they represent part of his working relationship with Gore, who evidently trusted Kay to be his confidant, and because they appear to be of some significance in Australian ballet history. back to text

--- --- ------ please assist the Archive in correcting or completing entries

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