Sean Kenny (theatre designer)
| Sean Kenny | |
|---|---|
| Born | 23 December 1929 Portroe, County Tipperary, Ireland |
| Died | 11 June 1973 (aged 43) London, UK |
| Nationality | Irish |
| Occupation | Scenic, costume and lighting designer (theatre and film) |
| Spouse(s) | Jan Walker Judy Huxtable |
| Partner(s) | Judy Geeson (1969–1973) |
| Children | 3 sons (Mac, Shane, and Mark) |
| Awards | 1963 Tony Award Best Scenic Designer for the New York production of Oliver! |
Sean Kenny (23 December 1929 – 11 June 1973) was an Irish theatre and film scenic designer, costume designer, lighting designer and director. Kenny was most notable as the set designer for the musicals of Lionel Bart including Oliver!, Lock Up Your Daughters, and Blitz!.
Kenny was born in Portroe, County Tipperary, Ireland in 1929. While he was still an architecture student, at the age of 20, Kenny and three others sailed from Ireland to New York in a 36' sailboat, "The Ituna" in 1950.
Kenny was a contributor to The Establishment, a standup satire and jazz club in London founded by Peter Cook and Nicholas Luard.
In 1966, Kenny married model Judy Huxtable. She later described him as "regularly unfaithful," and left him to marry Peter Cook.
Following his divorce, Kenny lived with the actress Judy Geeson until his sudden death from a heart attack and brain haemorrhage at the age of 43. In Stoned by Andrew Loog Oldham, Oldham pays tribute to Kenny as one of the brilliant and original minds working in London theatre in the 1960s, particularly for his work on Lionel Bart's musicals Oliver! and Lock Up Your Daughters.
In Stoned, Kenny's partner Judy Geeson pays this tribute to him: "Sean had an unusual combination of abilities: he had the creativity to dream up a design. But he also had a brilliant engineer's brain so he didn't only dream it, he knew how to make it."
Kenny collaborated with the author and director to make the scenery contribute so significantly to the production that the scenery became a character in the play. Theatre impresario Cameron Mackintosh wrote about Kenny's designs for Oliver!: "A lot of the original 1960 production had been written during rehearsal to accompany the working of Sean Kenny's set, as Oliver! has an episodic story that requires quick and varied changes of locale."
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