Tributes paid to RSC artist and theatre designer

TRIBUTES have been paid to artist and theatre designer, Anthony Rowe, who passed away on 1st February.

Anthony relocated to Stratford from Bristol in 1995. He left his job as head of design at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School to take on the role of design coordinator at The Royal Shakespeare Theatre.

He worked on many productions under artistic director Adrian Noble and supported designers who included Robert Jones, Ashley-Martin Davis and Stephen Brimson Lewis.

In 2004, Anthony moved to Winchcombe where, together with his wife, he ran a gallery, Number 9 in North Street.

He returned to Stratford in 2006 and set up painting classes for adults at Shottery Memorial Hall and Great Alne Memorial Hall.

The classes were a great success and continued until the first national COVID-19 lockdown in 2020.

During his ‘retirement’ years Anthony also focused on his own painting, painting in situ in Stratford and Venice and from photographs. His last project consisted of paintings of empty theatre auditoria.

For several years, Anthony volunteered at The Shakespeare Hospice passing on his art skills to others and he became known as ‘the resident artist.’

He was diagnosed with progressive supranuclear palsy - a rare neurological condition - in 2020 and was unable to resume teaching his classes or carry out his volunteer role at The Shakespeare Hospice.

Anthony passed away at his home on 1st February.