Es Devlin
Stage Design
Es Devlin is an award-winning international stage
and costume designer. Her work crosses a range of genres: opera, dance,
film, theatre, tv and concerts. She also works as creative director for
number of pop / rock / rap artists.
Es trained in music at the Royal Academy of Music as a teenager, she
went on to study English literature at Bristol University, Fine Art at
Central St Martins and finally set design at the Motley Theatre Design
Course.
Theatre: Es's career began in theatre - first fringe theatres in London including the
Bush and the
Gate, then onto the the
Royal National Theatre and
Royal Shakespeare Company and most other major theatres in London including the
Royal Court,
Old and Young Vic,
Almeida,
Soho,
Duke of York's,
Haymarket,
Comedy plus productions in New York, Madrid and Tokyo.
Opera: Next came opera - her first major
commission was in 2003 in Vienna and she has gone on to design for most
of the major European opera houses including
El Liceu Barcelona,
Netherlands Opera,
Danish National Opera,
Greek National Opera,
Finnish National Opera,
Theater an der Wien,
Dresden Semperoper,
Leipzig Oper,
Oper Frankfurt,
Royal Opera House,
English National Opera and
Glyndebourne.
Dance: Es also designs for dance - including pieces for
Russell Maliphant,
Rambert Dance Company,
Nothern Ballet Theatre,
Sadlers Wells and
Cullberg Ballett,
Sweden.
Concerts: In 2005
Kanye West saw
some of Es's work and commissioned the stage designs for his world
tour. This led to tour designs for a range of artists including
Lady Gaga,
Muse,
Pet Shop Boys,
Nitin Sawhney,
Take That,
Imogen Heap,
Jamie Cullum,
Shakira,
Goldfrapp, Lenny Kravitz and
Jay Z including creative direction for many of these performances.
Film: Es's film work includes direction - a music video for
Imogen Heap and a one hour film for London's
BFI Imax Cinema to the music of
Nitin Sawhney as well as costume design for
Sally Potter's feature film RAGE and production design for short films and music videos by
Mike Figgis.
TV: Her TV designs include
MTV Europe Music Awards - EMAs - 2011 and 2010, Pet Shop Boys Lifetime Achievement Award performance at the
BRIT Awards 2009, a short film for
BBC2 plus performances by
Kanye West including
American Idol,
BET Awards and
VH1 Storytellers, and creative direction for
Rihanna's performances at the BRIT and Grammy Awards 2012.
Collaborators: For a full list of collaborators please see
Projects section of this site.
Awards: : Es was awarded TPi Stage Designer
of the Year Award in 2012, 2011 and 2010, other awards include Olivier
Award for Best Costume Design 2006, TMA Award for best Stage Design
1998 and Linbury Prize for Stage Design 1996.
