A Guide for Students and Emerging Creatives Interested in Theatre Design
A Guide for Students and Emerging Creatives Interested in Theatre Design
A set designer guide. Including set designers to watch in 2026.
Introduction
Each year, we welcome students, graduates, and work-experience placements into our workshops. Many arrive with a strong interest in theatre and live performance but are still figuring out what different creative careers look like in practice, particularly the role of the set designer.
Over the past three decades, we have worked alongside a wide range of designers across theatre, opera, live events, and performance. Through that collaboration, we see firsthand how design ideas evolve from early sketches into full-scale physical environments.
This guide brings together a selection of Set Designers in the British theatre industry, whose work we believe offers useful inspiration for people considering a path into set and production design. It is not intended as a definitive list or a ranking. Instead, it presents a cross-section of approaches, styles, and career stages that demonstrate the breadth of the profession.
For students wondering “where could this career lead?”, these designers provide real-world reference points.
Why we created this guide
Set design can feel like a difficult profession to understand from the outside. Educational pathways vary, career routes are rarely linear, and many roles within the industry are not widely visible.
By sharing examples of designers working across different scales and disciplines, we hope to provide:
- Insight into the diversity of design careers
- Examples of creative approaches and visual languages
- Awareness of how design interacts with construction and production
- Inspiration for those considering entering the industry
The designers included here represent a range of experiences, from established international practitioners to emerging voices building their portfolios.
What makes a designer worth watching
Across the projects we encounter, certain qualities consistently stand out:
- A clear and distinctive creative voice
- Strong spatial thinking and storytelling
- Awareness of how ideas translate into physical builds
- Effective collaboration with directors, makers, and technical teams
- Curiosity and willingness to explore new approaches
Students often assume design is purely visual. In reality, it sits at the intersection of creativity, engineering, logistics, and collaboration. The designers highlighted here demonstrate how those elements come together in practice.
Ken Fleary, co-founder of Scott Fleary said, “This industry is driven by people who do something extraordinary, they take an idea that exists only in imagination and build it into something an audience can walk into and feel. The young Set Designers in this guide are doing just that, and the work speaks for itself.”
Set Designers
Frankie Bradshaw
Frankie Bradshaw’s work often combines strong theatrical imagery with practical transformation, creating environments that evolve clearly throughout performance.
Selected productions include:
- Ballet Shoes – National Theatre
- Blues for an Alabama Sky – National Theatre
- Alterations – National Theatre
- The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind – Royal Shakespeare Company
Hyemi Shin
Hyemi Shin’s designs frequently explore atmosphere and spatial composition, often using architecture and material to establish emotional tone.
Selected productions include:
- Machinal – The Old Vic / Theatre Royal Bath (Ustinov Studio)
- Solaris – Malthouse Theatre Melbourne / Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh
- The End of Eddy – Unicorn Theatre
- Sizwe Banzi Is Dead – Young Vic
Ana Inés Jabares-Pita
Ana Inés Jabares-Pita combines architectural thinking with bold visual language, often producing sculptural stage environments with strong colour and geometry.
Selected productions include:
- As You Like It – Royal Shakespeare Company
- Rhinoceros – Almeida Theatre
- Uprising – Glyndebourne
- The Wreckers – Glyndebourne
Marg Horwell’s work frequently integrates costume and set into unified visual worlds, with a strong interest in psychological storytelling.
Selected productions include:
- The Picture of Dorian Gray – Sydney Theatre Company, West End, Broadway
- Angel’s Bone – E.N.O. – Aviva Studios Manchester / London Coliseum
- The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde – Sydney Theatre Company
- Die Tote Stadt – Deutsche Oper am Rhein (Opernhaus Düsseldorf)
- Happy End – Victorian Opera (Arts Centre Melbourne)
Jean Chan
Jean Chan demonstrates versatility across musicals, theatre, and opera, often using bold silhouettes and graphic clarity that read strongly across large auditoria.
Selected productions include:
- The Grinning Man – Bristol Old Vic / Trafalgar Studios (West End)
- Pinocchio – Unicorn Theatre
- The Hairy Ape – Southwark Playhouse
- The Irish Giant – Southwark Playhouse
Georgia Lowe
Georgia Lowe’s work often explores movement, mechanics, and theatrical playfulness, with designs that actively shape performer choreography.
Selected productions include:
- All of Us – National Theatre (Dorfman)
- The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui – Royal Shakespeare Company (Swan Theatre)
- The Good Person of Szechwan – Sheffield Crucible / English Touring Theatre / Lyric Hammersmith
- Jack and the Beanstalk – Hammersmith Lyric
Paul Wills
Paul Wills often responds closely to architectural context, particularly historic performance spaces, creating environments that feel integrated with the venue itself.
Selected productions include:
- Deep Azure – Shakespeare’s Globe (Sam Wanamaker Playhouse)
- Shirley Valentine – Duke of York’s Theatre (West End)
- Routes – Royal Court Theatre
- Romeo and Juliet – Shakespeare’s Globe
Ben Stones
Ben Stones frequently works at large scale, combining structural clarity with bold scenographic gesture across theatre and musical productions.
Selected productions include:
- Standing at the Sky’s Edge – Sheffield Crucible / National Theatre, Gillian Lynne Theatre (West End)
- Operation Mincemeat – Fortune Theatre (West End)
- Hamlet – National Theatre
- Sylvia – The Old Vic
Max Jones
Max Jones often balances realism with conceptual framing, creating recognisable environments shaped by a strong central idea.
Selected productions include:
- All My Sons – The Old Vic/Headlong
- A Mirror – Almeida Theatre / Trafalgar Theatre (West End)
- Anna Karenina – Chichester Festival Theatre
- Between Riverside and Crazy – Hampstead Theatre
Grace Smart
Grace Smart’s work frequently explores perception and audience viewpoint, using light and material to shape emotional tone within space.
Selected productions include:
- Guess How Much I love You – Royal Court
- Cyrano de Bergerac – Royal Shakespeare Company
- Inside No. 9 – Stage/Fright – Wyndham’s Theatre (West End)
- Spend Spend Spend – Royal Exchange Theatre
Khadija Raza
Khadija Raza often brings strong thematic identity to her designs, with environments that support character psychology and narrative context.
Selected productions include:
- The Estate – National Theatre
- Miss Myrtle’s Garden – Bush Theatre
- Girl in the Machine – Young Vic
- Antigone – Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre
Rose Revitt
Rose Revitt’s work demonstrates a consistent sensitivity to performer interaction and spatial storytelling across varied production scales.
Selected productions include:
- Escaped Alone / What If If Only – Royal Exchange Theatre (Manchester)
- Brief Encounter – Royal Exchange Theatre (Manchester)
- A Passionate Woman – Leeds Playhouse
- Rough Magic – Shakespeare’s Globe
Eleanor Bull
Eleanor Bull often works across new writing and classical texts, with designs that emphasise clarity, detail, and actor usability.
Selected productions include:
- That Face – Orange Tree Theatre
- The Importance of Being Earnest – Manchester Royal Exchange
- Wired to the Moon – Ballet Cymru / Sadler’s Wells / UK Tour
- Suddenly Last Summer – English Theatre Frankfurth
TK Hay
TK Hay works across theatre and installation, often creating visually cohesive worlds that extend beyond traditional scenic boundaries.
Selected productions include:
- Scenes from a Repatriation – Royal Court Theatre
- G*d is a Woman – Ngee Ann Kongsi Theatre, Wild Rice Theatre, Singapore
- Beginning – Royal Exchange Theatre
- Little Shop of Horrors – Octagon Bolton / Hull Truck / New Wolsey / Theatre by the Lake
Anna Yates
Anna Yates works across theatre, opera, and film, with designs that combine strong visual identity and structural logic.
Selected productions include:
- Arlington – Traverse Theatre
- Ferguson and Barton – Platform Theatre (Glasgow) / Camden People’s Theatre (London)
- Mass – Donmar Warehouse
- Pimpinone – Royal Opera House (Linbury Theatre)
- The Forsyte Saga – Royal Shakespeare Company (Swan Theatre)
Liam Bunster
Originally trained in architecture, Liam Bunster often creates spatially layered environments with strong use of levels and structure.
Selected productions include:
- The Taming of the Shrew – Shakespeare’s Globe (Sam Wanamaker Playhouse)
- Sam Wu Is Not Afraid of Ghosts – Polka Theatre
- Insane Asylum Seeker – Bush Theatre
- Romeo and Juliet – Theatre Royal, Stratford East
Basia Bińkowska
Basia Bińkowska frequently moves between theatre and opera, with work characterised by precision and strong visual symbolism.
Selected productions include:
- Evening All Afternoon – Donmar Warehouse
- Macbeth – English Touring Theatre (UK Tour)
- La bohème – Nevill Holt Opera
- Il Piccolo Principe – Teatro alla Scala (Milan)
The role of designers in production
Set designers play a central role in theatre and live performance. Their work defines the environments where stories unfold, shaping how performers move and how audiences experience a production.
Design involves a myriad of roles, from structural thinking to technical coordination, and requires awareness of budgeting and collaboration with large teams of specialists. When a production feels seamless on stage, it is usually the result of extensive planning and partnership behind the scenes.
For students, understanding this collaborative reality is an important step toward entering the profession.
Final thoughts
This is the first time we have published a guide of this kind, and we expect to continue sharing insights into the design and construction process.
Students, graduates, and designers who would like to connect or share their work are always welcome to get in touch with us.
Scott Fleary, Creative Construction for Theatre, Opera and Live Performance!
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