David is an Australian theatre designer, working with leading theatre, dance and opera companies. He has deveoped and toured pieces locally and internationally, and continues to work in associated fields such as exhibition design, event design and creative direction.
His designs have been produced by Sydney Theatre Company, Sydney Dance Company, Opera Australia, Sydney Chamber Opera, Pinchgut Opera, Melbourne Theatre Company, Queensland Theatre, Griffin Theatre, Belvoir St Theatre, Malthouse Theatre, Darlinghurst Theatre, The New Theatre, Milkcrate Theatre, Black Swan State Theatre Company, Dark MOFO and Brisbane Festival, among others. He was co-resident designer for Sydney Theatre Company through 2012-2013, is a recipent of the Berlin Music Opera Award, the Kristian Fredrikson Fellowship, as well as teaches as an associate lecturer for the National Institute of Dramatic Arts (NIDA). He has also received the Thelma Afford Award for Costume Design in Stage and Screen.
David’s extensive work in theatre includes RBG; Of Many One, Death of A Salesman, Blithe Spirit, Cat On a Hot Tin Roof, The Harp in the South, The Deep Blue Sea, Saint Joan, Top Girls, Chimerica, Speed The Plow, The Golden Age, Children of The Sun, Travelling North, Romeo and Juliet, Australian Graffiti, Machinal and many more for Sydney Theatre Company including Playing Beatie Bow, the first production in the recently renovated Wharf Theatres; Love and Information, Calpurnia Descending for Malthouse Theatre; Myth for Melbourne Theatre Company (Neon); A Room Of One’s Own, Opening Night, Hedda Gabler, Woyzeck for Belvoir St Theatre; The Brothers Size, Between Two Waves, The Sea Project for Griffin Theatre; Scenes from a Marriage and Hedda for Queensland Theatre.
His opera credits include Aida for Opera Australia; The Rape of Lucretia for Sydney Chamber Opera, which was also performed as part of Dark MOFO in Tasmania; Griselda and L’Amant Jaloux for Pinchgut Opera.
David’s work in dance includes multiple productions for Sydney Dance Company choreographed by Rafael Bonachela including Impermanence (featuring the Australian String Quartet), Ocho and Ab[intra] – the latter of which having toured Europe in June 2019, including performing in the Kupio Dance Festival in Finland, the Lodz Dance Biennale in Poland, and the Grec Festival de Barcelona in Spain. Other credits include the company's first New Breed season of Pictures of a One Night Stand as well as Safety in Numbers for FORM Dance Projects. David is currently designing My Brillant Career for Queensland Ballet, choreographed by Cathy Marston.
His credits in music theatre include Boundary St (as associate designer) for Black Swan and Brisbane Festival; Der Gelbe Stern at the New York Musical Theatre Festival; Kiss of The Spiderwoman, No Way to Treat a Lady for Darlinghurst Theatre; and more recently Fangirls for Belvoir St Theatre, which has continued multiple national tours in 2021 and 2022.
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