What shows or projects have you done with ETT?
Reasons to Stay Alive and French Without Tears.
Finish the sentence: Touring is important because…
audiences across the country should have access to a wide range of contemporary theatre productions
Where is home for you?
London
Where is your home away from home?
Best digs ever was a beach front flat in Aldeburgh.
How did you bring home with you on tour?
Facetime is pretty essential for keeping connected to my family.
Which city was your favourite to visit on tour with ETT?
Bristol
What gem did you discover on tour with ETT?
Blue Moon Cafe in Sheffield – hearty homely veggie cafe
What are your touring essentials?
Laptop, spare phone battery,camera
What’s your go-to recipe whilst on tour?
Carbonara
Touring is important because audiences across the country should have access to a wide range of contemporary theatre productions
I love the variety of the shows I've been able to work on from dance to theatre in venues and site specific locations all of which have had there own unique challenges and rewards.
Which artist(s) do you most admire and why?
Pierre Huyghe
What music inspires you?
Erland Cooper and Olafur Arnalds if I need to focus in the studio, 6 Music at other times.
What, for you, makes a good piece of art?
For me it needs to be both visually pleasing and conceptually stimulating often with a sprinkling of wit.
What have been your career highlights so far?
I love the variety of the shows I’ve been able to work on from dance to theatre in venues and site specific locations all of which have had there own unique challenges and rewards.
If you were cast away on a desert island, which 5 plays would you take with you and why?
The complete works of Shuji Terayama – I designed one of his plays, Adam and Eve in Japan many years ago and would be intrigued to read more of his work.
Please can you tell us what you would say to emerging artists to encourage them to take their work on the road or join an ETT tour?
I don’t actually get to go on the road with a show but I love hearing how different audiences respond to touring shows in different towns and cities and following their reactions on twitter.
Window or aisle seat?
Window.
Favourite way to travel?
Train.
If you could have any superpower, which would you choose?
x25 Scaling Power (so that I could instantly turn scale models into built theatre sets) or Jedi Mind Control if that isn’t available.
Our industry is currently experiencing an incredibly challenging time. Do you have any recommendations for others of how to stay hopeful and creative during this time?
Being creative at this time is really challenging with all the distractions of world events so I’m finding it really helpful to balance creative work with research that will help my practice. One such project is that I’m currently working with a group of designers to look at how we can make our practice and theatre design more ecologically sustainable.
Being creative at this time is really challenging with all the distractions of world events so I'm finding it really helpful to balance creative work with research that will help my practice. One such project is that I'm currently working with a group of designers to look at how we can make our practice and theatre design more ecologically sustainable.
Simon Daw’s biog:
Stage design credits include: 1984 Northern Ballet; Baskerville Liverpool Playhouse; The Worst Witch UK Tour; The Welcoming Party MIF/Theatre-Rites & Ruhrtriennale Festival; World Factory Metis Arts, Young Vic; French Without Tears ETT, Humble Boy, Poison, The Lottery of Love, Sheppey, The Philanderer Orange Tree Theatre; Material Men Shobana Jeyasingh Dance; Eventual Progress Ekaterinburg State Academic Ballet; Waiting for Godot, The Winter’s Tale, The Daughter-in-Law Sheffield Crucible; Democracy Sheffield Crucible & The Old Vic, London; The Metamorphosis Royal Opera House and The Joyce, New York; Dead Heavy Fantastic, Lost Monsters Liverpool Everyman; As One Royal Ballet; Romeo and Juliet Shakespeare’s Globe; Dolls National Theatre of Scotland; DNA, Baby Girl, The Miracle, The Enchantment National Theatre; Elling Bush and Trafalgar Studio); Owen Wingrave Set Design: for Aldeburgh Music/EIF.
Installation/performance commissions include: The Competition Shoreditch Town Hall; 3rd Ring Out UK tour; Wave Structures, Hopefully it Means Nothing, Sea House Aldeburgh Festival.
