Soutra Gilmour
I was born in Central London to Scottish parents of little means, unique and sensitive artists; I attended state schools in Camden and lived between two council flats in Fitzrovia and Bloomsbury. Central London my local back yard, precious cultural information absorbed like a sponge, I moved on to Wimbledon School of Art to study Theatre Design – still an independent Fine Art College.
I began work. I chose to mainly work in London to respond to my home city, to work in my local theatres and to develop my own personal aesthetic. I have worked in both the tiniest pub venues like The Gate to the big brutalist venues like The Olivier via the Victorian Prosceniums of The West End; they have all shaped me.
Image credit: Marc Brenner
Featured Work
Pinter at The Pinter
One Designer, 5 Directors , 47 actors playing 96 characters; 94,000 audience, Pinter at The Pinter, a season of Harold’s one act plays and sketches.
The brief was one idea to facilitate the season, to respond to the iconic Pinter, the nuances of the individual plays, the desires of the directors, the restrictions of the budget and the space – The Pinter Theatre in London’s West End.
A spinning skeletal cube describing the usable volume of stage space, framing the Industrial workings of the stage, protruding into the powder blue and gilded auditorium, spinning back and forth in time, conjuring up an ever changing landscape of politics, memory and family.
To remain bare and to get dressed up, to be monumental and detailed, elegant and bleak but always emotionally charged. My interest is always to discover the essential, the thin line running through and this was the ultimate challenge in connecting the dots. ”