The finalists for this year’s Linbury Prize, the UK’s most prestigious award for Stage Design, include three graduates designing for ETO’s Spring 2015 production of Donizetti’s great rare work Il furioso all’isola di San Domingo.
Florence de Mare (RADA), Rosanna Vize (Bristol Old Vic Theatre School), and Faye Bradley (also Bristol Old Vic Theatre School) will all work on the early stages of the design for ETO’s production. One of the three will subsequently win a commission to realise their design.
ll furioso all’isola di San Domingo is recognised as one of Donizetti’s very greatest works, though it has only been performed twice in the UK, and never outside of London.
In the opera, a poor fool, with periods of great lucidity, subsists on a Caribbean island in a community of farmers and slaves. The clash of cultures, dream-like isolation, storm sequence, and unusually existential discourse make this a very special design opportunity.
Florence, Rosanne and Faye join nine other finalists of the Linbury Prize, with three designers each working with the National Theatre of Scotland, Nottingham Playhouse and Scottish Dance Theatre. One of the twelve finalists will be awarded the overall winner’s title.
The Linbury Prize for Stage Design was founded by Lady Anya Sainsbury in 1987 as a springboard for recent graduates from theatre design courses around the UK. It gives applicants an unparalleled opportunity to work with professional arts companies and to collaborate with writers, directors and technical teams at a crucial stage in their careers.
The Linbury Prize for Stage Design is sponsored by the Linbury Trust, one of the Sainsbury Family Charitable Trusts. On the judging panel this year are renowned designers Es Devlin, John Macfarlane and Christopher Oram.
Opera that moves 