Linbury Prize for Stage Design

The Linbury Prize for Stage Design is the most prestigious prize for emerging stage designers with professional focus on theatre, dance, and opera companies in the United Kingdom. Since 1987, it has been awarded every two years.

John Sainsbury, Baron Sainsbury of Preston Candover, co-founder of Linbury Trust

History

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In 1973, Lord Sainsbury of Preston Candover KG (John Sainsbury) and his wife Lady Sainsbury, CBE, the former ballerina Anya Linden, founded the charitable Linbury Trust (Linbury is a portmanteau combining the names Linden and Sainsbury). The Linbury Prize, intending to launch the careers of young stage designers, is funded entirely by the Linbury Trust and supported by a group of advocates, endorsing its aims. The first Linbury Prizes were awarded in 1987.

Selection

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The selection to determine the winners follows a procedure:[1][2]

  • The designs of entrants, recent graduates of theatre design courses at colleges across the United Kingdom,[3][4] are presented to a group of three jurors.
  • The designs of more than twelve candidates are selected.
  • The selected candidates present their designs to the directors and choreographers of three previously selected, commissioning British theatre, opera house, or dance companies.
  • Each company selects three designers with whom they desire to collaborate.
  • The twelve finalists are asked to create designs for the companies forthcoming productions. Their expenses are covered by a sum supplied by the Linbury Trust.
  • Four designs, one for each production, are selected. Their creators are the winners of the Linbury Prize for Stage Design, which is the commission to realise the selected designs on stage. Financial support for the winner as well as for the commissioning company is supplied by the Linbury Trust.[5]

Winners

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Lady Sainsbury of Preston Candover, speaking at the Linbury Prize for Stage Design ceremony (Nov. 21, 2013)

From 1987 until 1995, three prizes, including the overall winner (OW), were awarded biennially.
Since 1997, four prizes are awarded biennially.

The following designers are awarded winners:[6]

Year Winners Judges Commissioning Companies
2019 Sami Fendall (OW)
TK Hay
Zoë Hurwitz
Rose Revitt
Lizzie Clachan
Katrina Lindsay
Rajha Shakiry
Birmingham Royal Ballet
Leeds Playhouse
Nuffield Southampton Theatres
Octagon Theatre, Bolton
2017 Basia Binkowska (OW)
Khadija Raza
Eleanor Bull
Fin Redshaw
Tom Piper
Nicky Shaw
Rae Smith
Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith
Mercury Theatre, Colchester
Phoenix Dance Theatre
Unicorn Theatre and ENO
2015 Grace Smart (OW)
Jen McGinley
Camilla Clarke
Philippa Brocklehurst
Sophie Jump
Tom Piper
Tom Scutt
Lyric Theatre, Belfast
Nuffield Southampton Theatres
Royal Court Theatre
Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh
2013 Ana Inés Jabares-Pita (OW)
Florence de Mare
Madeline Girling
Alexander Ruth
Christopher Oram
Es Devlin
John Macfarlane
English Touring Opera
National Theatre of Scotland
Nottingham Playhouse
Scottish Dance Theatre (in association with V&A Dundee)
2011 Hyemi Shin (OW)
Emma Bailey
Jemima Robinson
Sarah Beaton
Miriam Buether
Ian MacNeill
Jon Bausor
Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith
Royal Opera House (ROH)
The Opera Group
Watermill Theatre, Newbury
2009 Aleš Valášek (OW)
Samal Blak
Jean Chan
Ruth Sutcliffe
Katrina Lindsay
Bob Crowley
Nick Ormerod
Birmingham Opera Companya
Royal Theatre Northampton
Sound & Fury in collaboration with Fuel and Unicorn Theatre
2007 Garance Marneur (OW)
Helen Goddard
Rhys Jarman
Tom Scutt
Tim Hatley
Anthony Ward
Jean Guy-Lecat
Headlong
The Opera Group
Hampstead Theatre
Tricycle Theatre
2005 Patrick Burnier (OW)
Phil Brunner
James Cotterill
Hannah Clark
Tobias Hoheisel
Pamela Howard
Julian Crouch
Bristol Old Vic
Gate Theatre, Notting Hill
Nottingham Playhouse
Random Dance, Sadler's Wells
2003 Becs Andrews (OW)
Crista Noel Smith
Ben Stones
Adam Wiltshire
Hildegard Bechtler
John Macfarlane
Vicki Mortimer
Actors Touring Company
Royal Theatre Northampton
The Opera Group
West Yorkshire Playhouse
2001 Moritz Junge (OW)
Jessica Bergström
Max Jones
Nicholaos Zavaliaris
Lez Brotherston
Tom Cairns
Rae Smith
English Touring Theatre
Royal Court Theatre (J. B.'s commission realised at Soho Theatre)
Welsh National Opera
Young Vic
1999 Miriam Buether (OW)
Emma Cattell
Luke Hunt
Isla Shaw
Richard Hudson
Tim Hatley
Vicki Mortimer
English Touring Opera
Rambert Dance Company
Royal Lyceum Theatre Company, Edinburgh
Soho Theatre Company
1997 Yannis Thavoris (OW)
Fiona-Marie Chivers
Stuart Nunn
Julie Watson
Kandis Cook
Richard Foxton
Ian MacNeil
The Bush Theatre
Spitalfields Market Opera/English Touring Opera
Second Stride/Phoenix Dance Company
Salisbury Playhouse
1995 Es Devlin (OW)
Frank Gerssen
Agnes Treplin
Robin Cameron Don
Deborah MacMillan
Tanya McCallin
Mecklenburgh Opera
Octagon Theatre, Bolton
Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh
1993 Franziska Wilcken (OW)
Scott Sellers
Lakis Yenethli
Tom Cairns
Nigel Lowery
Jenny Tiramani
Birmingham Royal Ballet
Gate Theatre, London
West Yorkshire Playhouse
1991 Angela Davies (OW)
Lucy Bevan
Neil Irish
Deirdre Clancy
William Dudley
Jocelyn Herbert
Second Stride
Crucible Theatre, Sheffield
Opera North, Leeds
1989 Kenny MacLellan (OW)
Tim Hatley
Neil Warmington
Alison Chitty
Bob Crowley
Antony McDonald with Dame Judi Dench DBE (2nd stage only)
National Youth Theatre of Great Britain
Rambert Dance Company
Théâtre de Complicité
1987 Patrick Connellan (OW)
Sarah Ashpole
Demetra Maraslis Hersey

Website

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References

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