PRESS REVIEWS and INTERVIEWS
DRUIDSHAKESPEARE
Striking, intoxicating, disturbing
Francis O’Connor’s extraordinary design trails a surreal kind of decadence over more brutal horrors, taking its cue ,perhaps, from one character’s dream of corpses studded with gems…..
Here on a set as earthy and industrial as an abattoir , Queen Margaret wails her prophesies like a phantom. Queen Elizabeth seems coated head to foot in molten gold. Lady Anne emerges hauling the body of King Henry on the impossibly long train her dress. You fall into the show as if into the folds of a dream.
IRISH TIMES Peter Crawley
Garry Hynes visually hypnotic interpretation of Richard 111….visually transfixing. Cast your eyes downward to the front and centre and you’ll see an open grave, waiting to receive all and sundry. It is from this grave that Richard first scrambles into view….
The company’s Richard 111 deploys much of the same team, including its invaluable set and costume designer, Francis O’Connor.
NEW YORK TIMES Ben Brantley
ENLIGHTENMENT
Edward Halls dynamic and intelligent production is visually arresting: a huge white circular room, beautifully designed by Francis O’Connor.
THE ARTS DESK
The production qualities are outstanding. Designer Francis O’Connor assisted by Andrzej Gouldings artful projections, sets the drama on a bright, white circular set.Hazy images stretch as far as the ceiling. Indeed so great is the design teams achievement that, had they put in an entry for the Turner Prize, their installation might just have pipped the winner!
THE BRITISH THEATRE GUIDE Philip Fisher
But the star of the show is the design concept via Francis O’Connors spectacular white oval set with perspex furniture rising from the floor and projections that send clouds and trees scudding across the ceiling-or allow ghostly figures to reach out in yearning.
As Lia declutters her home seeking spiritual cleansing, the clinical space becomes a perfect metaphor for our empty, design-led lives.
HAM AND HIGH Bridget Galton
The shows real star is Francis O’Connors absurdly flashy interior. Two parabolas intersect to reveal a concavity of blazing white. like an eviscerated egg, magnified and ornamented with telling details. It’s and oval that deserves an ovation. Bookshelves rise and fall at the touch of a button. The walls are an majestic sweep of achingly perfect white oblongs that overlook a hidden stairwell who’s steps sink into the house’s stylish lower quarters.
THE SPECTATOR
PETER GRIMES
…this prebrined atmosphere was helped hugely by Francis O’Connors brilliant set- a stripped back wooden affair that unfolded during each act like a Russian doll, revealing interior glimpses of church, tavern and hut, against a backdrop of seething sea….it was hugely effective. Every nuance and detail, the worn paint on a wooden pillar where the ships rope was fastened to the puddles that blotted the stage were impressively and immersively done.
HUFFINGTON POST
Francis O’Connor’s jigsaw like set sees steps and buildings glide effortlessly into place. It opens out to reveal the sea in its various moods and guises. Grimes’ hut is brilliantly constructed, opening out to reveal an upper floor constructed from a boats hull. The cramped interior of the Boar Inn added a welcome sense of claustrophobia. The pushing out to sea of Grimes’ boat one last time was unbelievably powerful….
BACHTRACK Mark Pullinger