Grace Venning

I am a performance designer based in London. My practice encompasses set and costume design and dramaturgy across a wide range of work including new writing, opera, classic plays, site-specific and devised theatre. I also create and lead design workshops for children and young people, and would like to expand the breadth of those participants.

I was a resident design assistant at the National Theatre from 2018-2019. In 2019 I was a finalist for the JMK Award with Jocelyn Cox, and for the inaugural Naomi Wilkinson Award for Stage Design with Told by an Idiot.

I have an intellectual, discursive and collaborative approach which stems from my interests in art, history, literature and politics. I have a particular interest in the relationships between performance and gender, race, disability, climate and queer politics.

My pronouns are she/her.

Please see my website for my full portfolio and CV: https://www.gracevenning.com/

Credits

DESIGNER, The Maladies, Almeida Theatre [postponed], 2021

ASSOCIATE DESIGNER, Back in the World, English Touring Opera, 2021

DESIGNER, The Importance of Being Earnest, Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, 1.5 weeks, 2020

DESIGNER, Do You Love Me Yet?, Oxford Playhouse online, 1 week, 2020, and Theatr Clwyd online, 2021

DRAMATURG, work.txt, The Cavern, Vault festival, 1 week, 2020

DESIGNER, In My Lungs the Ocean Swells, The Cavern, Vault festival, 1 week, 2020

ASSOCIATE DESIGNER, You Stupid Darkness!, Southwark Playhouse, 5.5 weeks, 2020

DESIGNER, i will still be whole (when you rip me in half), Bunker Theatre, 1.5 weeks, 2019

DESIGNER, Before I Was a Bear, Bunker Theatre, 1.5 weeks, 2019

PRODUCTION DESIGN ASSISTANT, National Theatre, full-time September 2018 - October 2019

DESIGNER, If Not Now, When, National Theatre: Dorfman, 2 days, 2019

DESIGNER, Last Easter, JMK Award Finalist with Jocelyn Cox, speculative, 2019

DESIGNER, Opera Scenes, Guildhall School of Music and Drama, 1.5 weeks, 2019

DESIGNER, Time of Listening R&D, Snape Maltings, 1 week, 2018

DESIGNER, La bohème, Clonter Opera, 2 weeks, 2018

DESIGNER, Stop Giving Me Grief, Mirth, Marvel and Maud, 2 days, 2018

DESIGNER, Masti Maja, Winston Churchill Theatre, 2 days, 2018, and ongoing community productions

DESIGNER, Gaps, Katzspace, 1.5 weeks, 2018

DESIGNER, FCUK'D, Bunker Theatre, 3 weeks, 2017

DESIGNER, The Death of Ivan Ilyich, Merton Arts Space/Wimbledon Library, 3.5 weeks, 2017

DESIGNER, Semele, Mid Wales Opera tour, 4 weeks, 2017

DESIGNER (SET), The cosmonaut's last message to the woman he once loved in the former Soviet Union, Bute Theatre, 1 week, 2016

DESIGNER (SET), Road, Bute Theatre, 1 week, 2016

Training

First Class BA (Hons) in Design for Performance: Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, 2014-2017

Foundation Diploma in Art and Design: Distinction: Falmouth University, 2013-2014

'The Role of the Designer in the Devising Process' workshop with Told by an Idiot, 2019

National Youth Theatre Costume Training, 2013