Es Devlin

Esmeralda Devlin CBE RDI (/ɛz/; born 24 September 1971^[1]) is an English artist and stage designer^[2] who works in a range of media, often mapping light and projected film onto kinetic sculptural forms.^[3][4] She has received several accolades including a Tony Award and two Olivier Awards.^[5] She was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2015 and Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2022 by Queen Elizabeth II for services to design. She was recognized as one of the BBC's 100 women of 2013.^[6]

Es Devlin CBE RDI
Devlin in 2016
Born	Esmeralda Devlin (1971-09-24) 24 September 1971 (age 53) Kingston upon Thames, London, England
Education	Central Saint Martins Bristol University (BA) Motley Theatre Design Course
Occupation(s)	Artist and designer
Spouse	Jack Galloway
Children	2
Awards	3 Olivier Awards 1 Tony Award Royal Designer for Industry
Website	esdevlin.com

Devlin is known for her extensive work in the theatre. For her work in the West End she won two Laurence Olivier Awards for Best Set Design for Chimerica (2014), and The Nether (2015). She was Olivier-nominated for Hamlet (2016), The Lehman Trilogy (2019), and Dear England (2024). For her work on Broadway she won the Tony Award for Best Scenic Design of a Play for The Lehman Trilogy (2022). She was Tony-nominated for Machinal (2014), and American Psycho (2016). She is also known for her The Hunt (2019) and The Motive and the Cue (2023).

Early life and education

Devlin was born in Kingston upon Thames, London, on 24 September 1971.^[1][7] She attended Cranbrook School, Kent.^[8]

She studied English literature at Bristol University, followed by a Foundation Course in Fine Art at Central St. Martin's eventually specialising in theatre design.^[9] While undertaking her studies, she prepared the props for Le Cirque Invisible, the circus company founded by Victoria Chaplin and Chaplin's husband, Jean-Baptiste Thierrée.^[9]

Career

Es Devlin's career began in narrative theatre^[10] and experimental opera,^[11][12] with early work at London's Bush Theatre. In 1998, she made her National Theatre debut when Trevor Nunn invited her to design the set for Harold Pinter's Betrayal. Since then, Devlin has gained a reputation for her sculptural and innovative designs for the stage.^[13][14]

In 2003, she ventured into concert design with her first collaboration, working with the band Wire.^[15] In 2005, Kanye West hired her to design his Touch the Sky tour, marking the start of a long-term collaboration, which continued with his Glow in the Dark and Watch the Throne tours.^[15]

In 2012, Devlin designed the scenic elements for the closing ceremony of the London Olympics. Four years later, in 2016, she created the set design for the opening ceremony of the Rio Olympics.^[16]

Her work on installations also began gaining attention, with her 2016 installation Mirrormaze in Peckham drawing large crowds. In 2017, she designed the Singing Tree at the Victoria and Albert Museum, an interactive machine-learning-based installation, viewed by over 10,000 visitors during Christmas.^[17] That same year, she created Room2022, a 7,000 square-foot installation at Art Basel Miami.^[18]

In 2018, Devlin's Fifth Lion installation in Trafalgar Square, which roared AI-generated poetry to crowds, was a highlight of the London Design Festival.^[19] Also in 2018, she collaborated with theoretical physicist Carlo Rovelli on a performance of The Order of Time, narrated by Benedict Cumberbatch at BOLD Tendencies in Peckham. Later that year, she designed MASK, a projection-mapped model city displayed at Somerset House.^[20][21]

In 2019, Devlin delivered a talk at the TED Conference in Vancouver titled Mind-blowing sculptures that fuse art & technology, which was selected by TED curator Chris Anderson as one of the best talks of the year.^[22] She also worked on The Hunt, a play directed by Rupert Goold, which premiered in London and transferred to St. Ann's Warehouse in New York in 2024.^[23][24]

Devlin's career took on international projects, including designing the UK Pavilion at the 2020 World Expo in Dubai,^[25] making her the first woman to receive such a commission since the inception of world expositions in 1851.^[26]

In 2021, her collaboration with rapper Dave and producer Fraser T. Smith won the Ivor Novello Award for Best Contemporary Song.^[27] She also co-designed the Brit Awards statuettes with artist Yinka Ilori.^[28]

In 2022, Devlin's work on the Super Bowl Halftime Show, featuring Dr. Dre, Kendrick Lamar, and Eminem, earned her three Emmy Awards, including one for Best Production Design. That same year, her scenic design for Adele's performance at Griffith Observatory won five additional Emmy Awards. ^[29]Her scenic design for The Lehman Trilogy, directed by Sam Mendes, won her the Tony Award for Best Scenic Design.^[29]

Throughout her career, Devlin has collaborated on large-scale stage designs for artists including Beyoncé, Adele, U2, The Weeknd, Lorde, and Pet Shop Boys and worked with institutions such as the Royal Opera House in London.^[30]

Style

The Poem Pavilion she designed at the 2020 World Expo in Dubai^[10][11] - following the UK's theme "Innovating for a Shared Future" - featured an illuminated "message to space" to which each of the Expo's million visitors would be invited to contribute.^[12]

Using plastic trees, sellotape, stretchy mirrored sheeting, string, she builds "dream-like constellation of things" explaining that “the piece happens between those objects,” ^[13]

"Each of her designs is an attack on the notion that a set is merely scenery" wrote Andrew O'Hagan in The New Yorker in 2016. Devlin "is in demand because she can enter the psychic ether of each production and make it glow with significance."^[9] For Hamlet director Lyndsey Turner, Devlin “doesn't design what a play wants but what it needs.”^[13]

Recognition

• 2006: Olivier Awards for Best Costume Design for The Dog in the Manger
• 2014-2015: Olivier Awards for Best Set Design for Chimerica (2014) and The Nether (2015)
• 2015: Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE)^[14]
• 2018: Royal Designer for Industry for Theatre Design^[25][26]
• 2022: Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for services to design^[19]

• Fellow of University of the Arts London^[31]

Devlin is the subject of episode three of the Netflix documentary series Abstract: The Art of Design.^[32]

Work

Theatre

Year	Project	Credit	Venue	Ref.
1999	Howie the Rookie	Scenic Design	Bush Theatre, London	[33]
2001	A Day in the Death of Joe Egg	Scenic Design / Costume Design	Ambassador's Theatre, West End	[34]
2003			American Airlines Theatre, Broadway	[20]
2013	Chimerica	Scenic Designer	Almeida Theatre, West End	[21]
2014	Machinal	Set Design	American Airlines Theatre, Broadway	[35]
2014	The Nether	Scenic Designer	Royal Court Theatre, London	[36]
2014	American Psycho	Scenic Design	Almeida Theatre, West End	[37]
2016			Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre, Broadway	[38]
2015	Hamlet	Scenic Designer	Barbican Theatre, West End	[27]
2018	Aristocrats	Scenic Designer	Donmar Warehouse, West End	[28]
2018	Girls & Boys	Set Designer	The Royal Court Theatre, London	[22]
			Minetta Lane Theatre, Off-Broadway	[23]
2018	The Lehman Trilogy	Scenic Design	Lyttelton Theatre, West End	[24]
2021			Nederlander Theatre, Broadway	[29]
2019	The Hunt	Scenic Design	Almeida Theatre, West End	[39]
2024			St. Ann's Warehouse, Brooklyn	[40]
2023	The Crucible	Scenic Designer	Olivier Theatre, West End	[41]
2023	Dear England	Scenic Designer	Olivier Theatre, West End	[42]
2023	The Motive and the Cue	Scenic Designer	Lyttelton Theatre, West End	[43]
2024			Noël Coward Theatre, West End	[44]
2024	Coriolanus	Scenic Designer	Olivier Theatre	[45]

Television

Year	Project	Credit	Notes
2008	Salome	Production designer	Television movie
2014	Julie Taymor's A Midsummer Night's Dream		Television movie
2015	Hamlet		Television movie
2015	Adele Live in London		Television special
	Adele Live in New York City		Television special
2018	The 60th Annual Grammy Awards	Creative director	Television special
2021	Adele One Night Only	Production designer	Television special
2022	The Pepsi Super Bowl LVI Halftime Show	Creative director	Television special
2023	The Weekend Live at SoFi Stadium	Production designer	Television special
2023	The Crucible	Set Decorator	National Theatre Live special

Concert

Year[30]	Project	Artist
2003	Flag: Burning	Wire
2005	Touch the Sky	Kanye West
2009	VH1 STORYTELLERS	Kanye West
2009-2010	Monster Ball US Theatre Tour	Lady Gaga
	The Resistance Tour	Muse
2010	Madrid	MTV Europe Music Awards
2011	World Arena Tour	Batman Live
	Watch The Throne Arena Tour	Kanye West & Jay-Z
	Progress Stadium Tour	Take That
	Revel Theatre	Kanye West
2013	Hyde Park	Rolling Stones
	Electric Tour	Pet Shop Boys
	Yeezus	Kanye West
2014	Bangerz World Arena Tour	Milly Cyrus
2015	Innocence & Experience World Tour	U2
	Live in New York	Adele
2016	Jimmy Fallon	The Weeknd
	World Arena Tour	Adele
	AMAS	The Weeknd
	Formation World Stadium Tour	Beyoncé
2017	Legend of the Fall Tour	The Weeknd
	GLASTONBURY	Lorde
2018	Brit Awards	Stormzy
	Experience + Innocence Tour	U2
	Coachella	The Weeknd
2021	ONE NIGHT ONLY	Adele
2022	Superbowl Half Time Show	DR DRE with Kendrick Lamar, Eminem, Mary J Blige, Snoop Dogg, 50 Cent
	After Hours til Dawn	The Weeknd
2023	After Hours til Dawn	The Weeknd
	Renaissance - World Tour	Beyoncé
	The Sphere	U2

Fashion

Year[30]	Collaboration	Season	Notes
2015	Louis Vuitton	SS
		Series 2
		AW
2016		SS
		Series 3
		AW
		Cruise
2020		AW
2021	Chanel	Celebration
2022	Dior	SS	Men
2023	YSL	SS	Men

Publication

Year	Name	Publisher	Notes
2023	An Atlas of Es Devlin[46]	Thames & Hudson

Exhibition

Year	Name	Location	Notes
2023	An Atlas of Es Devlin[47]	Cooper Hewitt Museum

Accolades

Year	Award	Category	Nominated work	Result	Ref.
2014	Laurence Olivier Award	Best Set Design	Chimerica	Won	[48]
2015			The Nether	Won	[49]
2016			Hamlet	Nominated	[50]
2019			The Lehman Trilogy	Nominated	[51]
2024			Dear England	Nominated	[52]
2014	Tony Award	Best Scenic Design of a Play	Machinal	Nominated	[53]
2016		Best Scenic Design of a Musical	American Psycho	Nominated	[54]
2022		Best Scenic Design of a Play	The Lehman Trilogy	Won	[55]

Personal life

Devlin is married to the theatrical costume designer Jack Galloway; they have two children and live in London.^[56] Her husband works on The Lion King Musical franchise.^[13]