Set designer

Hildegard Bechtler

Hildegard Bechtler is an award-winning designer based in London and working internationally. As well as Oedipus and Children of Nora for the ITA ensemble, Hildegard has collaborated with director Robert Icke on the acclaimed Almeida Theatre productions of Hamlet, Mary Stuart and Oresteia (all of which transferred to London’s West End) and Uncle Vanya and Enemy of the People (Park Avenue Armory).

Her work in opera and ballet includes productions for the Royal Ballet, Opera North, Glyndebourne, Scottish Opera, Edinburgh International Festival, Santa Fe Opera, Canadian Opera Company, Sydney Opera House, Munich Staatsoper, Amsterdam Muziektheater, Opera National de Paris and La scala Milan. Recent work includes: the world premiere of Thomas Adès’ The Exterminating Angel which was performed at the Salzburger Festspiele, the Metropolitan Opera and the Royal Opera House; and La damnation de Faust at the Schiller Theatre Berlin which was a revival of the ENO’s award-winning production.

Her designs for theatre have appeared on the stages of the Royal National Theatre, the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Old Vic, the Donmar Warehouse, extensively in the West End, on Broadway, at the Roundabout Theatre New York, Tokyo Theatre Orb, Staatstheater Stuttgart and Deutsche Oper Berlin. Her many credits at the Royal Court Theatre, London include Krapp’s Last Tape, Primo and My Name Is Rachel Corrie. Recent work in theatre includes: T.S. Eliot’s Four Quartets directed by Ralph Fiennes; Enemy of the People at the Park Avenue Armory; The Doctor at the Almeida Theatre and the Adelaide Festival; Hansard and Antony and Cleopatra at the Royal National Theatre.

Many of the productions she has designed have been filmed for cinema and television including, Antony and Cleopatra; Hamlet; The Exterminating Angel; Primo; Krapp’s Last Tape; Richard II; and Hedda Gabler.

Hildegard received an Olivier Award for her design of After the Dance and received nominations for Top Hat and Oresteia. She was nominated for the Evening Standard Best Designer Award for Iphigenia at Aulis and won the Australian Green Room Award for Best Opera Design for Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk.