Hildegard Bechtler

Hildegard Bechtler is an award-winning designer based in London and working internationally. Recently: “Oedipus,” “Dr Strangelove,” “Player Kings,” “Four Quartets” (West End); “Manhunt” (Royal Court); “Judas,” “Nora,” and “Oedipus” (Internationaal Theater Amsterdam); “The Doctor” (Almeida, West End, Park Avenue Armory, Burgtheater Vienna, and Adelaide Festival); and “Hamlet/Oresteia” and “Enemy of the People” (Park Avenue Armory).

Her work in theater includes designs for the Almeida Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Company, Old Vic, Donmar, and extensively in the West End including “Top Hat,” “Oresteia” (both Olivier-nominated for best set design), “Mary Stuart,” “The Doctor,” “Hamlet,” “Consent,” “Arcadia,” and “The Crucible.” Theater in the US includes: “Arcadia”; “Primo”; “The Seagull” (Broadway); “My Name is Rachel Corrie” (Off-Broadway); “The Sunshine Boys” (Ahmanson Theatre, Los Angeles). Her many credits at the Royal National Theatre include “Antony and Cleopatra,” “Hansard,” “After the Dance” (Olivier Award), and “Iphigenia at Aulis” (Evening Standard Award nomination). Credits for the Royal Court include: “The Seagull,” “Krapp’s Last Tape,” “My Name Is Rachel Corrie,” and “Blasted.”

Work in opera and ballet includes: “Don Giovanni” at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence; the world premieres of “The Cellist” for the Royal Ballet, “Clara” for Zürich Ballett and Thomas Adès’ “The Exterminating Angel” at the Metropolitan Opera, Salzburger Festspiele, and Royal Opera Covent Garden; “La damnation de Faust” directed by Terry Gilliam for English National Opera (winner of South Bank Sky Arts Opera Award); and “Dido and Aeneas” and “Acis and Galatea” choreographed and directed by Wayne McGregor for the Royal Opera House and La Scala Milan. She won the Australian Green Room Award for Best Opera Design for “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk” at Sydney Opera House.

Many of the productions she has designed have been filmed for cinema and television including “Dr Strangelove” with Steve Coogan; “Four Quartets” and “Antony and Cleopatra” with Ralph Fiennes; “Hansard” with Lindsay Duncan and Alex Jennings; “Hamlet” with Andrew Scott; “Primo” with Anthony Sher; “Richard II,” “Hedda Gabler,” and “Electra” with Fiona Shaw; and “Krapp’s Last Tape” with Harold Pinter.