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 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]
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]
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]
