Oli Townsend

Set & Costume Designer

Oli’s set and costume designs include; Peter Pan, The Caucasian Chalk Circle (Rose Theatre), Cinderella, The Awesome Truth (Polka), Old Bridge (Papatango), Macbeth (Manchester Royal Exchange), Cosi Fan Tutti, Pelleas et Mellisande, Werther, and The Tales of Hoffmann (English Touring Opera), The Caretaker (Bristol Old Vic), Grounded, The Christians, and Wittenberg (Gate Theatre), The Choir of Man (West End & Worldwide Tour), Oh Mother, The Darkest Corners, Two Man Show (RashDash), We Want You To Watch (National Theatre/RashDash), Islands, Incognito (The Bush Theatre), The Art of Dying (Royal Court), The Measures Taken (Alexander Whitley Dance), L’Elisir D’Amore, Rodelinda (Scottish Opera), The Gamblers, Dead To Me, Gods are Fallen and All Safety Gone (Greyscale), The Coronation of Poppea, Macbeth (Blackheath Halls Opera), and Blood Wedding (Royal and Derngate). Between 2013 & 2016, Oli designed the sets for the Lyric Hammersmith panto each Christmas.


Costume credits include: Wozzeck (English National Opera); The Lighthouse (ROH Linbury); Big Maggie (Druid) and In Wonderland, a film by Iona Firouzabadi. He had also provided art direction for branded content with Jungle Creations & Seldom Differ. In 2018, Oli cycled from Bristol to Bangkok, working on In Tandem Stories in partnership with the nonprofit kindness.org. He has written about the experiences for The Guardian, Lonely Planet, and WildBounds.