Dr Sophie Jump

Biography

Sophie is a Senior Lecturer working with BA Theatre Design and Wimbledon College of Art. She designs for theatre and performance and won the overall Gold Medal at World Stage Design 2013. She is co-Artistic Director and designer for performance company Seven Sisters Group who create site-specific work that incorporates new technologies into immersive experiences.

Her work has been chosen to represent the UK at the Prague Quadrennial in 1999, 2003, 2007 and 2011, and has been exhibited at the V&A and internationally. She was a jury member for World Stage Design in 2017 and curated the Site Specific Performance Festival for Prague Quadrennial 2019. She has been on the International Advisory Panel for Prague Quadrennial since 2015 and will be a member of the Jury for PQ 2023.

In parallel with her creative practice Sophie is committed to supporting, exploring and furthering the role of the the performance designer in the visual arts. She was formerly co-Honorary Secretary of the Society of Theatre Designers and a long time committee member. She is on the committee for the Linbury Prize for Stage Design and was a judge in 2015. Sophie is frequently asked to be part of selection panels for exhibitions such as World Stage Design and Prague Quadrennial.

SELECTED DESIGN CREDITS
For Seven Sisters Group includes: The Twelfth Player at Northampton Town Football Stadium (as co-director and designer), Like a Fish out of Water with English National Ballet at London lidos (as co-director and designer), Atalanta at Ashmolean Museum (as co-director and designer), Asterion at V&A Museum (as co-director and designer), Salome at St Pancras Hotel, Trainstation at national and international stations, Concrete at National Theatre, Ballroom at Royal Festival Hall and The Forbidden at Royal Opera House.

For theatre includes: Fleischhacker (dir: Phoebe von Held, Guest Projects), Gauhar Jaan (dir: Mukul Ahmed, Omnibus Theatre), Tell Them That I Am Young and Beautiful (dir: Marcello Magni, Arcola Theatre), Uncle Vanya (dir: Helena Kaut Howson, Belgrade and Arcola Theatre), Led Easy (dir: Emma Bernard, Cardboard Citizens), The Tempest (dir: Nancy Meckler, Shared Experience) and Full Moon (dir: Helena Kaut-Howson).

RESEARCH, PUBLIC PAPERS AND EXHIBITIONS

2021 'Staging the Future' conference speaker and organising panel
2020 'Staging Mixed Reality' conference speaker
2019 Theatre Design and Technology panel, Culture 2.0 Forum, St Petersburg
2019. Keynote Speaker at Beijing International Design Week and National Theatre Arts Forum
2019 'The Role of the Theatre Designer' website created for the National Theatre
2018/19 Jocelyn Herbert Post Doctoral Research Fellowship with National Theatre Archive
2018 'Searching for theatre design praxis in the Jocelyn Herbert Archive' Paper given at the ‘Modernist Archives in Context’ conference at Reading University
2018 'Empowering Designers Through Online Analysis of Their Role as Visual Dramaturgs' Paper given at Tapra conference
2016 'Jump out of Theatre: Design as Performance' Workshop and Forum Keynote speech, Taipei, Taiwan
2011-2015 Rootstein Hopkins PhD Bursary
2015 Lecture on Jocelyn Herbert at the National Theatre, London
2015 Keynote Speech at ‘E-SCAPES’ conference, Sao Paulo, Brazil
2014 International Guest Speaker at USITT conference, Fort Worth, Texas
2014 'Physicalising the text: Jocelyn Herbert and Samuel Beckett' paper given at ‘Staging Beckett’ conference at Reading University
2013 'Text and the theatre designer: Motley and Jocelyn Herbert 1935-65' paper given at ‘Performance Legacies’ conference at RHUL
2008 Curator of When Marcel Met Motley exhibition at V&A Museum

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
2018 Professional Insight: Siting in ‘Scenography (Crowood Theatre Companions)’ by Simon Donger
2017 'Casper Neher: An Exhibition of Set and Costume Designs exhibition review' in ‘Studies in Costume and Performance’ journal
2016 'William Dudley’s design for The Mysteries at the Cottesloe Theatre (1985)' in Routledge’s ‘Theatre And Performance Design’ journal
2015 'The convergence of influences on and evolving praxis of mid-twentieth century British theatre design (1935-1965) through a close study of selected works by Motley and Jocelyn Herbert' PhD thesis
2007 'Paul Brown' chapter in SBTD Collaborators catalogue