Brian Thomson
Encyclopedia
Brian Thomson is an Australian theatre, opera and film designer. He has been active in Australian stage design for over three decades.
Thomson began a long and successful collaboration with director Jim Sharman
after they met at Heavenburgers on Sydney's Oxford Street in 1969; they worked together on a series of groundbreaking productions for the Old Tote Theatre Company
and worked together on a string of hugely successful musical productions including the Melbourne production of Hair
, the original Australian and London productions of Jesus Christ Superstar
and The Rocky Horror Show
. Other musical credits include the most recent Broadway production of The King and I
(1996 Tony Award
for Best Scenic Design), Dame Edna – Back with a Vengeance and more recently in Australia Company
, The Boy from Oz
Arena Tour with Hugh Jackman
(2007 Helpmann Award
for Best Design), and Priscilla: Queen of the Desert the Musical
.
He has designed for all the major Australian theatre companies. His credits include Holding the Man
for Griffin Theatre Company
, Keating!
for (three 2007 Helpmann Awards), The Gates of Egypt, Capricornia
, Stuff Happens
, Run Rabbit Run
, Buried Child
, My Zinc Bed
, The Laramie Project
, Aftershocks, The Tempest
, The Master Builder
and Ghosts
all for Company B
.
Thomson's other theatre credits include Three Furies – Scenes from the Life of Francis Bacon (Sydney Festival
); End of the Rainbow
(Melbourne Theatre Company
/Ensemble Theatre
). For Sydney Theatre Company
, Thomson has designed for productions of Festen, The Ham Funeral, Coriolanus
, King Lear
, The Real Thing
, The One Day of the Year, Up for Grabs
, The White Devil
, A Cheery Soul, The Doll Trilogy, Arcadia
, and Steel City
.
Thomson has designed opera for Opera Australia
, Welsh National Opera
, the English National Opera
, and the Royal Opera, London
. He has also designed extensively for film including The Rocky Horror Picture Show
, Starstruck
, Rebel
and Ground Zero
.
Thomson was Production Designer for the Closing Ceremony of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, the 2001 Centenary of Federation Ceremony, the 2003 Rugby World Cup
Opening Ceremony and the Closing Ceremony of the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games
.
In 2005 Thomson received an Order of Australia
, AM, for services to the arts. Other awards he has received include a Tony Award
, Outer Critics Circle Award
and Drama Desk Award
in New York City
, an Olivier Award nomination in London
, and several AFI Awards
and Sydney Theatre Critics Awards.
Thomson began a long and successful collaboration with director Jim Sharman
Jim Sharman
James "Jim" Sharman , the son of boxing tent entrepreneur Jimmy Sharman, is a director and writer for film and stage with over 70 productions to his credit...
after they met at Heavenburgers on Sydney's Oxford Street in 1969; they worked together on a series of groundbreaking productions for the Old Tote Theatre Company
Old Tote Theatre Company
The Old Tote Theatre Company began as the standing acting and theatre company of Australia's National Institute of Dramatic Art and was the precursor to the Sydney Theatre Company.. It was one of the leading Australian theatre companies of the period.The Old Tote began in a converted tin shed on...
and worked together on a string of hugely successful musical productions including the Melbourne production of Hair
Hair
Hair is a filamentous biomaterial, that grows from follicles found in the dermis. Found exclusively in mammals, hair is one of the defining characteristics of the mammalian class....
, the original Australian and London productions of Jesus Christ Superstar
Jesus Christ Superstar
Jesus Christ Superstar is a rock opera by Andrew Lloyd Webber, with lyrics by Tim Rice. The musical started off as a rock opera concept recording before its first staging on Broadway in 1971...
and The Rocky Horror Show
The Rocky Horror Show
The Rocky Horror Show is a long-running British horror comedy stage musical, which opened in London on 19 June 1973. It was written by Richard O'Brien, produced and directed by Jim Sharman. It came eighth in a BBC Radio 2 listener poll of the "Nation's Number One Essential Musicals"...
. Other musical credits include the most recent Broadway production of The King and I
The King and I
The King and I is a stage musical, the fifth by the team of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. The work is based on the 1944 novel Anna and the King of Siam by Margaret Landon and derives from the memoirs of Anna Leonowens, who became governess to the children of King Mongkut of Siam in...
(1996 Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
for Best Scenic Design), Dame Edna – Back with a Vengeance and more recently in Australia Company
Company (musical)
Company is a musical with a book by George Furth and music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. The original production was nominated for a record-setting fourteen Tony Awards and won six....
, The Boy from Oz
The Boy from Oz
The Boy from Oz is a jukebox musical based on the life of singer/songwriter Peter Allen and featuring songs written by him. The book is by Nick Enright. The production had its world premiere, directed by Gale Edwards, at Her Majesty's Theatre, Sydney, Australia, on 5 March 1998 and toured Brisbane,...
Arena Tour with Hugh Jackman
Hugh Jackman
Hugh Michael Jackman is an Australian actor and producer who is involved in film, musical theatre, and television.Jackman has won international recognition for his roles in major films, notably as action/superhero, period and romance characters...
(2007 Helpmann Award
Helpmann Award
The Helpmann Awards recognize distinguished artistic achievement and excellence in Australia's live performing arts sectors. The recognized disciplines include musical and physical theatre, contemporary and classical music, opera, and dance, with a comedy category introduced in 2006...
for Best Design), and Priscilla: Queen of the Desert the Musical
Priscilla Queen of the Desert - the Musical
Priscilla, Queen of the Desert is a musical with a book by Australian film director-writer Stephan Elliott and Allan Scott, using well-known pop songs as its score...
.
He has designed for all the major Australian theatre companies. His credits include Holding the Man
Holding the Man
Holding the Man is the best-selling memoir by the Australian writer, actor, and activist Timothy Conigrave. It was adapted for the stage by Tommy Murphy in 2006, and has become one of the most successful Australian stage productions in recent years.Holding the Man was published in February 1995 by...
for Griffin Theatre Company
Griffin Theatre Company
Griffin Theatre Company is an Australian theatre specialising in new writing. It is the resident theatre company at the SBW Stables Theatre in Kings Cross, Sydney, Australia...
, Keating!
Keating!
Keating! is a musical theatre production which portrays the political career of former Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating. Keating was Prime Minister between 1991 to 1996; the musical follows him from his ascendancy to the leadership through to his eventual electoral defeat by John Howard...
for (three 2007 Helpmann Awards), The Gates of Egypt, Capricornia
Capricornia
Capricornia is a term sometimes used for northern Australia, derived from the Tropic of Capricorn. It can apply to any of the items below:* Areas associated with Queensland:...
, Stuff Happens
Stuff Happens
Stuff Happens is a play by David Hare, written in response to the Iraq War. Hare describes it as "a history play" that deals with recent history.The title is inspired by Donald Rumsfeld's response to widespread looting in Baghdad:...
, Run Rabbit Run
Run Rabbit Run
Run Rabbit Run is a song written by Noel Gay and Ralph Butler. The music was by Noel Gay and the song was originally sung by Flanagan and Allen....
, Buried Child
Buried Child
Buried Child is a play by Sam Shepard first presented in 1978. It won the 1979 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and launched Shepard to national fame as a playwright...
, My Zinc Bed
My Zinc Bed (play)
My Zinc Bed is a play by the British playwright David Hare. It premiered at the Royal Court Theatre in 2000 and its three characters were played in that production by Tom Wilkinson, Julia Ormond and Steven Mackintosh, with Hare himself directing. It was adapted into a television film in...
, The Laramie Project
The Laramie Project
The Laramie Project is a play by Moisés Kaufman and members of the Tectonic Theater Project about the reaction to the 1998 murder of University of Wyoming gay student Matthew Shepard in Laramie,...
, Aftershocks, The Tempest
The Tempest
The Tempest is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1610–11, and thought by many critics to be the last play that Shakespeare wrote alone. It is set on a remote island, where Prospero, the exiled Duke of Milan, plots to restore his daughter Miranda to her rightful place,...
, The Master Builder
The Master Builder
The Master Builder is a play by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. It was first published in December 1892 and is regarded as one of Ibsen's most significant and revealing works.-Performance:...
and Ghosts
Ghosts (play)
Ghosts is a play by the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. It was written in 1881 and first staged in 1882.Like many of Ibsen's better-known plays, Ghosts is a scathing commentary on 19th century morality....
all for Company B
Company B
Company B may refer to:*Company B - a dance-pop trio.**Company B , Company B's 1987 debut album.*Company B - a theatre company.Company B - A marketing and Public Relations firm in Milwaukee, WI...
.
Thomson's other theatre credits include Three Furies – Scenes from the Life of Francis Bacon (Sydney Festival
Sydney Festival
Sydney Festival is Australia's largest and most attended annual cultural event running every January since it was first held in 1977. Its program features around 80 events including contemporary and classical music, dance, circus, drama, visual arts and artist talks...
); End of the Rainbow
End of the rainbow
End of the Rainbow is a musical drama by Peter Quilter, centred upon the intriguing personality of Judy Garland in the months leading up to her death...
(Melbourne Theatre Company
Melbourne Theatre Company
The Melbourne Theatre Company is a theatre company based in Melbourne. Founded in 1953, it is the oldest professional theatre company in Australia, and has its own theatre, The MTC Theatre – which houses the 500-seat Sumner Theatre and the 150-seat Lawler Studio – located in Melbourne's Arts...
/Ensemble Theatre
Ensemble Theatre
The Ensemble Theatre is an Australian theatre company, situated in Kirribilli, New South Wales. It is promoted as Australia's longest continuously running professional theatre group, established in 1958.- References :...
). For Sydney Theatre Company
Sydney Theatre Company
The Sydney Theatre Company is one of Australia's best-known theatre companies operating from The Wharf Theatre near The Rocks area of Sydney, as well as the Sydney Theatre and the Sydney Opera House Drama Theatre....
, Thomson has designed for productions of Festen, The Ham Funeral, Coriolanus
Coriolanus (play)
Coriolanus is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1605 and 1608. The play is based on the life of the legendary Roman leader, Gaius Marcius Coriolanus.-Characters:*Caius Martius, later surnamed Coriolanus...
, King Lear
King Lear
King Lear is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. The title character descends into madness after foolishly disposing of his estate between two of his three daughters based on their flattery, bringing tragic consequences for all. The play is based on the legend of Leir of Britain, a mythological...
, The Real Thing
The Real Thing (play)
The Real Thing is a play by Tom Stoppard, first performed in 1982. It examines the nature of honesty, and its use of a play within a play is one of many levels on which the author teases the audience with the difference between semblance and reality....
, The One Day of the Year, Up for Grabs
Up for Grabs (play)
Up For Grabs is a play by Australian playwright David Williamson.Set in the booming international art market from 1990, which was fuelled by the dot com boom, it involves scenes of an alternate sexual nature...
, The White Devil
The White Devil
The White Devil is a revenge tragedy from 1612 by English playwright John Webster . A notorious failure when it premiered, Webster complained the play was acted in the dead of winter before an unreceptive audience. The play's complexity, sophistication and satire made it a poor fit with the...
, A Cheery Soul, The Doll Trilogy, Arcadia
Arcadia (play)
Arcadia is a 1993 play by Tom Stoppard concerning the relationship between past and present and between order and disorder and the certainty of knowledge...
, and Steel City
Steel City
The Steel City is a common nickname for many cities that were once known for their production of large amounts of steel. With industrial production also in developing countries, like those in Eastern Europe and Asia, most of these cities do not produce as much steel as they used to...
.
Thomson has designed opera for Opera Australia
Opera Australia
Opera Australia is the principal opera company in Australia. Based in Sydney, its performance season at the Sydney Opera House runs for approximately eight months of the year, with the remainder of its time spent in the The Arts Centre in Melbourne...
, Welsh National Opera
Welsh National Opera
Welsh National Opera is an opera company founded in Cardiff, Wales in 1943. The WNO tours Wales, the United Kingdom and the rest of the world extensively. Annually, it gives more than 120 performances of eight main stage operas to a combined audience of around 150,000 people...
, the English National Opera
English National Opera
English National Opera is an opera company based in London, resident at the London Coliseum in St. Martin's Lane. It is one of the two principal opera companies in London, along with the Royal Opera, Covent Garden...
, and the Royal Opera, London
Royal Opera, London
The Royal Opera is an opera company based in central London, resident at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Along with the English National Opera, it is one of the two principal opera companies in London. Founded in 1946 as the Covent Garden Opera Company, it was known by that title until 1968...
. He has also designed extensively for film including The Rocky Horror Picture Show
The Rocky Horror Picture Show
The Rocky Horror Picture Show is the 1975 film adaptation of the British rock musical stageplay, The Rocky Horror Show, written by Richard O'Brien. The film is a parody of B-movie, science fiction and horror films of the late 1940s through early 1970s. Director Jim Sharman collaborated on the...
, Starstruck
Starstruck (1982 film)
Starstruck is a 1982 Australian comedy-drama musical film starring Jo Kennedy, Ross O'Donovan and Margo Lee about two teenagers trying to make their break into the music industry. The film was shot on location in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia...
, Rebel
Rebel (film)
Rebel is an upcoming Telugu-language film. The film stars Prabhas, Tamannaah, Deeksha Seth and Krishnam Raju. It is being directed by Lawrence Raghavendra.And graphics and title logo designed by Nihal KondaThe Movie Official Website is...
and Ground Zero
Ground Zero (1987 film)
Ground Zero is an Australian drama-thriller about a cinematographer who, prompted by curiosity about some old film footage taken by his father, embarks on a quest to find out the truth about British nuclear tests at Maralinga...
.
Thomson was Production Designer for the Closing Ceremony of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, the 2001 Centenary of Federation Ceremony, the 2003 Rugby World Cup
Rugby World Cup
The Rugby World Cup is an international rugby union competition organised by the International Rugby Board and held every four years since 1987....
Opening Ceremony and the Closing Ceremony of the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games
Commonwealth Games
The Commonwealth Games is an international, multi-sport event involving athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930 and takes place every four years....
.
In 2005 Thomson received an Order of Australia
Order of Australia
The Order of Australia is an order of chivalry established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, "for the purpose of according recognition to Australian citizens and other persons for achievement or for meritorious service"...
, AM, for services to the arts. Other awards he has received include a Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
, Outer Critics Circle Award
Outer Critics Circle Award
The Outer Critics Circle Awards are presented annually for theatrical achievements both on and Off-Broadway and were begun during the 1949-1950 theater season. The awards are decided upon by theater critics who review for out-of-town newspapers, national publications, and other media outlets...
and Drama Desk Award
Drama Desk Award
The Drama Desk Awards, which are given annually in a number of categories, are the only major New York theater honors for which productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway compete against each other in the same category...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, an Olivier Award nomination in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, and several AFI Awards
Australian Film Institute Awards
The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Award, known as the AACTA Award , is an accolade presented annually by the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts . The awards recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry and television industry, including directors,...
and Sydney Theatre Critics Awards.