Sue Blane

After leaving Central School of Art and Design, London in 1972, Sue spent two years at the Citizens’ Theatre, Glasgow. Since then she has designed productions for most of the leading theatre, opera and ballet companies in the UK, and many abroad.

She created the costumes for the original cult Rocky Horror Show, stage and film. Other film credits include: Peter Greenaway’s The Draughtsman’s Contract, and Julien Temple's 'Absolute Beginners'.

Her production (set and costume) credits include: Tanz Der Vampire (Vienna and Stuttgart); Alice in Wonderland (Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre); The Barber of Seville (Scottish Opera); The Thieving Magpie, The Duenna (Opera North); Christmas Eve (ENO); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (RSC Stratford-upon-Avon, Stockholm and New National Theatre, Tokyo); Cabaret (Donmar Warehouse); The Relapse (Royal National Theatre); Alice In Wonderland and The Nutcracker (English National Ballet) and Sylvia ( Birmingham Royal Ballet).

Costume designs include: Guys and Dolls (Royal National Theatre); Porgy and Bess, Carmen (Glyndebourne); Fanciulla del West (La Scala, Milan); The Mikado, Love for 3 Oranges (ENO); Canterville Ghost (English National Ballet); Lohengrin (Bayreuth); Carmen (Gothenburg); Into the Woods (Old Vic); The Planets (Royal Ballet); Disney’s Hunchback of Notre Dame ( Berlin); and Roman Polanski’s Dance of the Vampires (Vienna, Berlin and Paris, (for which she was awarded a “Moliere’ award); Aladdin (Birmingham Royal Ballet, Houston Grand Opera and Tokyo); Kiss Me Kate (Volksoper, Vienna); The Judas Kiss (Hampstead Theatre, West End and BAM, Brooklyn,); The King and I (Chatelet, Paris and Chicago Lyric Opera ); and a trilogy of new productions for Welsh National Opera The Barber of Seville, The Marriage of Figaro and Figaro Gets A Divorce (also in Poland).

She is one of few theatre designers to be a Royal Designer for Industry (RDI), and in 2007 was awarded an MBE, by Her Majesty, the Queen, for services to Drama. She is also Royal Designer for industry (RDI).