Pippa Nissen
Professional
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Biography
Pippa Nissen received an MA in Theatre Design from the Slade School of Art with distinction. She is also a qualified architect having studied at Cambridge University. She combines her time between theatre design and architectural projects, and is a partner in the architecture practice Nissen Adams. (www.nissenadams.com). In 2005 she was selected for the architecture V&A exhibition "40 under 40".
She has designed theatre sets both in the United Kingdom and abroad. Recent projects in the UK include "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (RSAMD), "Transfigured Night" (Opera North), "Breaking the Code" (Northampton Theatre), "The Forest Murmers" (Opera North), "Kantan/Damask Drum" by Alexander Goehr (Almeida Opera, Aldeburgh Festival), and "Eugene Onegin" (Clonter Opera/Buxton Festival).
Work with the Actors' Touring Company and the director Nick Philippou on productions that toured small venues in the UK, includes "The Boy Who Left Home" by Michael Wynne and "Faust is Dead" by Mark Ravenhill.
International work with Tim Hopkins includes "The Rake's Progress" at the Staatsoper Hannover, "Mare Nostrum" by Mauricio Kagel at Theater Basel and "Eugen Onegin" at Theater Basel.
She has used film increasingly in her work, including an installation Video Collage at the Forster Inc. Showroom. She started a theatre partnership that considers the relationship of opera and film, Live Video Projects, with opera director Netia Jones. Two projects, "Elevator" and "Transmission Will Resume" were completed in 2004.
Other current projects include "Elephant and Castle" with the director Tim Hopkins, for which in 2005 she received a Research and Development Award from the Arts Council. At the Prague Biennale June 2005 she exhibited a series of films, "The Hospital", which consider the relationship between theatre and architecture. This is her second exhibition in Prague following the Prague Quadrennial International Scenographers' Exhibition in 1999, where she was part of the British group, and an exhibition at the Theatre Museum in 2000.
