Biography

Ismini is a London-based Theatre & Production Designer from Athens. Holding an MFA in Scenography with Distinction from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London, supported by the A. G. Leventis Foundation Scholarship and an MA in Architecture from the National Technical University of Athens, she has worked as a designer and art director in theatre, film, commercials, fashion, and architecture in London and Europe. Recent works include Fabulous Creatures by Collide Theatre Company, and As You Like It directed by Neil Bartlett. She is a visiting designer for East15 Acting School and has collaborated with several London theatres, including the Young Vic, JW3, Hoxton Hall, and the Arcola Theatre. Her own artistic practice explores themes of identity, gender roles, and social constructions, often getting involved in politically charged projects that aim to push conventional boundaries in the performing arts realm. Ismini aims to work eco-scenographically, embracing creativity fueled by sustainable practice.

Welcome to the Monstrous Cabaret Club, a place to drown more than your sorrows, where the acts are unreal and the voices to die for! Whether you’re strapping in for the Sirens or caught between Scylla and Charybdis, you’re in for a night you’ll never survive/forget! Once the pre-eminent killers of the mythical age, who even Gods would turn to for their dirty work, they’ve long given up their license to kill. Now they run a private club hidden somewhere between Mount Olympus and the Underworld.
The set and costume world invites the audience to an underground cabaret, where female monstrosity is reclaimed and celebrated.
The vision for the space is an underground, dark, mystical hybrid space, between our world and a monstrous underworld. The characters are attached to their space: is it a prison or a nest? The materials of the objects or set pieces in the space, associated symbolically with each character, and expanding to their costumes. The objects themselves transform into something uncanny, reflecting how these women are seen by society.
Through the exaggerated use of materials that could be considered repulsive, such as the animal-like hair of Scylla, the design challenges the audience’s perception of normality and female beauty standards.

Indecent is a 2015 play by Paula Vogel, that recounts the controversy surrounding the play God of Vengeance by Sholem Asch, produced on Broadway in 1923, and for which the producer and cast were arrested and convicted on the grounds of obscenity. The play asks crucial questions about Jewish life from 1910 to 1950.
The main theme explored in the design is censorship in theatre concerning social and political beliefs. The play challenges gender roles and critisizes the freedom of sexual expression in conservative Jewish culture.
The set becomes a symbol for concealement and censorship, with the extended use of wrapped cardboard boxes constructing the different spaces within the play. The boxes also stand as a metaphor for mobility and immigration, as the characters pack their lives and travel the world to tell their story. The cardboard wall symbolizes boundaries and separation, and becomes a functional element for storing props throughout the show. A cohort of 10 actors play multiple characters, so they wear a white base costume, dyed in shades of ash-grey, on top of which the different pieces are layered.

Codigo Postal is an original play, commissioned by Aveiro 2024 – Portuguese Capital of Culture for its theme ‘Culture and Democracy’. The play takes a set of letters written during the Portuguese Colonial War (1961-1974) as a starting point to talk about freedom and the building of democracy, with a critical approach towards the way western history has been written, primarily by white people. Authors from various countries with links to the International Dramaturgy Centre, including Ukrainian, Russian and Belarusian creators, take part in the construction of the show, relating it to current warfronts.
The set is a paper box, a framed view in which the characters begin their journey. As they open the box of letters, and the play transforms into a journey of reconnecting with history, the set transforms, the walls get penetrated and deconstructed. The modular furniture, placed in different configurations, complement the dramaturgy of the play. The set and costumes work as a sterile canvas that gets stained using projections, light, and carnation-red fabrics.