Biography

Lu Herbert is a non-binary Set and Costume designer based in Yorkshire, working in Leeds, London and across the UK. Lu is a graduate from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland’s BA Production Arts and Design Degree (specialising in Set and Costume design), and Guildhall School of Music and Drama’s MA Collaborative Theatre Production and Design.

Lu is excited by exploration, play and development for new works of theatre and loves experimenting with colour palettes, texture and bringing new stories to the stage. Lu is proudly neurodivergent. A lot of the work they create explores the relationship between text and visual, creative collaboration, and having a warm and exciting dynamic with the rest of the creative team on all projects. Sustainability and accessibility are some of Lu’s most valued elements of the theatrical process.

Lu is was shortlisted for the Linbury Prize 2021, nominated for a BroadwayWorld award in 2022, and was a JMK Finalist 2024. Lu was recently the assistant set designer on the Olivier Nominated ‘Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812’ at the Donmar Warehouse.

Having worked with companies such as Shared Experience, British Youth Music Theatre, She Productions, Woven Nest, Paraorchestra, Dibby Theatre and Concrete Youth, Lu has worked on touring shows and has designed for multiple venues across the UK including Hull Truck, Theatre Royal Plymouth, HOME Manchester,

For any inquiries please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Manchester 2017. In the middle of a hot and sweaty queer warehouse party, two damaged hearts collide. He is HIV+ and drowning in shame. They are queer and one microaggression away from a full-on meltdown. Born into Thatcher’s Britain of race riots and rampant homophobia and growing up in the shadow of Aids and Section 28, the pair form a trauma bond so tight, they might just survive it all. But sometimes survival means knowing when to leave.

“Designer Lu Herbert should be congratulated from the off. The stage is set with a great spectacle piece: a neon wire traces through the different elements of the pairs’ lives together and forebodes their periods of distress. Stylistically, the set compliments the performance and is used as an aid to the storytelling within the narrative…Technically, this piece sparks a creative ignition.” – West End Best Friend

“Each lover could be the other’s broken mirror, a suggestion emphasised by the near-symmetry of the neon bare bones of the minimal set, brickwork as exposed as the scars that tattoo their hearts, and the patchwork of styles that Hall uses to stitch together the scenes in which their lives come together and unravel. That it flows so seamlessly is in no small part owing to the unobtrusive artistry of the back stage contributors, not only Lu Herbert’s design but SHAR’s note-perfect soundtrack.” – Northern Soul

“A smashed window seems to stress the point about what he intends to do to stigmas. Lu Herbert’s set succinctly expresses the idea of resisting shame. A cramped room with craggy walls – is it shelter or wreckage? Neon bricks peer through grey concrete – breaking through or being covered up? A split down the middle is yanked open when the two partners in the relationship separate.” – What’s On Stage

“…A tiny set that feels cosy when things are going great and horribly claustrophobic when it all starts to go wrong.” – The Reviews Hub

“Within Lu Herbert’s stunning set design these two lovers played and partied, set up home together, enjoyed a vibrant sex life and shared their most intimate insecurities. There is love and there is trust and there is a synchronicity between them that fuses them together and is echoed cleverly throughout the whole design of the piece.” – North West End