Biography

Of Algerian descent, British born designer Zahra Mansouri graduated in Theatre Design for Performance at Central Saint Martins. With work spanning genres, Zahra has built up a diverse portfolio and skill set. She creates worlds steeped in detail, remaining true to the source whilst using installations and texture as a narrative at the heart of the story. Zahra makes sure each production has its own unique presence in every space she approaches, whilst working collaboratively in her process to ensure hight quality from rendering to realisation creating worlds of high visual impact. At ease designing large and small scale projects as well as  working abroad shows includes:

Love Life (Leeds Grand/ Opera North), The Elixir of Love (Costume design only- The London Coliseum/ ENO), Humbug Christmas Experience (Costume design only- The Truman Brewery), When it Happens To You (The Park Theatre) Cavalleria Rusticana/ Pagliacci (Costume Associate- Greek National Opera), La Sonnambula (Costume design only- Buxton Opera Festival), Semele (Costume design only- Blackheath Halls), On The Ropes (The Park Thatre), The Tempest (Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, Courtyard Theatre), Opera Makers (Guildhall Milton Court Theatre), Peter Grimes (Costume Associate- Theatre Magdeburg & Theatre Basel), Whodunnit (Park Theatre), Dead Man Walking (Costume design only- Oldenburgisches Staatsthearter), Typical (Soho Theatre/ Pleasance Underneath/ Soho On Demand), Late Company and 3 Women (Trafalgar Studio 2), The Great Gatsby (Wilton’s Music Hall).

Throughout her youth Zahra also trained as a competitive Ballroom and Latin Dancer, designing made to measure dresses for private clients whilst also working summers at Dance Sport International known for their work on Strictly Come Dancing. She would later work for leading dance couture house Chrisanne Clover, leasing with clients in America, Japan and all over Europe. The experience would later shape her approach to theatre design with a deep routed knowledge of movement and how performers inhabit space.

During her early career Zahra was the Associate In-house Designer at Fourth Monkey Drama School. With over 10 years of collaborating on rep seasons with established and emerging directors she designed 75 unique productions (some of which transferred and toured). This huge undertaking of managing departments, interacting with large companies of training performers and producing multiple shows with fast turnovers at such a young age left her well equipped in creative problem solving and multitasking. This was a unique experience that she is ever grateful for which refined and expanded her process.

Written by Kurt Weill and Alan Jay Lerner Love Life is the first ever concept musical and had it’s debut in 1948. This rarely performed operatic musical as a result has never had a live recording and so the heart of this unique and historical project was creating this in a semi-staged production collaborating with Opera North, The Kurt Weill Foundation and BBC Radio.

The story is about the marriage of Sam and Susan Cooper, their story spans 150 yers of American history starting in 1791 and ending in 1948, we accept that the couple never age but what we learn is how their relationship is effected by the pressures of the changing times a theme still relevant today. A second strand of storytelling punctuates the couples story with Vaudeville acts typical of the 1900’s which satirically comment on the couples place in time. The show opens with a magician that levitates sam and saws Susan in half, metaphors for their life which become the heart of each act.

Leaning in to the semi staged nature of the production I used this as an advantage to the design shaping the historical world of Sam and Susan timeless in sketch like, Brechtian rehearsal blacks with hints of historical furniture to support the narrative. With the orchestra on stage this offered a heightened theatrical language and so instead of large sets I used Theatre Truss to paint a back drop of growing industry and eventually the New York skyline, juxtaposed with fully realised Vaudeville characters I continued to embrace the theatre’s infrastructure using the house tabs for Vaudeville Acts to keep the worlds separate. The two worlds eventually collide and as the couple realise they need to escape the world of illusion and find their way back to one another the theatrical visual language breaks down around them.

We set this love story in WW2, where the Lady of the house feels the pressure of the community to pick the obvious love match the strapping RAF man Belcore, but realises she loves the conscientious objector Nemorino and so hatches a plan to re-gain his love after she shuns him, meanwhile he has purchased a love potion to attain her affection. With direction by Harry Fehr, set design by Nicky Shaw, lighting by Mark Jonathan and Projection by Matt Powell we created a meta narrative or a British Sitcom to give it a heightened bright reality.

New writing by Vernon Vanriel and Dougie Blaxland, marks the real story of boxing hero and author Vernon Vanriel as we see his rise to fame in the 80’s and his demise as he gets caught in the Windrush deportation scandal. Developing the staging with director Anastasia Osei-Kuffour we celebrate Vernon’s life by dressing the space at a boxing match, the ring acts as a visual metaphor for Vernon’s triumphs in act one, but as his life falls apart the splitting ring reflects the cracks in society and creates multiple spaces on stage.

As part of a show made up of 3 new operetta’s and 5 opera scenes this unique piece would set the frame work for the evening. Director Olivia Fuchs and I responded to the challenge by creating a meta narrative of a dream scape which inspired the central ‘dream capture’ design this flexible set piece would frame each scene whilst provoking metaphors significant to each piece.