April Dalton
Selected credits
- MigrationsRoyal Welsh Opera/ UK Tour
- Island of DreamsGrange Park Opera
- The Rake's ProgressEnglish Touring Opera
- Shirley/ The Wife of CyncoedSherman Theatre
- Turn of the ScrewWaterperry Festival Opera
- The Lotus EatersRestoke/ National Theatre
- Baroque Encounters/ Solace/ Four SeasonsNew English Ballet Theatre/ Linbury Theatre, ROH
- ImminentBirmingham Royal Ballet
- The Return of Ulysses/ Spellbook/ La Liberazione di Ruggiero dall'Isola di Alcina Longborough Festival Opera
About
April Dalton is a UK based Set and Costume Designer for Theatre, Opera and Dance. She graduated from The Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama with a First Class (BA Hons) in Theatre Design, winning the Costume Design Award and was later shortlisted for the Linbury Prize 2015.
Recent work includes Island of Dreams directed by Sir David Pountney (Grange Park Opera), The Rake’s Progress (English Touring Opera), Shirley, The Wife of Cyncoed (Sherman Theatre), Turn of the Screw (Waterperry Festival Opera), The Odyssey: Episode 1 – The Lotus Eaters (Restoke/ National Theatre Public Acts), Les Noces: The Departure (New Movement Collective), Baroque Encounters, Solace, Remembrance and Four Seasons (New English Ballet Theatre/Linbury Theatre, ROH/Sadler’s Wells), Jane Eyre/ Carousel (Royal Academy of Music(, Silla (Northern Opera Group), La liberazione di Ruggiero and Spell Book (Double bill, Longborough Festival Opera), Migrations (Welsh National Opera), Le Vin Herbe, Freedom Season (Welsh National Opera), Imminent (Birmingham Royal Ballet) and Der Zaubertrank (Theater und Konzert St. Gallen).
April is also Co- Artistic Director of Red Oak Theatre in Cardiff, the company in residence at the Sherman Theatre.
Featured work
Migrations
Welsh National Opera/ UK Tour
Music by Will Todd
Directed by Sir David Pountney
Set Design by Loren Elstein
Costume Design by April Dalton
Lighting Design by Zoe Spurr
Sound Design by Sebastian Frost
‘With exuberant singing, captivating choreography, effects, and costumes, the neo-realization of the “total work” schema had found its embodiment’ Opera Wire
★★★★ The Stage
★★★★ The Times
Island of Dreams
Grange Park Opera
Music by Anthony Bolton
Conducted by George Jackson
Directed by Sir David Pountney
Stage/ Video Designer: David Haneke
Costume Designer: April Dalton
Lighting Designer: Tom Mitchell
A World Premiere by Anthony Bolton. Bringing to life Shakespeare’s shipwreck, a magic carpet ride, and the enchantment of Prospero’s island where the story of family betrayal, revenge and first love unfolds.
The Rake's Progress
English Touring Opera
Directed by Polly Graham
Designed by April Dalton
Lighting Design by Ben Omerod
‘April Dalton’s designs elide Rococo frippery with the distortion of Dalí’
The Guardian
Les Noces: The Departure
New Movement Collective ft. Opera Holland Park, Company Chameleon Youth and ENB Youth Company
Music Director and Conductor: Yshani Perinpanayagam
Set and Costume Design by April Dalton
Lighting Design by Lucy Hansom
Sound Design by Josh Bobby
‘It’s loaded with ambition and class, not just the ingredients but the way the whole evening is designed.’
The Guardian
Jane Eyre/ Carousel
Royal Academy of Music
Directed by Bruce Guthrie
Set & Costume Design by April Dalton
‘April Dalton’s set is another delight. She does a lot of ingenious things with half staircases and balconies over bookcases which are manually pushed round the stage into different formations.’
★★★★ Musical Theatre Review (Jane Eyre)
★★★★★ Musical Theatre Review (Carousel)
Baroque Encounters
New English Ballet Theatre/ Sadler's Well
Choreography by Daniela Cardim
Costume Design by April Dalton
Lighting Design by Andrew Ellis
★★★★ London Theatre
The Odyssey: Episode 1 - The Lotus Eaters
Restoke/ National Theatre Public Acts
Written by Gabriella Gay
Costume Design by April Dalton
Lighting Design by Alex Shenton
To mark the fifth anniversary of Public Acts, The Odyssey is reimagined for today in this epic retelling with hundreds of community members across the country.
Solace
New English Ballet Theatre/ Linbury Theatre, Royal Opera House
Choreography by Georgie Rose
Costume Design by April Dalton
Lighting Design by Andrew Ellis
‘Top marks to April Dalton’s costumes’
Seeing Dance
La Liberazione di Ruggiero dall'Isola di Alcina
Longborough Opera Festival
Director: Jenny Ogilvie
Conductor: Yshani Perinpanayagam
Set and Costume: April Dalton
Lighting: Jake Wiltshire
‘set in a sort of de luxe south sea paradise, all vulgar pinks, oranges and scarlets, with massage parlours and cocktail bars’
★★★★ The Arts Desk
‘a colourfully dynamic production’
The Classical Source
WITCH
The Royal Academy of Music/ World Premiere
Director: Polly Graham
Composer: Freya Wayley-Cohen
Set and Costume design: April Dalton
Video design: Hayley Egan
Lighting: Jake Wiltshire
‘a remarkable new work’
★★★★ Telegraph
‘inventive…brilliant staging’
Opera Today
Peter Pan
Storyhouse, Chester
Directed by Martin Constantine
Set and Costume Design by April Dalton
Lighting Design by Tim Mitchell
‘As visualised by director Martin Constantine and designer April Dalton, the show is an awfully high adventure. The cast deserve a frequent flyer card as they reach for the lights, expertly counterweighted by shadowing technicians moving in unison. With characters also frequently descending through the floor, there is an unusually strong sense of the stage as a vertical space’
★★★★ The Guardian
La Belle Helene
Blackheath Halls Opera
Direction: James Hurley
Conductor: Christopher Stark
Set and Costume Design: April Dalton
Lighting Design: Ben Pickersgill
‘an outstanding production’
★★★★ The Guardian
Cherubim
Royal Academy of Music
Directed by James Hurley
Set and Costume Design by April Dalton
Lighting by Ben Pickersgill
The River
Red Oak Theatre/ Loco Klub, Bristol
Play by Jez Butterworth
Director: Matt Holmquist
Set and Costume: April Dalton
Lighting: Ryan Joseph Stafford
‘The space is transformed through innovative set design by the up and coming designer April Dalton’
Theatre Bath
★★★★ The Reviews Hub
