5 Minutes with Katie Scott

You've made the windows of the Everyman Writers' Room look lovely! How did that come about?

I’ve been window stamping in restaurants on Hope Street for about 6 months now, Hayley and Lindsay (e&P Literary Department) had taken a liking to the work and thought it would be a great way to open up The Writers' Room to the public by making it more of a feature, especially for Everyword. Its a great way of getting information about an event out into the theatre in a way that is striking! We chatted about the room itself and I went away and thought of the most basic necessity for writing (outside of a good imagination) - and of course it was pen to paper!

The Writers' Room — The Everyman Writers' Room

I made the stamps by hand out of foam and I used poster paint, pens and a couple of other little tricks to fill in the details.

What else are you working on?

I'm Designing Blue Stockings at ALRA North with Liz Stevenson; continuing to work with The Quarter and Host throughout the year for their promotions and also working with the Literary Department at the Everyman on a couple of ideas for future projects connected to The Writers' Room - so keep a look out!

When did you first want to be a theatre designer?

During my foundation year at Winstanley College, I was having difficulty understanding myself as an artist. I didn’t really feel like I had anything to say to an audience that was personal or interesting and I felt so unexciting and unexcited by anything I was creating.

When Ashley Shairp (Course Leader, LIPA) came in to have a chat with prospective students, I took myself along on a whim rather than any real desire to study Theatre Design and he just filled the room with colour and imagination, stories and characters. I went back to my desk and started to go back through my research and all of this imagination and invention came out.

Pauline Daniels as Mary in Held at the Playhouse Studio, 2012

Favourite part of the job?

Connecting all the tiny little dots of information into one physical manifestation. For example, with Held, I wanted to research Alzhiemers, so I could understand the situation and Mary’s character in both emotional and biological form, which connected me to brain matter and the way it plaques, which connected to a piece of art work by Marcel Duchamp involving a lot of string, which connected to the phrase “wooly thoughts” and how infuriating it is to undo a knot in thread, especially when you think you’ve got it sussed and then you hit another knot. All of those things felt like the situation to me and thus we ended with a web of brain matter and tangles made of felt and lights and tension. You’re brain really goes on an adventure and you learn so much along the way!

What would most surprise an outsider about your day-to-day work?

A lot of it is conversation. I think people expect me to be drawing or painting all day in my Shed which would be bliss! But actually a lot of my day is talking. Making sure everyone is on the same page. I think at any level of design that is crucial and integral to what we do. I also hardly ever get chance to sit down and do a very detailed drawing. Most of the time it’s stick men and wonky boxes with scribbled notes, but it gets the job done! There is a lot of admin and emailing. On the flip side It can also be incredibly lonely, thats the hardest part for me.

Advice for someone wanting to do what you do?

1. PAY ATTENTION IN MATH CLASS. Really wish I had paid more attention, especially to Trigonometry and Geometry.
2. Read books and scripts, you’re going to be a storyteller, its a good idea to know the kind of stories you’d like to tell!
3. Explore Art as a culture not just theatre, not just exhibitions - take in as much as you can. Blogs are brilliant for exploring current work and new processes (I would highly recommend This Is Colossal).
4. Try not to put too much pressure on yourself to be like any other artist or practitioner. You are you, and that will do just fine so long as you’re doing your best.
5. Self Motivate. it’s SO HARD but you’re livelihood will literally depend on you making the most out of your day, get used to getting up. Even if you’ve got nothing to do (you will always have something you can do).

Favourite project to date?

That is the hardest question of the lot. The answer has to be, Plastic Figurines. I was really struggling to find my feet as a professional and I kept feeling like I was making mistakes, over stretching myself and coming to the realisation that this job can be pretty lonely. Box Of Tricks swooped on in and saved the day! I am eternally grateful to them for giving me a chance, they are a huge part of my life now and this play was about coping and surviving and in many ways, I really needed that. Thankfully I have been lucky enough to work with them again on Chip Shop Chips and it was just as fun!

Describe what you do in five words or less.

Sits and thinks.

Katie graduated from LIPA in 2012 with a first class honours degree in Theatre and Performance Design. Upon graduating, she was awarded the Everyman & Playhouse Design Prize, designing Held directed by Lorne Campbell and written by Joe Ward Munrow. Her other design credits include The Grid, Chip Shop Chips and Plastic Figurines. She was also awarded Best Design of 2012 in The Liverpool Daily Post Arts Awards for Held. Katie is based in the North of England and has designed productions for Liverpool, Manchester and London.

w: katiescottdesign.co.uk t: @Minpin_ f: katiescottperformancedesign

What's more