I’m a East London (UK) based designer and artist, with sidelines in activism, folk music, writing and teaching. My artistic interests often lie around queerness, ecology, social change and the creative process itself.
My specialism is the design of sets, costumes and projections for performance. I’m also the artistic director of Daedalus Theatre Company. This site is my blog but it’s also an online portfolio for my work as as a theatre designer, visual artist and video designer, as well my work with Scale, Daedalus and other collaborators.
I’m on the committee of the Society of British Theatre Designers. I’m also part of the Scene Change and Freelancers Make Theatre Work networks and a member of Equity. I helped found The King’s Hall Trust for the Arts, and am currently its chair. I occasionally teach theatre design and sustainable theatre practice as a visiting lecturer, and have previously taught at universities including Goldsmiths and the Central School of Speech and Drama in London, and the National College of Arts in Pakistan.
I’m committed to making my design practice sustainable and am the co-ordinator of the SBTD’s Sustainable Design Group, which I also co-founded. I am part of the core team running Ecostage, which I helped relaunch at COP26, as well as being a signatory to the Ecostage Pledge. I’m on the Environmental Responsibility sub committee of the Queens Theatre, Hornchurch, and a member of the International Green Culture Tools Meet-up,
Outside of theatre, I am a content creator (including writing two books) and English language consultant for Angkriz Academy, I play the fiddle and write/arrange music for South London’s premier gay socialist folk band (as far as we know) and other music projects, and am an activist with Tower Hamlets Green Party, where I design print and digital material not just for the THGP but also for other local parties across London.
(Please note, I’m having some issues with some photo credits not displaying, or displaying in ways that block pictures. Please bear with me as I sort it out. In the meantime, get in touch if you need any show info/credits. Do also shout if you want to see my more recent work such as Telethon and Bubble Dreams, which haven’t yet been added.)
Plot 17, written and performed by Kenny Baraka, with DJ Conrad Kira, touring schools in an adpated horsebox. Set, costume and video design: Paul Burgess. An Apples and Snakes production. Photo Suzi Corker. 
Planet Lol, written and directed by Paul Hodson for the future is unwritten, touring. Set, costume and video by Paul Burgess 
Light Waves, Dark Skies, directed by Mat Ball for We Made This, Chapter Arts and touring. Set, costume and projections by Paul Burgess by 
Deafinitely Theatre’s 4.48 Psychosis – a co-production with the New Diorama Theatre. Set, costumes and video: Paul Burgess. Lighting, Joe Hornsby. Full credits available on Deafinitely website. Photographer: Becky Bailey 
Deafinitely Theatre’s 4.48 Psychosis – a co-production with the New Diorama Theatre. Set, costumes and video: Paul Burgess. Lighting, Joe Hornsby. Full credits available on Deafinitely website. Photographer: Becky Bailey 
Flush by David Dipper at Soho Theatre, directed by Bijan Sheibani. In this photo: Burn Gorman 
Switch ECHO by Adriano Shaplin at WUK, Vienna, directed by Alex Leiffheidt 
Tom Fool at Glasgow Citizens’ Theatre 2006 and The Bush, London 2007. Cast: Liam Brennan, Meg Fraser and Richard Madden Director: Claire Lizzimore, Designer Paul Burgess, Lighting and sound Graham Sutherland. Photo credit: Richard Campbell. 
Jonah and Otto by Robert Holman, directed by Clare Lizzimore, designed by Paul Burgess, with Ian McDiarmid and Andrew Sheridan 
Our Country’s Good at The Watermill, Newbury, directed by Alex Clifton 
Shoreditch Madonna by Rebecca Lenkiewicz, directed by Sean Matthias 
Deafinitely Theatre’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream in BSL at Shakespeare’s Globe, directed by Paula Garfield. Sets and Costumes by Paul Burgess. Photo: Simon Kane 
The Red Ballon, written and directed by Carolyn Defrin 
Deafinitely Theatre’s production of Contractions, with Fifi Garfield and Abigail Poulton 
The Rememberers, a live, hip-hop graphic novel, written and performed by Kenny Baraka. Video design by Arnim Freiss using drawings by Cristian Ortiz 
Stranger, by Same Stuff Theatre with perormers Phan Y Ly and Ho Ngoc Bao Khiem, director Rob Hale and scenographer Paul Burgess. BlackBox, Hanoi, World Stage Design, Cardiff, Tara Arts, London, and The Albany London 
Stranger, by Same Stuff Theatre with perormers Phan Y Ly and Ho Ngoc Bao Khiem, director Rob Hale and scenographer Paul Burgess. BlackBox, Hanoi, World Stage Design, Cardiff, Tara Arts, London, and The Albany London 
Other Hands by Laura Wade, Soho Theatre, dircted by Bijan Sheibani, designed by Paul Burgess. Cast in this photo: Anna Orton and Michael Gould. 
On the Rocks by Amy Rosenthal, directed by Clare Lizzimore and designed by Paul Burgess, Hampstead Theatre 
On the Rocks by Amy Rosenthal, directed by Clare Lizzimore and designed by Paul Burgess, Hampstead Theatre: Nick Caldecott, Charlotte Emmerson, Tracy-Ann Oberman and Ed Stoppard 
Remembering the Future, created by artists Carolyn Defrin, Paul Burgess, and Levitt Bernstein architects, at St Paul’s Centre, Hammersmith, and Borough Road Gallery. 
Graeme Mackay, Susan Worsfold and Onur Orkut in Selfish at The Arches, Glasgow 
A Place at the Table, Daedalus Theatre Company. Performed at Camden People’s Theatre, Southwark Cathedral and (in this photo) Amnesty International. Directed and Designed by Paul Burgess.
Paul Burgess 