All set designs, models and digital renders on this website have been designed and created by Paul O'Mahony.
Production & Set Designer
Paul has over twenty-five years of professional set and production design experience. He has designed for Theatre, Opera, Dance, Music, Events, TV and Documentary Films.
Selected Companies:
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Theatre: The Abbey Theatre, The Gate Theatre, Landmark Productions, The Everyman, Cork, Corn Exchange, Hatch Theatre Company, Rough Magic, Bedrock Productions, Siren Productions, Lyric Theatre, Belfast, Everyman Liverpool, The Ark/ Theatre Lovett, Calipo, Peer to Peer, Prime Cut Productions, b*spoke, Upstate, The Lir.
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Opera & Dance: Irish National Opera, Opera Theatre Company, Lyric Opera, Cork Opera House, CoisCéim Dance Theatre.
Television & Global Events:
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RTÉ Television: Production Designer for documentary films (Missing: Beyond the Vanishing Triangle and The Nobody Zone), advertising campaigns, sports, news, current affairs, and site-specific televised events.
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Web Summit: Production Designer for global events, including Web Summit (Portugal) and Collision (Toronto).
Training:
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Motley Theatre Design School, London.
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Dun Laoghaire IADT, Co. Dublin (Fine Art and Production Design).
Awards and Nominations
2018 Irish Times Theatre Awards Winner: Audience Choice - Asking for It
2017 Irish Times Theatre Awards Nomination: Best Set Design - Futureproof / Acis and Galatea
2017 Irish Times Theatre Awards Nomination: Best Opera - Acis and Galatea / Dubliners
2011 Irish Times Theatre Awards Nomination: Best Set Design - Pygmalion
2010 Absolute Fringe Festival Nomination: Best Designer - Medea
2010 Irish Times Theatre Awards Nomination: Best Production - Medea
2008 Irish Times Theatre Awards Nomination: Best Set Design - Don Carlos
2008 Irish Times Theatre Awards Winner: Best Production - Don Carlos
2005 Jane Snow Award Nomination: Set Designer - Urban Ghost; Pale Angel; Self-Accusation
Selected Reviews
The National Theatre
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The House (Abbey Theatre)
"Paul O'Mahony's double revolve set is pretty well a masterpiece... shifting its locations with two unfussy turntables, using a severity of colour to keep nostalgia at bay." — Sunday Independent / Irish Times
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Major Barbara (Abbey Theatre)
"The set is a marvel, which shifts and moves during the evening, even getting its own applause through its graceful, ballet-like movements... a brilliant stroke of visual irony." — The Red Curtain Review / Irish Times
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Pygmalion (Abbey Theatre)
"A joy from start to finish... its elegance and verve wrapped in lush and imaginative visuals. Phenomenal sets, which are grand elaborate things... very, very visually powerful." — Sunday Independent / RTÉ Television
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The Wake (Abbey Theatre)
"Pushing the Abbey’s resources towards stunning new displays... From the universe to the grave, this is performance and design as pure poetry." — Irish Times
Atmospheric, Transformation and Immersive Design
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An Enemy of the People (Gate Theatre)
"Sensationally designed... beautifully using a fine interplay between light and darkness, and cleverly shrinking the space available to Stockmann as his plight intensifies." — Irish Times / Irish Theatre Magazine
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Don Carlos (Rough Magic)
"A production that envelopes you... creating an atmosphere of enforced containment and claustrophobia, the perfect setting for power-struggles, intrigue and deceit." — Event Guide
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The Seagull (Corn Exchange at the Gaiety Theatre)
"The iridescent backdrop of Paul O'Mahony's gently entrancing set suggests they all seem to be living in an artwork, neither dated nor fading." — Irish Times
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The Vortex (Gate Theatre)
"A round art-deco space, its beauty seems to spin unhappiness inwards... superbly designed production." — Irish Times / Irish Independent
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Asking For It
"...set designer Paul O'Mahony, succeed spectacularly. O'Mahony's ingenious set consists of a wall of perspex squares which shapeshift. During the party scene, it morphs into a brilliantly lit double-height buzzing hothouse. The set contracts like a telescope, trapping the family in their kitchen bunker, hidden from judging eyes and social media trolls" The Sunday Times
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The Girl Who Forgot to Sing Badly (The Ark and Theatre Lovett)
"Paul O'Mahony's set, a crate that unfolds to reveal boxes within boxes... It's inspired. A mysterious crate of delights, opening like a Russian doll." — The Guardian / Irish Theatre Magazine
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Look Back in Anger (Gate Theatre)
"Paul O'Mahony's ingenious set is a box frame standing in the empty shell of the Gate stage... in clear contradiction of the stage directions, to allow for ancillary action." — Irish Independent
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Medea (Siren Productions)
"An extraordinary set... Paul O’Mahony’s remarkable set mirrors a contemporary house, cluttered with domestic detail." — RTÉ Television / Irish Times
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Urban Ghosts; Pale Angel (Bedrock)
"A stunning surprise... narrowing our focus through purpose-built walls and a beautiful wooden stage... attaining an utter transformation of the cavernous room." — Irish Theatre Magazine
Work With Me
Paul O'Mahony is available for Production and Set Design.
Inquiries For project bookings, collaborations, or CV requests, please get in touch via email.
Location: Based in Dublin | Available for international travel.