Bill Haycock
Bill Haycock
Designer
Graduating from NIDA in 1978, Bill has designed over 170
plays, ballets, dance pieces, operas, exhibitions and installations for
many of the country’s most innovative
companies, directors and choreographers.
Biography
Bill has designed judicial robes for both the High Court and the Federal Courts of Australia. From 2005-2011 he was the Head of Design at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. For Ad Astra he has previously designed Bakersfield Mist, Red and Of Mice and Men as well as A Life in the Theatre for the same creative team. His next design here is Loot directed by Jennifer Flowers.
Reviews
Focused on the coffin of the recently deceased Mrs McLeavey, Bill Haycock’s simple house interior set design works as well as it can in such a small stage space. Furniture and props are kept to a minimum.
Suzannah Conway - ArtsHub | Read Review Here
The creative team included an excellent set by production designer Bill Haycock
Sarah Skubala - Theatre Travels | Read Review Here
“Bill Haycock’s production design encompassed both a backstage area and a dressing room with the fluorescent light baubles (thanks to lighting designer Nathaniel Knight) that I myself, as an actor, have taken many a photo in the rehearsal room. It felt very authentic and complimented the world of the characters beautifully.”
Virag Dombay - Nothing Ever Happens in Brisbane | Read full review
“Bill Haycock’s production design is delicious in its detail of backstage and dressing room digs opened up for expose and Nathaniel Knight’s lighting aglows their sanctum away from the real world in comforting dusky tones.”
Meredith Walker - Blue Curtains Brisbane | Read full review
The attention to detail in the Brilliant Traces set, which was designed and built by Dan & Fiona Kennedy with consultation by Bill Haycock, was extraordinary – from the frosted panes of glass in the window to the glowing fire and the blizzard beyond the doorway.
BackStreet Brisbane - | Read full review
As if the pre-show Violin Concerto of Vivaldi’s “Winter” is not enough, stage design (Bill Haycock working with Fiona Kennedy) establishes a clear sensibility. Sparseness is punctuated by important details like fishing apparatus, a small frosted window and a lone pair of gumboots.
Meredith Walker - Blue Curtains | Read full review
For those unfamiliar with John Steinbeck’s classic 1937 novella “Of Mice and Men”, a strumming pre-show soundtrack accompanying the rustic bunkhouse staging (Bill Haycock, Designer) plants Ad Astra audiences firmly in its depression era California setting.
Meredith Walker - Blue Curtains | Read full review
In a space this small – around 30 people in a socially distanced seating plan – succinct sets and costumes by Bill Haycock and deceptively simple lighting by David Walters economically catch the menace of the black and red that foreshadow the inevitable ending to Rothko’s story.
Beth Keehn - Stage Whispers | Read full review
If all the world's a stage, why should the nation's highest court be any different? New judicial robes for the High Court have been unveiled, created by noted Australian costume designer Bill Haycock.
Tom McIlroy - The Sydney Morning Herald | Read full review
The cast of twelve (8 men and 4 women) inhabit a world that is indeterminate; their unadorned costumes are of another time and place although in setting – elemental stone and water – designer Bill Haycock (with lighting by David Walters) has beautifully referenced the coldness of a classical citadel rather than the usual richness and warmth of Verona’s Renaissance city. It fits the rest of the production and provides a new viewing of a play whose story is so well known in our culture that even those who have never experienced it on page, stage or screen feel that they ‘know’ it. Ms Flowers’ production is a bold revisioning, and one that may take people by surprise. That’s no bad thing at all.
Green Room | Read full review
Ad Astra Plays
Upcoming Plays
Past Plays
Reviews
“Design by Bill Haycock not only included the creation of a possible Pollock painting, but also conjured the lovingly cluttered interior of Maude’s trailer, decorated with treasures from a variety of eras. A low beam along the set’s ceiling added to the close intensity of the setting, and shades of burnt orange evoked the heat and dry of the California desert.”
Backstreet Brisbane | Read more
The trailer park setting is beautifully captured by Bill Haycock’s superb stage design – and the beauty of Ad Astra’s intimate theatre space is that you feel that you are sitting with the central characters in Maude’s trailer.
Beth Keehn - Stage Whispers | Read more
Other Theatre
Recent designs include Peter Grimes for the Brisbane Festival, Prize Fighter at La Boite, Gloria and The End of the Rainbow for the Queensland Theatre Company, Candide for Opera Queensland and Everyday Requiem, When Time Stops, Carmen Sweet and Seven Deadly Sins for Expressions Dance Company.
Training
Graduated from NIDA in 1978
Representation
Freelance
Awards
Bill Haycock was nominated for a Matilda in two categories at the 2020/2021 awards night in March, 2022.
Bill won the category for Best Set Design.
Nominated - Best Costume Design - Bill Haycock, Of Mice and Men (Ad Astra)
Won - Best Set Design - Bill Haycock, Of Mice and Men (Ad Astra)