David Fleischer

Set Designer

David is an award-winning production, stage and costume designer, working with leading theatre, dance, ballet and opera companies. His practice spans various genres and forms, creating works distinct for their theatrical ambition, visual elegance and acuity.

David has developed , created and toured pieces locally and internationally, working with companies including Sydney Theatre Company, Sydney Dance Company, Opera Australia, Sydney Chamber Opera, Pinchgut Opera, Melbourne Theatre Company, Queensland Ballet, Queensland Theatre, Griffin Theatre, Belvoir St Theatre, Malthouse Theatre, Darlinghurst Theatre, The New Theatre, Milkcrate Theatre, Black Swan State Theatre Company, Dark MOFO and Brisbane Festival, among others. His work has been recognised with numerous industry awards and appointments including The Berlin Music Opera Award, the Kristian Fredrikson Fellowship and the Thelma Afford Award for Costume Design in Stage and Screen. He was co-resident designer for Sydney Theatre Company through 2012-2013, and continues to teach as an associate lecturer for the National Institute of Dramatic Arts (NIDA).

David’s extensive work in theatre includes Into the Shimmering World, Oil, The Seagull, RBG; Of Many One, Death of A Salesman, Blithe Spirit, Cat On a Hot Tin Roof, The Harp in the South, The Deep Blue Sea, Saint Joan, Top Girls, Chimerica, Speed The Plow, The Golden Age, Children of The Sun, Travelling North, Romeo and Juliet, Australian Graffiti, Machinal and many more for Sydney Theatre Company including Playing Beatie Bow, the first production in the recently renovated Wharf Theatres; Love and Information, Calpurnia Descending for Malthouse Theatre; Myth for Melbourne Theatre Company; A Room Of One’s Own, Opening Night, Hedda Gabler, Woyzeckfor Belvoir St Theatre; The Brothers Size, Between Two Waves, The Sea Project for Griffin Theatre; Scenes from a Marriage and Hedda for Queensland Theatre.

His opera credits include Aida for Opera Australia; The Rape of Lucretia for Sydney Chamber Opera, which was also performed as part of Dark MOFO in Tasmania; Griselda and L’Amant Jaloux for Pinchgut Opera. David is currently designing the costumes for Gilgamesh – a co-production between OA and SCO.

David’s work in dance includes multiple productions for Sydney Dance Company choreographed by Rafael Bonachela including Impermanence (featuring the Australian String Quartet), Ocho and Ab[intra] – many of which continue international tours to dance festivals around the world, including an upcoming showing at the Kennedy Centre in 2024. Other credits include the company’s first New Breed season of Pictures of a One Night Stand as well as Safety in Numbers for FORM Dance Projects. David has recently premiered My Brilliant Career for Queensland Ballet, choreographed by Cathy Marston

His credits in music theatre include Boundary St (as associate designer) for Black Swan and Brisbane Festival; Der Gelbe Stern at the New York Musical Theatre Festival; Kiss of The Spiderwoman, No Way to Treat a Lady for Darlinghurst Theatre; and more recently Fangirls for Belvoir St Theatre, which has continued multiple national tours in 2021 and 2022, as well as a new version in the U.K. for the Lyric Hammersmith and Sonia Friedman Productions.