Life With Bunny Christie: ‘My earliest memories of the theatre is being taken to see Peter Pan in Dundee’

Tony and Oliver award winner, Bunny Christie on her incredible set and costume design, growing up in Scotland and receiving an honorary doctorate from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

I grew up near St Andrews in Fife, in a little village nearby surrounded by fields and  woods. We cycled around and bought Highland toffee chews and Lemonade from  the village shop.  I went to the local School in St Andrews, Madras College. My Dad had a drapers business in St Andrews called Christie’s. My sisters, brother and I all worked there in the clothes shop during the holidays.  

Glen Esk is a special place to me, my grandfather was shepherd there and my family have spent lots of lovely times there cooking on fires, swimming in the Tarf, Ceilidhs in the village hall. The West Coast is stunning when the weather is good. Cape Wrath and the white sand beaches are out of this world.  

I live in London now but I still spend a lot of time in St Andrews and Scotland. I moved to  London to go to Art School which was very exciting. London was much more grotty in the 80’s, it was all Miners Strike and New Romantics and IRA bomb threats.  

I sort of just put up with school. I remember staring out of the window a lot, being quite bored and sitting on radiators. There was a good drama group which I enjoyed, we did a lot of shows and mucked about in the Byre Theatre.

My earliest memories of the theatre is being taken to see Peter Pan in Dundee and they all flew – it was amazing. But I fell in love with design going to The Citizens Theatre in The Gorbals in Glasgow, it was magical. The theatre was surrounded by puddles and demolished buildings. Inside it was all red  and gold and decadent. Giles Havergall in an elegant dinner suit would welcome the audience at the door. Phillip Prowse was designing the most incredible shows with very beautiful actors lying around, draped over the sets, with dark eyes, smoking French cigarettes and looking stunning. 

I’m proud of having had a successful creative career and a family. Working as a  freelancer in the theatre means life is complicated and my partner and I managed to keep those plates spinning most of the time. When I started most of the designers were men and it was complicated to compete and combine the work and working hours with a young family. Its an achievement to be in a position to speak out on behalf of designers, working to make positive changes, recognising designers work and influence on productions.

It was a big surprise to receive an honorary doctorate from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and and I’m honoured to be able to support the training of the next generation of creative workers, especially in Scotland. The Arts is a major UK  business – its what we are world renown for. The RCS is an amazing centre of  music, arts and design. The UK is world leader in the creative industries. The RCS plays a major role in teaching practical skills, developing imagination and bravery needed to enter a thriving, profitable business that has endless possible routes for a huge variety of  profitable careers.  

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime was a very special show. I loved  creating that design and really pushing the aesthetics of the show into an extreme place to reflect the drama of what was going on inside Christophers mind. It felt  exciting to lead the visuals of a production and curate the sensory experience of watching the show. Developing the design from the National Theatre to the West End, to Broadway and on a World tour was challenging and huge fun.  The whole team, director, movement, sound, light, music and performers were all in sync and collaborating together to bring Mark Haddon’s brilliant story to life.  

I would have loved to work on Matilda. It’s is a really good show with a great design by Rob Howell. But I wish I had designed Alexander McQueen’s fashion shows, particularly the 2001 Voss Collection. The show took place inside a mirrored box, the dresses were exquisite pieces made from razor clam shells and feathered birds. His shows were great radical pieces of theatre.  

The best advice I was ever given was find a good rut you love and get stuck in it.

I don’t know if I believe in ghosts but I think we are surrounded by whispers of the past and  sometimes they feel really present and blow in our ears. Theatre’s are particularly full of ghosts of the past – shows, actors, drama and  history. There’s nothing more evocative than an empty theatre after a show. 

Read more from the Life With series here.

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