I am a Swedish-Irish Set and Costume designer based in Dublin, working across theatre, dance, opera, and occasionally other artforms. I thrive when collaborating on vibrant, expressionistic work, where design co-authors the world, by propelling and provoking. My portfolio can be viewed at mollyocathain.com.
Notable designs include Constellations (Gate Theatre, Dublin), Bajazet (Irish National Opera/Royal Opera House, Oliver Award nominee), The Playboy of The Western World (Dublin Theatre Festival/The Lyric Belfast), An Octoroon (The Abbey Theatre) and To The Lighthouse (The Everyman/Hatch Productions). As Production Design Assistant at The National Theatre (UK), I Collabortated with Bunny Christie on The Welkin and Fly Davis on Ocean at the End of the Lane.
In 2020, I was an Artist in Residence at Mermaid Arts Centre, where I created my first design-led piece, Ebb.
During the pandemic, my Parental Pandemic Portraits gained recognition in The New York Times, The Guardian, Channel 4, and RTE.
I am a co-founder of Malaprop and the designer of all our 7 works to date, including HOTHOUSE, which premiered in 2023 and won ‘Best Design’ award at The Dublin Fringe, 2023. Our work is bold, playful, and genre-spanning. We use low-fi theatre to challenge, delight, and speak to the world we live in (even when imagining different ones).