Pavel Svoboda
Biography
Pavel Svoboda studied set design at DAMU Prague (MgA.) and photography at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague (VŠUP/UMPRUM). As a set designer, he has continuously collaborated with opera director Jiří Heřman and with director and playwright Katharina Schmitt. In addition to theatre set design, he occasionally works in film, graphic design, and photography.
For productions directed by Jiří Heřman, he created sets at the National Theatre in Prague for Z. Fibich’s The Fall of Arkun (2014), B. Britten’s Gloriana (2012), A. Dvořák’s The Jacobin (2011), R. Wagner’s Parsifal (2011), B. Martinů’s Miracles of Mary (2009), and C. Monteverdi’s Orfeo (2007). Miracles of Mary was also staged in 2010 at the Wroclaw Opera and at the National Theatre Brno (2015). He also designed sets for Schubert’s Winterreise (2013), performed in Studio 4 at Barrandov Studios in Prague as part of the Strings of Autumn festival; Britten’s opera Curlew River (2005), staged in the former Church of St. Mary Magdalene on Malá Strana for the same festival; and for the opera project Lamenti (2004) by M. Nejtek and F. Micieli, realized at the NoD Universal Space in Prague and at Schlachthaus Theater Bern, Switzerland. The production of Lamenti represented the Czech Republic at the Riocenacontemporanea theatre festival in Rio de Janeiro in 2005. At the J. K. Tyl Theatre in Plzeň, he designed sets for Gounod’s Faust (2013), Wagner’s Der fliegende Holländer (2004 – Alfréd Radok Award for Best Set Design), and Saint-Saëns’ Samson et Dalila (2002 – nominated for the Alfréd Radok Award for Best Set Design). At the National Theatre Brno, he created sets for Gounod’s Faust (2017), Dvořák’s The Devil and Kate (2016), and Puccini’s Tosca (2015). He also designed the set for Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro, produced in co-production with the National Theatre Brno, Théâtre de Caen, and the Slovak National Theatre (2025–26).
His collaboration with Katharina Schmitt includes set designs for F. Kafka: The Apparatus (Studio Hrdinů Prague, JOiN Stuttgart, 2025), K. Schmitt & M. Rataj: The Theory of Aphasia (NODO Ostrava, 2020), K. Schmitt: Molyneaux's Question (Studio Hrdinů Prague, EIGEN+ART Lab Berlin, 2018), F. Kafka: A Report to an Academy (Studio Hrdinů Prague, 2018), G. Ligeti: Aventures & Nouvelles Aventures (NODO Ostrava, 2017), J. Němec & E. Krumbachová: The Party and the Guests (Studio Hrdinů Prague, 2015), R. W. Fassbinder: The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (F. X. Šalda Theatre Liberec, 2015), T. Mann: The Blood of the Walsungs (Studio Hrdinů, 2014), S. Beckett: Not I (Studio Hrdinů Prague, 2014), A. Schmidt: Black Mirrors (Studio Hrdinů Prague, 2014), and T. Crouch: England (MeetFactory Prague, 2009).
As a production designer/art director in film, he collaborated with director Jan Vejnar on the short film Figurant (2019 – SACD Best Screenplay Award at Paris Courts Devant 2019; Best Film Award at Int. Usak Winged Seahorse Short Film Festival; Audience Award & Special Mention at Best Horror Film Festival on MovieScreenPro 2020; Best Actor for Denis Lavant at Torino Underground Cinefest). He also worked with director Vít Karas on the TV movie Runners (2010) and the short film Small World (2005 – Fresh Film Fest 2005: Best Czech-Slovak Film; Jaroslav Kučera Award from the Association of Czech Cinematographers).