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Maisie Grace Hourihane 

BA [Hons] Design for Stage + Screen Production Design

I am a Dublin-based and willing to travel production designer. Through this degree programme and professional opportunities, I have applied my creative skills to concept origination, concept art, storyboarding, art direction and graphic design for a tv programme art department. My technical skills are 3D AutoCAD modelling, AutoCAD construction drawings, laser cutting, set model making and architectural model making. My practical skills and experience includes set dressing, scene painting, prop sourcing, prop making and set build. I hope you enjoy looking at my work and get in touch.

The theatre space at the crescendo of 'Mr. Burns' was my main focus for this project. This act takes place 82 years after life as we know it has been left behind. In designing this set there were two leading elements to consider; the set of the Simpsons performance, and the architecture this performance inhabits.
As I was designing 'Mr. Burns' for film I took the opportunity to both showcase and improve my 3D AutoCAD skills. I created a 3D model of the space and added cameras to compose shots and work out how much of the set would be seen.
To address the lighting issue posed by an interior space in a self-declared "post-electric" world, I created an off-centre, valley-like hole in the back wall of the theatre, through which a setting sun would be the main source of light for the performance. This form of destruction tells the story of a space which has been reclaimed by nature.
Using the camera angles I created in my AutoCAD model, I put together storyboards of the final performance in 'Mr. Burns'. These storyboards show how the theatre set could be navigated to tell the story on screen. They also display some of the smaller details of the space, such as the freight elevator facade and the pinrails.
Wanting to create a contrast between the set of the performance and the abandoned theatre it takes pace in, I placed a bright yellow overturned school bus centre-stage in place of the houseboat from the original cartoon. In doing so, the bizarre nature of the performance is framed as entirely unnatural in this increasingly dull, naturalistic world.
Modelling the space and setting up camera angles in AutoCAD allowed me to explore the relationship between the different elements on-stage. Designing this script for film gave me more control over the architecture of this post-electric world.
Designing for 'Mr. Burns' gave me the opportunity to hone my technical drawing skills. Creating these construction drawings informed my design, prompting me to make adjustments to the space. These adjustments meant getting more out of every shot; ensuring every element of the set got time on screen.
My technical drawing skills vastly improved during 'Mr. Burns'. Construction drawings are not an area of my practice I would have been confident in before this project, focusing on this area has allowed me to create drawings which developed and showcase my abilities.
In the opening of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', Athens is in the wake of war, run under an oppressive, patriarchal rule. A boardroom-style table sits centre-stage with a polished black granite finish, reminiscent of war memorials. Mounted on the back wall are bleached antlers, suggesting violence, and Theseus' need to control all he encounters.
The forest in 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' represents the liminal period of rites of passage. Denuded birch trees stand ghostly pale against the black box theatre. Strings of flowers hang between the trees as the young lovers enter this mystical realm of fairies. Trapdoors create an unpredictable, constantly changing environment.
Creating sketch models and concept art over the course of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' enabled me to visualise and work out issues in the design as well as improving my digital drawing skills.
The finale of 'Midsummer', returns to Athens. Flowers and dirt adorn the floor and antlers. Elements from the forest atop an otherwise unchanged space reflects the superficial change in the characters' lives. Although now free to pursue their true love, they're only granted this freedom at the whim of their ruler, an almighty voice that remains.
'Mr. Burns, A Post-Electric Play' and 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'

‘Mr. Burns, A Post-Electric Play’ takes place following a series of nuclear disasters in the USA. In a society made up of survivors, stories from “Before” are rirualised, distorting and taking on new forms as decades pass. ‘Mr. Burns’ culminates in an all-singing, all dancing, operatic version of ‘The Simpsons’ being performed in a disused theatre space. I designed this script for film as I was interested in the relationship between the “Before” and “After”, how a society nostalgic for their old lives may look back with a cartoonish naivety.
‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ by William Shakespeare presents countless avenues for exploration. The most exciting avenue for me is the gender dynamics. Athens represents a misogynistic, oppressive society. The forest is a liminal space where the characters may pursue their dreams in earnest. I designed this piece for stage as it presented the opportunity to create a more immersive experience.


Steeped in Safety: An analysis of the significance of bath scenes in narratives reflecting early memory, rites of passage and death.

‘Steeped in Safety’ studies depictions of the domestic bathtub as occupied space in Western visual culture. In this work I examined five depictions of bathing at home within paintings and films. Through the accompanying use of various philosophies regarding domestic space, memory, rites of passage and corporeality, I drew conclusions as to how the occupied bath services the narratives of the bath scenes I’ve selected. This work dissects the construction of the bath as a safe space and how image makers use and sometimes subvert that idea of safety. I completed my thesis in presentation format, talking through images of the occupied bath under the headings of birth, rites of passage, and death.

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