Getting into the head of a serial killer: designing the immersive Hollow Hotel

It's been great to finally get a chance to work with DifferencEngine on The Hollow Hotel. We've wanted to work together since meeting at Theatre Delicatessen's Marylebone Gardens space where I was an associate creative and they ran their first show, Heist.

Working with horror was very new to me. I started the process of designing the show with lots of research, getting into the minds of the characters and the setting as a catalyst for the action. This meant exploring the inner psyche of a serial killer, who not only idolises HH Holmes (whose 'Murder Castle' The Hollow Hotel is based on), but who would also be erudite on all documented serial killers. Our murderer archives their victims as trophies so we researched collectors with a fascination for the macabre and artists who work with found materials to curate characters. My internet search history is destroyed!

The Hollow Hotel takes place on the entire third floor of the Biscuit Factory in Bermondsey. During our first meetings the company and I walked the audience journey, playing with ideas of what rooms could be, investigating the themes of the show and motivations of the killer: power, trust, control, evil. They already had a pretty strong idea of the narrative and audience journey and I took away their rough ground plan and revised it, linking the designs to the building. I love responding to a new location, researching and unravelling stories hidden within its walls and reinterpreting them. It is detail the audience won't be actively aware of but I need to know why this building, what the floors below are, what the timeline of the building is, what happened here. While I'm not a minimal designer everything must be there to serve a purpose; every prop holds a story. I love to explore people's quirks and idiosyncrasies, their repetitive dances of daily routine.

Once they get access to a building, the company need to get the show up as quickly as possible, so I was still designing the detail while other bits of set were being built. I like to get as much of the design in as possible for the first day of rehearsal, so rather than showing them a modelbox the performers get to explore the space, giving them something to respond to and feed back into. We'll then go back in and refocus the rooms to fit the characters. I worked with a phenomenal design team on this show and each of them brought their own unique style and set of influences to the design.

The show will keep evolving through the run so while I'm straight into the next show I'll be popping back when I can to input into it. I'm immensely lucky to be consistently collaborating with creatives and companies who really inspire me. I'm in awe of what everyone brings to a production and am always excited to see a show develop and modify.