David Manners
Event Design Director
DAVID CHARLES MANNERS, B.E.M., is a bestselling writer published in English, French, Lithuanian and Turkish.
He trained on stage at the Birmingham Old Rep’ Theatre School and The English Theatre, Frankfurt. Having first learnt to play the piano sitting on his grandmother’s knees to reach the keys, the final composition of his Music degree was a commissioned string quartet for Sir Matthew Bourne’s Deadly Serious.
As a set and costume designer, David created five stage and television productions for Bourne’s Adventures in Motion Pictures, and the first Italian translation of Bernstein’s Candide for Graham Vick at Batignano. He has also made props and costumes for numerous professional companies, including Glyndebourne Opera, where he spent 14 years as company massage therapist and yoga teacher.
David is also a playwright. His lock-down monologue Picture Perfect, performed by Olivier Award winner Liza Sadovy, was taken up by producers Beckman Unicorn and is now in development as a major television production. His most recent musical play, Here at Last is Love, starred international mezzo-soprano Louise Winter, and is one of four new works nominated as Best Production in 2022 by the National Operatic and Dramatic Association [*winner announced on 11th June 2023].
David was awarded the British Empire Medal in the 2022 New Year’s Honours List for his work in India with communities ostracised by the stigma of leprosy through the charity he co-founded, SARVA.
He has worked in the preparation of each GPO season since 2016.
David has spent much of his adult life between the Sussex Downs and the foothills of the Eastern Himalayas, in both of which his mother’s relations still live.