Samal trained at the Central St. Martins College of Art & Design. He won the 2009 Linbury Prize for Stage Design and the Thorvald Poulsen av Steinum Award in 2007, as well as being nominated for a Total Theatre Award in 2009.
Current Work includes:
Quiet Songs
Barbican / Oedipa
Finn Beames
Theatre & Opera
Till the Stars Come Down
National Theatre
Bijan Sheibani
Castle of Joy
Barbican / Det Ferösche Compagnie
Búi Dam
The Cord
Bush Theatre
Bijan Sheibani
Sons of the Prophet
Hampstead Theatre
Bijan Shebani
Tosca
Associazione Arena Sferisterio
The Arrival
Bush Theatre
Bijan Shebani
Don Giovanni (Set)
Teatro Dell'Opera Di Roma
Graham Vick
Paria
Teatr Wielki, Poland/ Poznan Opera House
Graham Vick
Nominated for Best Rediscovered Work for International Opera Awards 2020
The Marriage of Figaro
Teatro Dell'Opera Di Roma
Graham Vick
Dance Nation (Set)
Almeida Theatre
Bijan Sheibani
Anthropocene
Scottish Opera
Matthew Richardson
Nominated for Best World Premiere for International Opera Awards 2020
Tell Me The Truth About Love
Streetwise Opera
Bijan Sheibani
Circle, Mirror Transformation
HOME, Manchester
Bijan Sheibani
Beowulf
Unicorn Theatre
Justin Audibert
Carmen (Set)
Teatro Dell'Opera Di Roma
Dir: Valentina Carrasco
Composer: Bizet
Composer: Bizet
Y Twr / The Tower
Music Theatre Wales
Dir: Michael McCarthy
Cosi Fan Tutte
Teatro Dell'Opera Di Roma
Dir: Graham Vick
You Got Older
RADA
Dir:Bijan Sheibani
Fidelio (Set)
Bucharest National Opera
Dir: Graham Vick
Hamlet
Gothenburg Opera
Dir: Stephen Langridge
The Devil Inside
Scottish Opera / Music Theatre Wales
Dir : Matthew Richardson
Composer: Stuart MacRea
Composer: Stuart MacRea
Nominated for Achievement in Opera at UK Theatre Awards 2016
Svadba
Aix en Provence
Dir : Ted Huffman / Zach Winokur
Be With Me Now
Aix en Provence
Dir: Julien Fisera
Tosca
Opera Østfold, Norway
Dir: Michael McCarthy
Composer: Puccini
Composer: Puccini
Falstaff
Bucharest National Opera
Dir: Graham Vick
Composer : Verdi
Composer : Verdi
Eugene Onegin
Theatre an der Wien an die Kammeroper
Dir: Ted Huffman
Composer: Tchaikovsky
Composer: Tchaikovsky
The Four Towers
Nordic House Faroe Islands
Chor: Bui Roach
Dir: Samal Blak
Dir: Samal Blak
Sound of Yellow
Clare Studio, Young Vic
Dir: Matthew Xia
Khovanskygate
Birmingham Opera Company
Dir: Graham Vick
Composer: Mussorgsky
Composer: Mussorgsky
Winner Best New Production at International Opera Awards 2015
Les Mamelles de Tiresias
Festival d’Aix-en-Provence/ La Monnaie / Valencia
Dir: Ted Huffman
Composer: Poulenc
Composer: Poulenc
Il Giasone
English Touring Opera
Dir: Ted Huffman
Composer: Cavalli
Composer: Cavalli
Agrippina
English Touring Opera
Dir: James Conway
Composer: Handel
Composer: Handel
Simon Boccanegra
English Touring Opera
Dir: James Conway
Composer: Verdi
Composer: Verdi
The Siege of Calais
English Touring Opera
Dir: James Conway
Composer: Donizetti
Composer: Donizetti
Cosi Fan Tutte
English Touring Opera
Dir: Paul Higgins
Composer: Mozart
Composer: Mozart
Most of the Boys
ROH2, Royal Opera House
Dir: Ted Huffman & ZackWinokur
Composer: Sasha Siem
Composer: Sasha Siem
L´incoronazione di Poppea
Royal Collage of Music & English Touring Opera
Dir: James Conway
Composer: Monteverdi
Composer: Monteverdi
Les Mamelles de Tiresias
Aldeburgh Music / Festival d’Aix-en-Provence/ La Monnaie
Dir: Ted Huffman
Composer: Poulenc
Composer: Poulenc
Ghost Patrol
Scottish Opera & Music Theatre Wales, UK Tour
Dir: Matthew Richardson
Composer: Stuart MacRae
Composer: Stuart MacRae
Winner of South Bank Sky Arts Award for Opera 2013
In The Locked Room
Scottish Opera & Music Theatre Wales & UK Tour
Dir: Michael McCarthy
Composer: Huw Watkins
Composer: Huw Watkins
Moon
Seoul, South Korea
Dir: Tony Graham
Afenginn – Decenniale
Husets Teater, Copenhagen
Dir: Samal Blak
Life is a Dream
Birmingham Opera Company
Dir: Graham Vick
Composer: Jonathan Dove
Composer: Jonathan Dove
The Importance of Being Earnest
Riverside Studios, London
Dir: Iqbal Khan
Composer: Adam MacGuinness & Zia Moranne
Composer: Adam MacGuinness & Zia Moranne
Pinocchio
Sjónleikarahúsið, Faroe Islands
Dir: Egi Dam
Jerwood Opera Writing Program: 10 Short Operas
Aldeburgh Music UK
Led by director Stephen Langridge and writer Stephen Plaice
Cowardy Custard
UK Tour
Dir: Paul Foster
Composer: Noel Coward
Composer: Noel Coward
The Kissing Dance
Jermyn Street Theatre
Dir: Lotte Wakeham
Composer: Howard Goodall
Composer: Howard Goodall
Macbeth
Geurilla Theatre Seoul, South Korea
Dir: Alexander Zeldin
Pins and Needles
The Cock Tavern, London
Dir: Rachel Grunwald
Composer: Harold Rome
Composer: Harold Rome
Budam
Festival Les Boréales – Comedie De Caen, France
Composer: Budam
How To Be Another Woman
Gate Theatre, London
Dir: Natalie Abrahami
Otello
Birmingham Opera Company
Dir: Graham Vick
Nominated for the 2010 RPS Music Award for Opera and Music Theatre
Antoine and the Paper Aeroplane
Disk Theatre (DAMU), Prague Quadrennial / National Museum Singapore / Edinburgh Festival
Co director: Samal Blak
Don Giovanni
Central St Martins showcase, in collaboration with English Pocket Opera Company
Dir: Ian Mackenzie-Thurley
Composer: Mozart
Composer: Mozart
The Madman’s Garden
Kultuurikatel, Tallinn
Dir: Robert Annus
Composer: Sunleif Rasmussen
Composer: Sunleif Rasmussen
Film & Television
Aldan Reyð
Orka Music Video
Dir: Heiðrikkur á Heygum
Piperaceae
Short animation film, Busaba commission
Dir: Samal Blak & Myro Wulff
Burlesque Fairytales (Mask maker)
Double Barrel Productions, Feature Film
Dir: Susan Luciani
Piøppa & Goffi
Faroese Television
Rógvi & Drekkin
Faroese Television
Til the Stars Come Down (National Theatre)
The Cord (Bush Theatre)
Castle of Joy (Det Ferösche Compagnie)
Fidelio (Bucharest National Opera)
Falstaff (Bucharest National Opera)
Hamlet (Gothenberg Opera)
The Devil Inside (Theatre Royal Glasgow, UK Tour & Tapestry Opera Toronto)
Khovanskygate (Birmingham Opera Company)