Awards include
Three Irish Times Theatre Awards
Boston Critics Circle Award
Elliot Norton Award
Francis O'Connor trained at Wimbledon School of Art under Richard Negri. His career in the last thirty years has encompassed work across drama, musical theatre and opera.
Francis has designed numerous plays for the Abbey Theatre,Dublin. The Gate Theatre,Dublin. The National Theatre, London and The Royal Shakespeare Company. He has also premiered much new work with the Royal Court and Hampstead Theatre .
Internationally, designs include productions for Komische Oper,Berlin. Opera Geneva, Opera National du Rhin, English National Opera, Opera North and Spoleto Festival.
He has a long association with Garsington, Buxton and Grange Park Festivals.
His designs for the Minnesota Opera World Premiere of Kevin Putts, Pulitzer Prize winning opera, Silent Night, won much acclaim.
Francis' designs for Jonathan Doves, Pinocchio, for Opera North, were nominated for the prestigious Faust Prize and this production has toured the world.
Francis is perhaps best known for his collaboration with Garry Hynes and Druid Theatre . The many award winning productions they have created have toured widely . These include The Beauty Queen of Leenane, The Leenane Trilogy, Druid Synge, Druid Murphy and Druid Shakespeare.