Gareth Fry

Gareth Fry is a sound designer, best known for his cutting-edge work in theatre. His work includes productions for Complicité, National Theatre of Scotland, at the National Theatre, Bridge Theatre, in the West End and many more. He has also designed numerous exhibitions, such as the V&A’s David Bowie Is, Alice: Curiouser and Curiouser and Diva exhibitions, and events such as the Opening Ceremony of the 2012 Olympic Games. 

He is a specialist in the use of spatial and binaural sound, used in the Donmar’s Macbeth, Complicité’s The Encounter, the BBC’s The Dark is Rising, numerous VR experiences, podcasts and advertising campaigns, including for Bose, Volvo and Land Rover. His work in VR has been featured at the Tribeca, Vienna, Sundance and London Film festivals.

He is a founder of, and spent 6 years as the chair of the Association of Sound Designers (now the ASDP), a charity that works to support people working in, and entering the UK theatre sound industry. Gareth is an honorary fellow of the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. He is the author of Sound Design for the Stage, published in 2019 by Crowood Press. Awards include three Olivier Awards, two Tony Awards, two Drama Desk Awards, two Helpmann Awards, one WhatsOnStage Award, and an Evening Standard Award.

Recent work includes: Rise (opening event for Bradford UK City of Culture 2025); Hamlet Hail To The Thief (Aviva Studios and RSC); Thikra, Night of Remembering (Akram Khan Company international tour); In Pursuit of Repetitive Beats (Barbican’s Feel The Sound exhibition); Our Story with David Attenborough (Natural History Museum/Open Planet Studios); Viola’s Room (The Shed, New York/Punchdrunk); Let The Right One In (South Korea for NTS); Til The Stars Come Down (National Theatre/Theatre Royal Haymarket); Grease (Secret Cinema); The Land of the Living (National Theatre); Lander 23 (Punchdrunk); Paranormal Activity (US tour/Ambassadors Theatre/Leed Playhouse); A Christmas Carol (Sheffield Crucible); Museum of Austerity (Young Vic Theatre); Forsaken (immersive short film at Outernet, London); Player Kings (UK tour/Noel Coward Theatre); Taylor Swift Songbook Trail (V&A); Birds: Brilliant and Bizarre (Natural History Museum); The Sound Inside (Traverse Theatre).

Other work includes: Romeo and Juliet (Almeida); Medea (Soho Place); Diva (V&A); On The Ropes (Park Theatre); A Christmas Carol; John Gabriel Borkman; Bach & Sons; Alan Bennett’s Talking Heads; Beat The Devil (Bridge Theatre); Caucasian Chalk Circle (Rose Theatre); To The Streets (Birmingham 2022); Psychodrama (Traverse); Jungle Book Reimagined (Akram Khan); Bedknobs & Broomsticks (UK tour); The Language of Kindness (Wayward Productions); Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (London/New York/Melbourne/San Francisco/ Hamburg/Toronto/Tokyo); The Encounter; The Master & Margarita; Shun-kin; Endgame (Complicité); The Arrival (Bush Theatre); The Barber Shop Chronicles; Draw Me Close (National Theatre); Still No Idea (Improbable); Invisible Cities (Manchester International Festival); Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Apollo); A Christmas Carol (Noël Coward); Woyzeck (Old Vic); Let The Right One In; Black Watch (National Theatre of Scotland); CBeebies Thumbelina; Nutcracker; Alice in Wonderland; A Christmas Carol (BBC); Wings; The Cherry Orchard; Wild Swans; Hamlet (Young Vic); Boy (Almeida); Othello; The Cat in the Hat; Kneehigh’s A Matter Of Life and Death; Attempts on Her Life; Waves (National Theatre); Road, B; Victory Condition (Royal Court); Othello (Frantic Assembly); John (DV8, National Theatre) and Soundscape Design for the Opening Ceremony (2012 Olympic Games).