Paul Groothuis
Sound Designer

Paul Groothuis was born in Holland and came to the UK in 1979 to study Stage Management at the Central School of Speech and Drama. He then toured the UK as the Sound Operator for David Wood's play The Ideal Gnome Expedition. In 1982 he started working at a recording studio as a tape operator, later becoming the studio's resident engineer.

He has been a member of the National Theatre's Sound Department since 1984 where he has designed the sound for over 100 productions across the National's three auditoria.

Productions include The Shaughraun (Howard Davies, 1988), The Wind in the Willows (Nicholas Hytner, 1990), The Night of the Iguana (Richard Eyre, 1992), Under Milk Wood (Roger Michell, 1995), Flight (Howard Davies, 1998), Antony and Cleopatra (Sean Mathias, 1998), Summerfolk (Trevor Nunn, 1999), All My Sons (Howard Davies, 2000) and The Cherry Orchard (Trevor Nunn, 2000).

He has also designed the sound for musicals such as Sunday in the Park With George (Steven Pimlott, 1990), Sweeney Todd (Declan Donnellan, 1993), A Little Night Music (Sean Mathias, 1996), Lady in the Dark (Francesca Zambello, 1997), Richard Eyre's 1997 revival of Guys and Dolls, Oklahoma! (Trevor Nunn, 1998; NT and West End) and Candide (John Caird, 1999).

He co-designed the sound for the National's production of Carousel (Nicholas Hytner) with Mike Walker, as well as for its transfer for Cameron Mackintosh Ltd, to the West End and Tokyo. Also for Cameron Mackintosh Ltd, he co-designed, with Mike Walker, Sam Mendes' production of Oliver! London Palladium.

Most recently, he was sound designer on Christopher Renshaw's production of The King and I, also at the Palladium.

He was voted Sound Designer of the Year by Live! magazine, 1998.