Choy-Ping Ní Chléirigh-Ng 吳彩萍 (°1997, they / she) is a Hong Kong-Irish theatre maker and designer of set, costume and video. Ping was born and raised in Enniskerry, Wicklow. They won a Linbury Prize and John Elvery Prize after graduating from MA Performance Design at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School (2021). They have designed for venues including the Abbey Theatre, Bristol Old Vic and Singapore Repertory Theatre. They were a recipient of the Arts Council of Ireland’s Next Generation Award (2022). Their most recent piece of theatre making / designing, WINDOW A WORLD, was co-produced by Dublin Theatre Festival and BUDA Belgium through the EU’s Be SpectACTive! project (2022). Ping was mentored by Susanne Kennedy through Pan Pan’s 10th International Mentorship. They are currently part of a participant in Irish Theatre Institute’s Six in the Attic Programme. They are also supported by the three year Propel Programme Award (2023) with Strollers Network, a partnership made up of ten arts centres across Ireland.

As a theatre maker, Ping writes, directs, designs and occasionally performs. Ping is primarily inspired by their heritage while examining language, colonialism and queerness. They combine this with humour, surrealism and innovative design. Studying Sociology and English Literature at Trinity College Dublin shaped their practice in that they usually begin with informal interviews and research. Their projects include people with and without theatre experience, reflecting their belief that the medium should be open to everyone. Ping was selected for Rough Magic’s inaugural Rough Ideas programme, presenting a work-in-progress of WANDER WANDER WILD WILD 遊遊野野 (2022). It was based on a news story to move 50,000 Hong Kong immigrants to a city in Ireland. WHERE ARE YOU FROM? (2019) was inspired by interviews with their father Chi Wai 子威, staged at the Abbey (Ireland’s National Theatre) and Electric Picnic. MY LITTLE CHINA GIRL (2017) was a nine-hour long piece on the representations of East Asian women in Western media. Ping is also a former member of Dublin Youth Theatre.

Ping sees design as an element that can feel as live as the performers onstage. Their experience is mostly in theatre, but they are particularly interested in live music, dance, opera and design-led work more generally. They have worked as an associate / assistant to Vicki Mortimer, Sabine Dargent and Nina Dunn. Ping is beginning to incorporate meaningful sustainability into their design process where possible, inspired by the Theatre Green Book.

They also enjoy drawing and writing beyond theatre. Their poems have been published by Rookie Magazine.

Choy-Ping Ní Chléirigh-Ng is pronounced: choy ping nee clair-ree ng, like the end of “ring” or “sing.” Credits prior to 2024 were noted with the surname Clarke-Ng.

Photograph: Owen Clarke

Calligraphy (on mobile): Chi Wai Ng 吳子威