In this work placement centred course, you’ll learn how to create stage sets, backdrops and props for public performances, television and film.

Course overview

Our industry-led course will give you all the skills you need to create stage sets, backdrops and props for public performances and work on major television and film projects.

Guided by a team of staff who are experienced professionals, you’ll learn all the main workshop practices of the stage and screen industries.

These practices include fundamental painting and texturing techniques, prop making, metalwork and how to use tools and other relevant equipment – such as core computer skill training (specialising in fusion360 and Auto Cad), which will allow you to operate laser cutters, 3D printers and computer numerical control (CNC) equipment.

You’ll then put your newfound knowledge into practice, where you’ll have several work placements – both in College productions and with our industry partners, who create sets and props for some of the country’s biggest productions.

The only course of its kind outside London, it provides a welcoming, safe environment where you can experiment and really push your creative boundaries. You’ll emerge as a specialist in your discipline, ready to flourish in this ever-changing, demanding industry.

Why study this course?

  • You’ll gain an understanding of the techniques, crafts, structures and working methods used in today’s industry. This includes both metal fabrication and carpentry.
  • You’ll train with a team of staff who are highly skilled industry professionals. They offer you not only first-rate teaching, but mentorship and networking opportunities as well.
  • Most of this two-year course focuses on using your skills in a variety of different settings – both in College productions and in placements with our industry partners.
  • These industry partners are companies who work with some of the largest and most prestigious theatres in the UK and abroad. Our partners and supporters include Theatr Clwyd, The Bakehouse Factory, Welsh National Opera, Cardiff Theatrical Services, Bay Productions, Wild Creations, and Bad Wolf.
  • You’ll work alongside other students from our design and stage management departments and interact with those from across our performing arts courses.
  • In at least one of your work placements, you’ll take on the role of scenic arts leader for a production performed here at the College. This role will see you following the design process, working with the designer to produce the necessary costings and paint samples, as well as overseeing and guiding BA and MA Design students on their production placements.
  • Our strong ties with industry also means that your training reflects the latest best practice in TV, film and stage. These partnerships also allow you to easily build a network of contacts, which is crucial to laying the groundwork for a successful career in the arts sector.
  • Our workshop facilities are the largest and best equipped of any competitive conservatoire – and you’ll be working on the same equipment as those specialists in the industry.
  • We keep the cohort numbers small so you’ll get lots of individual support throughout your course.
  • You’ll also develop your leadership and management abilities, giving you the confidence to thrive in a professional environment after you graduate.
  • After you complete your course, you'll have the option ‘top up’ your qualification. You can do this by completing an additional year of study to gain a level 6 qualification as part of our BA (Hons) Design for Performance degree.

Guildford Opera Company is looking for a stage manager on the book to prompt lighting cues for our production of 'Lucia di Lamermor'. You would work with the stage director and lighting technician during production week to deliver lighting states for a live opera performance, and would be required to attend some rehearsals during November to familiarise yourself with the score and lighting cues.

The performance will take place in St Nicolas' Church, Bury Sreet, Guildford during w/b 30 November to 5 December. Technical and dress rehearsals will take place 1 December (evening) and 2 December (afternoon), and performances will be 3 - 5 December (curtain up 7 pm 3-4 December and 6pm 5 December).

Key Information:

For more information and to apply, click the Opportunity Info link below!

Led by Dipo Baruwa-Etti, this three-hour masterclass will explore the process of playwriting from start to finish, with practical tips and insights which will help you to craft your identity as a writer. After exploring a playwright's toolkit, the second half of the session will allow you to put what you have learned into practice.

Attendees will be asked to bring an excerpt of their writing with them to work on with some input and guidance from Dipo. Aimed at early career theatre professionals who have some experience in playwriting. This could be from university, as a private practice in tandem with other creative work, or could be a career pivot. This is not suitable for writers who have written plays that have been staged or fully developed, or for those who have never tackled writing at all. You should have completed a first draft of a play, or a substantial proportion of a play.

This early-career masterclass will help you move beyond your first draft, covering theory and practice, equipping you with exercises and skills to unlock the next phase of your work.

Essential Information:

For more information and to register your interest, click the Opportunity Info link below!

Join a collective of 16-21 year-old young performers and creatives where your ideas take centre stage.

You'll be mentored by Ashlee Elizabeth Lolo – writer, award-winning journalist and facilitator, whose work includes the BBC, Channel 4, National Theatre, Talawa Theatre Company and Birmingham Hippodrome.

Be rewarded for your commitment. Receive £30 per session in All4One vouchers, plus artist workshops, creative mentoring, skills development and great snacks.

Together you'll create bold new performance, produce live events, develop a collective manifesto, showcase your talent and use your voice to make an impact.

This isn't a drop-in. We're looking for young people who are ready to commit, collaborate and create something unforgettable.

Essential Information:

For more information and to apply, click the Opportunity Info link below!

Emma Rice Company Training Programme is offering a unique opportunity for theatre makers aged 18+. The theatre-maker taster is a free, day-long workshop.

In this practical workshop, members of our Tristan & Yseult show team will introduce participants to the Emma Rice Company method. You will play games, learn songs and devise. You will experience first-hand how Emma Rice Company builds an ensemble and creates their critically acclaimed shows.

Actors, singers, musicians, dancers, directors, acrobats, clowns, and theatre-makers are all invited to apply. You don’t need loads of experience, but you do need to be a confident performer.

Essential Information:

For more information and to apply, click the Opportunity Info link below!

Led by award-winning director and writer Tristan Fynn-Aiduenu (Deep Azure, For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When the Hue Gets Too Heavy, Pig Heart Boy) and award-winning playwright and dramaturg Somebody Jones (winner of the Tony Craze Award, finalist for the Women’s Prize for Playwriting), this five-day playwriting intensive will help you kick-start and develop your next piece of theatre. 

Using Tristan's own Tell Me A Tale Method — a practical framework for building story from the inside out — you'll develop a bold script set in the Speculative world (fantasy, sci-fi, horror), working across devising, structure, character, dramaturgy and world-building.

Expect hands-on exercises, elements of embodied practice (no performance experience necessary), and a safe, creative space to explore the fantastical and unlock your writing — including through physical work on your feet.

This intensive is for:

What to expect across the week:

What you'll come away with:

Essential information:

For more information and to book or apply for a bursary place, click the Opportunity Info link below!

After the announcement of its closure, Forest Forge has allocated remaining funds to support local artists and organisations with grants of between £500 – £5,000.

In 2026 Forest Forge Theatre Company announced its closure after 45 years of making and touring theatre in the New Forest. As the journey comes to an end, the team are eager to support artists and cultural community organisations in the New Forest via some small commissions. We hope that by providing small pots of funding we can support sustainability and can seed fund new ideas.

We have ringfenced some of our remaining funds to support local artists and organisations with grants of between £500 – £5,000. We anticipate making between 5 – 10 Forge Ahead Commission grants.

Projects should deliver activity within one of our three areas of activity:

We are also especially excited to support projects and ideas that complement the Forest Forge ethos; those that are playful, heartfelt, joyful and irreverent.

Funds can be used for any number of costs including artist fees, travel, room hire, materials, marketing, training and can be used as match funding.

We welcome applications from:

Projects must:

Key dates:

Grants are made at the discretion of the trustees and decisions are final. Successful applicants will be required to report back to a Forest Forge Trustee after the closure of the company.

For more information, click the Opportunity Info link below!

Join playwright and associate artist Carl Grose and Spymonkey founder and co-artistic director Toby Park as they attempt to crack open the mysterious, maddening and utterly marvelous process of how to go about writing a show for Spymonkey.

Who's it for:

  1. Actors, Clowns and performers keen to develop their writing skills
  2. Solo artists and performer-led companies looking to kick start a new project
  3. Directors and dramaturgs who facilitate collaborations between performers and write
  4. Writers interested in devising, adaptation and other collaborative creative processes
  5. Writers interested in Clown and Comedy

Why we think it is important:

Spymonkey worked for many years as a devising company. We took a huge step forwards in our creative process when we began working with a writer, and as it happens the first writer we ever worked with was Carl, for Oedipussy. It was a revelation, and we couldn’t understand why we hadn’t done it sooner! The writer brings so much to our intensely collaborative process: provocations for improvisation exercises, hot-seating, taking on the task of dramaturgical structure, of character arc, sifting and compressing the hours of improvisation, creative meetings with designers and directors and ridiculous conversations over tea breaks. And of course for the actual nuts-and-bolts of script-writing. Since then we’ve worked with a load of writers, but we keep coming back to working with Carl because he is brilliant and he understands Clown and our Theatre of the Funny.

What will be explored:

  1. We’ll open up the bonnet of the Theatre of the Funny creative process, and give you a tour of the workings of our creative engine. We’ll get our hands dirty. There will be cleaning products available!
  2. An exploration of past collaborations (how we took Greek Tragedy and turned It into a Spymonkey Show)
  3. Finding the ideal starting points and the right source material for original shows and adaptations.
  4. Mining humour, physicality and theatricality in your ideas.
  5. Writing exercises to liberate source material.
  6. Key improvising and devising exercises which we’ve developed over the years.
  7. How to listen to improv (what to run with and what to drop).
  8. How to prepare, how to play, how to polish.
  9. And much more besides!

Please note: There will be writing involved, but we also find it essential to explore writing practically and on its feet. All participants will be encourages to join in the work and support the development of others so writers come expecting to get up and play, and performers ready with their pen (or laptop).

Essential Information:

Calling all university students! Spymonkey are offering a 50% discount on this workshop with the promocode SPYMONKEY50 and Name of Uni.

For more information and to book, click the Opportunity Info link below!

Part of Brighton Comedy Festival, with Kennedy Street Recovery Hub - Find your confidence. Find your community. Find your funny - and maybe even find yourself.

Laughter really can be the best medicine! If you’ve experienced substance use challenges, this unique series of comedy & clowning workshops is for you. Through play, performance, & connection, you’ll discover the healing power of humour – & have a good laugh while you’re at it. Whether you’ve never set foot on a stage or you’re just curious to try something new, Finding Your Funny helps boost self-esteem, build confidence, & create a strong sense of belonging. It’s a safe & supported space to be silly & turn life’s messiness into moments of joy.

Join Spymonkey’s Petra Massey, a world-class comedy performer, teacher, & co-founder of the legendary international comedy troupe Spymonkey. With 40 years of experience in making people laugh, Petra brings warmth, wisdom, & a whole lot of fun to every workshop. Petra will be assisted by the inimitable clown Peter Mielniczek & Kennedy Street Recovery Hub’s Sam Hunt, certified professional recovery coach.

Essential Information:

Taster Session:

If you’re curious but not quite ready to commit, join us for a relaxed 3-hour taster workshop with Petra Massey.

For more information and to book, click the Opportunity Info link below!

What is it that makes you as a performer uniquely funny? How do you share that brilliant, special ridiculousness with an audience so that they are helpless with laughter? 

In this 5-day introduction to Spymonkey Clown we will focus on how to identify and develop that particular quality of Funny that is special to you, and only you. 

You will be supported to develop these comedic skills in a safe, fun and laughter-filled environment. This positive group dynamic will allow you focus on identifying and trusting your best impulses, taking risks, being adventurous, generous and honest as a performer. In this highly enjoyable workshop we will play games and exercises, developing trust and complicity with the group. You will find the pleasure in your own ridiculousness, stay optimistic, discover your comedy gold, and get ready to laugh until your face hurts. 

We will share many of the methods that Spymonkey have found essential over the years in creating Theatre of the Funny: physical games, improvisational games, status exercises, physical comedy routines, chorus exercises and parody.

Essential Information:

Calling all university students! Spymonkey are offering a 50% discount on this workshop with the promocode SPYMONKEY50 and Name of Uni.

For more information and to book, click the Opportunity Info link below!

Read me aloud