- Specialist tuition from established team of professional design practitioners
- Input from visiting professionals from around the world
- Design positions in up to two College productions ranging from drama to musical theatre and opera
- Professional work placement opportunities
- Public exhibition of your work for one week in Cardiff and four days in London, including industry nights for an invited audience of potential employers
- Final component a formal Dissertation at the end of Year 2 or the completion of a reflective portfolio based on your professional engagement after three years with support and mentoring from College tutors
Through intensive practical and performance-based training delivered in a conservatoire setting, this course provides a challenging introduction to the theory and practice of performance-related design in preparation for a career in the theatre and/or its related industries.
First year modules introduce a broad range of practical skills including technical drawing, CAD, Sketchup, model making, pattern cutting, costume construction, millinery, tailoring, scenic art and props-making. Practical projects include collaborative Costume, Props and Puppetry.
A Foundation of Design module during the first term, provides structured introductions to the theoretical and professional processes relating to research for design, practical design development, and the realisation of finished designs.
Research skills are developed through lectures, seminars and field trips focussing on important developments in the history of theatre, art, architecture, design and costume. You will be required to present your research through seminars, essays, and a third-year Research Project.
In the spring term of the first year, you will work individually and as a part of a team to create a ‘costume as performance’ event in collaboration with stage management students.
A series of conceptual and specialist study projects then enable you to apply your skills and explore your creative identity unhindered by practical limitations. You will design set and costumes for a classic text in a given traditional theatre, working with a tutor in the role of director and with additional staff providing practical guidance. You will also explore puppetry techniques, equipping you for possible placements within the large-scale, site-specific productions staged each summer by the Design for Performance department.
Under the guidance of your tutors, you will identify particular strengths and interests to develop through advanced skills classes, conceptual projects and performance-based work throughout the second and third years.
As a member of a team on College productions, you will be expected to shoulder increasing levels of responsibility as you progress through the second and third years of the course. In the second year, you will work in roles such as design assistant, scenic artist, prop maker, costumer maker or milliner, depending on your area of specialism. During the third year, possible roles include that of designer, or a senior role within the realisation team for a College production.
The third provides you with the opportunity to undertake work placements across the industry. The final module of the course is the development of your professional website and the presentation of a major exhibition of your practical and project work, collated and refined over the three years. You will work individually and as part of a group to create a showcase for potential employers in Cardiff and in London.
Studying on the Design for Performance pathway of the BA (Hons) Theatre Practice course, you will:
- Be prepared to work creatively and professionally as a set and costume designer
- Receive intensive design training with industry-wide interaction
- Develop skills through speculative and realised performances at Central
- Collaborate with performers, directors, other designers and production team.
The course develops practitioners with a strong sense of direction and identity, and an ability to think conceptually. From the first year you undertake speculative design projects that will challenge and test ideas in a broad range of performance contexts, from text-based drama to opera, dance, site-specific performance and installations, under the guidance of professional directors, designers and choreographers.
Are you interested in Hair, Make-up or Costume? Then step this way!
The Extended Diploma in Production Arts covers Theatrical Hair, Make-up and Costume Design for performers. You will have links to our Hairdressing, Beauty, Art and Design and Fashion teams. You will study units such as: Fantasy Hair, Period Hair & Wig Making, Applying Make-up, Special Effects Make-up & Prosthetics, Designing Costumes and Period Costumes for Performance. During the course, you will work with Performing Arts students to create and apply Hair, Make-up and Costume for a variety of performances.
Some of the major innovations in performance practices over the past hundred years have been drawn from scenographic developments.
Drawing from past and present approaches to performance design, these Scenography courses are concerned with exploring dynamic and innovative interplays between the body, space and time further informed by a variety of disciplines including sculpture, digital media, puppetry, choreography, film, architecture and sound.
Some of the major innovations in performance practices over the past hundred years have been drawn from scenographic developments.
Drawing from past and present approaches to performance design, these Scenography courses are concerned with exploring dynamic and innovative interplays between the body, space and time further informed by a variety of disciplines including sculpture, digital media, puppetry, choreography, film, architecture and sound.
MA Theatre and Performance Design at Wimbledon College of Arts invites you to engage with contemporary ideas and research within the field of theatre, performance and entertainment, and will prepare you for the continually evolving nature of the industry.
MA Theatre and Performance Design offers you studio-based vocational training. As a freelance theatre and production designer the course will develop your skills and approach to collaboration, technology and storytelling.
Theatre is unquestionably a collaborative art form and, as such, collaboration lies at the heart of each project on this course, whether speculative or realised.
You will be immersed in the collaborative nature of theatre and performance practice, where theatre refers to every form of live performance which exists in the long history of storytelling. You will have the opportunity to build ideas, proposals and events with other makers.
The course will train you to become a theatre and production designer who makes dynamic, innovative environments that connect your audience to the performance. We will prepare you to contribute to the continuing development of the performance space as a place for social interaction and debate.
You will explore the production techniques and methods, both historical and contemporary, as employed by designers working in industry, to express the content of a live performance.
With a strong emphasis on live, real-time performance, you will learn skills related to organising and developing effective models for delivery. You will encounter performance design and fabrication techniques, as practiced in industry, to enhance your understanding of design and production processes. Advanced techniques and research ideas will build upon your vocational training. These will encourage transdisciplinary, practical approaches to creating potential future theatres of practice.
BA Theatre Design at Wimbledon College of Arts focuses on set and costume design. The course also introduces you to other areas of design for performance such as video projection, lighting and sound design.
The BA Theatre Design course focuses primarily on set and costume design for live performance but also covers sound, lighting and video projection design. Students are encouraged to be proactive and to develop their own focus within these core design areas.
As well as having a range of practical skills, theatre designers must be good communicators and collaborators. They must be enterprising, curious and agile problem solvers.
The rich mix of practice and theory on the BA Theatre Design course ensures that experimentation and critical thinking are equally valued. Students are given the tools to enable them to make considered design decisions in relation to text, music and the core themes and concepts of live performance.
BA Production Arts for Screen at Wimbledon College of Arts offers a unique combination of design and digital production skills for film, television and other screen-based media.
You will learn how to use design and technology to shape innovative ideas that drive the visual identity of film, television, animation and computer games.
Explore all aspects of contemporary design practice for theatre and the live performance, including set and costume design; construction; digital technologies and design; lighting design and audio visual; site-specific design; puppetry; heritage installation; and design for community and education. The course is facilitated by the highly skilled team of staff and technicians who have years of professional and academic knowledge.
Key features:
You’ll have the opportunity to complete a work experience placement of up to a year in length. Dependent on the duration of your placement, you could gain an additional Diploma or Certificate in Professional Practice.
This course is a member of the Performance Design Education Collective (PDEC), and the Society of British Theatre Designers (SBTD). Through these, we are also a member of the International Organisation of Scenographers, Theatre Architects and Technicians (OISTAT).
Our facilities promote collaboration and innovation. You’ll be working alongside artists, designers, photographers, illustrators, animators, and filmmakers.
All first-year students within the Nottingham School of Art and Design will work together on a joint project.
Study in dedicated facilities, including a studio theatre, construction and paint workshops, and large teaching spaces.
Work on live projects with industry such as The Royal National Theatre, Birmingham Opera Company, The National Trust and Nottingham Playhouse.
Go on study visits for inspiration, research, and experience, including live performances, museums and heritage and educational organisations.
Enter competitions set by organisations such as The Royal National Theatre’s Connections festival, and the Linbury Prize.
During your time here, you will be given the opportunity to showcase your work to members of the creative industries.
Opportunity to apply for a European or international exchange to one of our partner institutions, such as Ryerson University in Canada.
