Postgraduate Courses
Bristol Old Vic Theatre School
Over three intensive terms, you will acquire a broad range of skills in both design and making, develop an impressive professional portfolio, and see your design work realised in a stage or screen context. Specialisation options include set design and construction, costume design and making, lighting or projection design, prop and puppetry design, design for screen, or event design, amongst many other options.
1-3 Downside Road, Clifton, Bristol BS8 2XF
University of Leeds
Taught in the School of Performance & Cultural Industries at a top 100 QS World-ranked University, the MA Performance Design course explores scenography and performance-making that is informed by current research and innovative practices including immersive and participatory forms of performance design, design-led performance, audience experience and contemporary spectatorship. You will extend your own creative practice through developing an understanding of the theories and concepts of scenography and discovering how to shape live performance and generate meaning for contemporary audiences.
We are a world leader in the training of designers for performance producing Golden Globe, Tony & BAFTA-winning graduates. Our graduates are regularly honoured at the prestigious Linbury Prize for Stage Design We offer immersive, hands-on practical and ‘fit for the future’ training and have built strong relationships with major UK arts companies in film, TV, and theatre. Recent student & graduate film and TV credits include Willow, Havoc, His Dark Materials, Sex Education, Winter King among others. and get the chance to work with some of the country’s leading theatre, opera and dance companies and to exhibit at the National Theatre. We can offer placement opportunities with renowned venues like Royal Opera House, National Theatre, Sherman Theatre and Royal Shakespeare Company among others. Our in-house production company, the Richard Burton Company, produces around 24 productions a year which offer our students cross-course collaborative opportunities Our design students create their design work for public performances, working with directors, actors, musicians’ singers and stage managers. The performances range from classic dramas, specially commissioned plays, main stage musicals, large-scale operas and, uniquely for design, site-specific puppetry. We offer regular talks and visits by leading international practitioners like RWCMD Fellows Pamela Howard and Paule Constable. We have a high ratio of staff to students with lots of dedicated one-to-one training and mentoring available to our students.
MA Design for Performance pathways in: Set & Costume Design; Costume Design & Construction: Set Design; Scenic Arts & Construction; Prop Design & Build; Lighting Design: Sound Design; Digital & Media Design.