Design

These workshops will be run by the company’s successful costume designers and award winning composer and lighting designer Jules Deering.

COSTUME DESIGN
Primarily looking at the relationship of design and choreography the talk will focus on the importance of costume in telling a story. Often the many layers of meaning that most substantial productions require can be shared between the text, staging and design of a piece. Whether it is to set a place in history, to work against that, to illustrate the ensemble or to represent the symbolism of a piece, it appears that costumes have a greater impact on an audience in physical/visual theatre. As well as looking at the different conceptual ways that costumes can be used, the difficulties of designing for physical theatre and how these can be addressed will be presented and discussed.

SET DESIGN
Company:Collisions began to work with minimal sets for financial reasons and it seems to be coming a style which proves to be more than mere convenience. Looking at the importance of the set, as part of the devising process, the talk will also present the conceptual significance of set (or no set) in physical/visual theatre.  Issues such as the strength and durability of set design in touring a physical theatre production will be covered. In both set and costume design the relationship with the lighting design is of importance and lighting design will be discussed within this context.

MUSIC DESIGN
The original sound track of Company:Collisions’ productions takes high precedence in conveying the meaning and mood of the work. The talk will explore how music can be used to support, heighten and contrast both movement and speech. The students will be provided with a variety of different music in order to select and explore the concepts of sound -track and sound-scape. As much as it is a privilege to work with original sound it is much harder work.  The talk will focus on the importance of the process that the composer and director choose to engage in and the role and place of music in physical theatre.

BENEFITS
The students will gain a greater understanding of the importance of design in physical/visual, symbolic and/or non-linear theatre. Being aware of the limitations and freedom of working with design in this context, the students will also gain greater understanding of the practical needs of design in touring projects. Moreover the students will become aware of the importance of company commitment and working practices when devising a complete show.