Design Realisation is about making and painting the scenery and props that have been designed by the set designer. Students following this pathway have good creative and practical skills with strong problem solving abilities. In each year you will develop your skills across prop making, scenery construction and scenic art; by the final year you will be able to negotiate just how much you want to specialise.

"The painting facilities at Guildhall are fantastic - with a fully operational paint bridge, a rare find in London, we were able to paint large cloths and flats for onstage. The equipment we used is the same as you get in the industry, so I felt prepared for my first day of work in a professional environment." Ellen Whelan, Technical Theatre 2009

What you will study

Year One

Along with all other students in the programme Design Realisation students take classes in a broad range of core subjects. These include: Theatre History, Period Style, Contemporary Theatre, Health & Safety and Stagecraft & Production Process. Classes are usually project based and wherever possible have a hands-on, practical approach. For example when studying trends in contemporary theatre we’ll take you to see some shows, and when we’re looking at period styles we’ll take you to galleries and museums to look at examples.

In this year you will also take a core module called Associated Studies, which allows you to take three short courses in other areas of technical theatre such as Stage Management, Lighting, Sound, Event Management, Projection, Costume Supervision etc.

Besides the core subjects you’ll be spending a lot of time in our three well equipped workshops learning how to build and paint props and scenery, and later in the year you will begin to work on Guildhall productions alongside second and third year students.

Year Two

Your second year is entirely practical and you will spend the bulk of your time in the workshops working on the School's drama and opera productions. You will also spend half a term working in one of the areas you studied in Year One Associated Studies. 

Year Three

Third Year students spend two terms in leading production roles. You will lead teams of second year students and take responsibility for productions from initial concept design through to the opening night.

You will also complete a six week industry secondment and complete a Graduation Project.

See some recent secondment examples

Read about career opportunities after graduation

"The workshops at Guildhall are very well stocked and have the best tools and machines which prepared me well for the industry. I'm due to start propmaking for a shoot at Getty Images in the next couple of weeks!" Bea Cockburn-Dench, Technical Theatre 2009