BA (Hons)

Staff Research

Rebecca Pride

rpride@aucb.ac.uk

Hdip in Fine Art

Slade

BA (Hons) Drama and Theatre Studies

Royal Holloway College

Course Leader

BA (Hons) Costume with Performance Design

Rebecca has been focusing her research interests on both Scenography and the specific issues concerning the teaching of the subject.

Recent work as a designer includes productions of Brecht’s The Threepenny Opera, Lope de Vegas’s Fuente Ovejuna!, Schnitzler’s La Ronde, Abi Morgan’s Tender and Andrew Loudens Mary Barton (an adaptation of Mary Gaskells novel) and the 2008 AUCB BA (Hons) Acting and BA (Hons)Costume with Performance Design collaborative production of A Costume Drama.

Rebecca is engaged in pedagogical research into effective teaching methodologies for designers, alongside her work as a theatre practitioner. This work formed the body of her PGCE thesis on the idea of developing ‘ Designer thinking’ amongst student scenographers. The idea of creating ‘The Backstory’ for set and costume design (in the manner of Stanislavski’s ‘Method’), has also been the focus of considerable research by Rebecca. Rebecca is hoping to present a paper on ‘The Role of the Backstory’ at the forthcoming HE Academy Annual Conference in May 2010.

Other research interests include a collaborative project with Dr. Ian Stephenson from Bournemouth University to develop and test a viable software product to aid set designers to quickly and easily produce digital images and ultimately storyboards which incorporate lighting effects within set models.

Adele Keeley

akeeley@aucb.ac.uk

HND Costume for the Screen and Stage

Bournemouth and Poole College of Art and Design

MA Theatre Arts

Nottingham Trent University

Senior Lecturer

BA (Hons) Costume with Performance Design

Adele’s is currently researching the digital platform for costume design communication. Experimenting with new creative techniques for producing costume illustration she has recently had her research published in the book Directors and Designer edited by Christine White. In 2006, Adele conducted a public ‘trial’ at the Society of British Theatre Designer exhibition in Nottingham, ‘Collaborators; Design for Performance’, as part of which she engaged visitors to the exhibition to experiment at drawing with digital equipment in order to record their physical and emotional responses.

Her current research involves exploring digital visual communication tools and social networking sites for long distance fittings and costume realisation. A recent project has seen Adele work with group students to create costumes for a designer based in Canada.

As a costume designer, Adele has been involved on a number of productions, including The Serpent Slayer by the Vision Young People’s Theatre Company (Boscombe Community Arts Centre, 2005) and Within These Walls by CScape Dance Company (Havant Arts Centre, 2006). After being awarded a sabbatical through the Teaching Quality Enhancement Fund (TQEF) in 2007, Adele designed costumes for the postgraduate acting students at the Arts Educational School, London: Tender (directed by James Tillet); La Ronde (directed by Christine Kimberley) and Mary Barton (directed by Emma Reeves and Andrew Louden) using the productions as a platform to further explore her research interests.

Together with other members of the BA (Hons) Costume with Performance Design course team, Adele was a co-organiser of the 2006 Costume Symposium, for the purpose of promoting research in costume and performance held at the Arts University College at Bournemouth.

Graham Cottenden

gcottenden@aucb.ac.uk

BA (Hons)

Theatre Design

Wimbledon School of Art

MA Research and Practice in Costume

Middlesex University

Senior Lecturer

BA (Hons) Costume with Performance Design

A freelance costume maker for over 25 years, Graham’s research interests encompass the cut, construction and styling of male clothing (tailoring in particular) from the late seventeenth to the early twentieth century.

He is currently working on a book focusing on the evolution of male clothing in the eighteenth century using research based on collections of surviving men’s clothing.

Graham lectures and gives workshops on male costume on a regular basis both in Europe and North America. He recently completed a large commission of costume work for the new British Galleries at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London as well as delivering workshops and lectures to staff at the opera houses of Copenhagen and Helsinki. Recent conference papers include ‘Peer Assisted Learning’ (Association of University Administrators(AUA) Conference, Queens University, Belfast, April 2006). He was a co-organiser of, and contributed to, the Costume Symposium held at the Arts Institute at Bournemouth (July 2006). He also contributed to exhibitions staged by the Society of British Theatre Designers and the Association of Courses in Theatre Design at Nottingham University (January 2007); Prague Quadrennial (June 2007) and the Victoria and Albert Museum London (January – June 2008).

Mandy Barrington

mbarrington@aucb.ac.uk

BA (Hons)

Costume for the Stage and Screen

Arts Institute at Bournemouth

Senior Lecturer

BA (Hons) Costume with Performance Design

As International Ambassador for the School of Design, Mandy has worked to promote internationalisation at the AUCB through participating in overseas events and liaising between courses and the International office. Mandy has supported the marketing of the AUCB in Switzerland, Norway, Japan, Korea and Taiwan. Following Mandy’s visit to Korea she has written a proposal for an international collaboration with Dong-ah Institute of Media and Arts that involve fashion and costume students from both countries.

Mandy continues to develop the textile provision and was able to expand her research in laser cutting for costume through the creation of a costume for production of Hamlet for Brownsea Open Air Theatre that incorporates woven laser cut leather embellishment.

This year has seen further research and development of assessment techniques for students of all levels. The aim is to improve the course assessment model and make it clearer and more efficient. This begun with formative assessment forms for Level 4 makers last year, which were then rolled out for all Levels, and developed further for designers mid way critiques. Summative assessment forms for all units have been developed with Adele Keeley and the costume team to ensure parity. With specific focus on each unit assessment criteria and significant developmental comments related to each learning outcomes. A small working group of students are involved to give feedback on the assessment model so far. This is an ongoing project.

Will Hargreaves

whargreaves@aucb.ac.uk

BA(Hons) Drama and Theatre Studies

Royal Holloway College, London University

Senior Lecturer

BA (Hons) Costume with Performance Design

Will continues to practice as a theatre designer alongside his teaching commitments using it to ensure the students’ approach to scenography is informed from a theoretical and practical perspective.

This year his practice-led research has focused on interpreting early 19^th century staging techniques in a grade 1 conservation theatre building for a contemporary audience as part of the theatre’s ‘Restoring the Repertoire’ programme.

Current pedagogical research focuses on deriving a design for live performance from the initial impetus of the performer/audience relationship, leading to a more fluid approach to the performance space.