29 stories by "Grace Smart"
Webster's dictionary defines 'simple' as free from guile or vanity, or lacking in expertise. And 'effective' as producing a desired effect. Yet,
I can't put it off any longer, so buckle up: today we're going to talk about designer fees. In the interest of
I'm climbing on to my 'why design is important' soap box again, religious iconography and megaphone in hand, ready for another year
Being a freelance designer is like rocking up to a house party and changing the music to your most obscure guilty pleasure.
This month I've been doing Shakespeare for the first time. The shows are currently in rehearsals, having the concept rigorously and rightfully
It's well known that theatre designers are busy. Directors always joke about it. We're always going from tech week on one show
Writing during a furnace-like heatwave has been making me think, unsurprisingly, about being really hot. This year I've worked on quite a
Sometimes, as theatre designers, we're left on our own in the auditorium. Maybe it's a lunch break during tech and we're tweaking
God said: 'Let there be light' and there was light. And God saw the light, and it was good… but the colour
"It's just pastoral care," one designer said to me when I started. "Costume design isn't an art form, it's babysitting actors." This
I'm going to admit a shocking truth that could see me exiled from the design community: if the van with the actors
There is a certain level of irony in the concept of the 'model box presentation'. Designers are possibly the furthest thing from
While studying theatre design in 2011, I desperately learned everything I could to one day get my work on the National Theatre's
Cats. Not the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, but the domestic-pet-turned-furry-internet-phenomenon. They're cute, they're loveable, and they're the hot new theatre accessory to
There's a phrase I've heard a lot this year. I heard it at Improbable's Devoted and Disgruntled get together and at the
Close your eyes and picture a stage. Picture the set " maybe it's a realistic room or an abstract array of colours and shapes.
I should be reading a script, but I'm not, because I find the process scary. It's not a fear that I'll hate
I'm currently in a mid tech-week fog. We're at that point of a production where the activity, stress and lack of sleep
This month I managed to sneak away for a weekend holiday. But just as I was getting into it, the inevitable happened.
I step on to the stage from behind seamless black serge, dressed in a turtle neck. "The future is here," I say.
Recently, I've attended lots of discussions about the current state of theatre design " from the Society of British Theatre Designers conference
"And the whole thing is a whale carcass… because of… fear…" I tail off in a room of creatives stunned into silence.
I'm trying to write this over the snoring of my sofa-ridden partner. It's a Sunday afternoon, and he has been out cold
Lately there has been a lot of discussion about how designers can progress in this business. Whether it's a gap between graduating
What do the clothes you are wearing right now say about you? I have my costume head on, as I'm sitting at
