University News Last updated 22 May 2012
The Theatre, Performance and Event Design course team, along with approximately thirty five other theatre courses in the country, were invited by the Education Department at the Victoria and Albert Museum to select a student and staff member to put a proposal together for an installation on the theme Shakespeare in a Suitcase, as part of a Designing for Shakespeare weekend. The team chose first year student Karolina Bielskyte and course tutor, Lara Furniss, with the brief to create an installation or performance that could fit inside a suitcase. Karolina had just completed outstanding set and costume designs for Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night as part of her course work, and chose to develop these into an installation concept. Karolina and Lara then created a pitch document and sent this to the museum, who would choose only six installations. Two weeks later they were selected.
After an initial site visit and briefing in mid-March, Karolina had four weeks to build the installation. Karolina and Lara travelled to London for the opening on Friday 20th April, where they were filmed and interviewed by the Education Department during the set-up of the installation. Karolina stayed with the installation all through the weekend, interacting with visitors, fellow students and prominent figures within the theatre design and museum world. The weekend itself was successful and Karolina’s installation was very well received.