Making sets modular through collaborative R&D

On May 16th, the ReStage team and the National Theatre brought together designers, fabricators, producers, teachers, students and venues from across the screen and stage sectors at the NT’s Green Store in Bermondsey. Practitioners including the Royal Ballet and Opera, Royal Shakespeare Company, British Film Designers Guild, Re-Scene It, and Scott Fleary shared work they are already doing on modular sets and the discussions identified ways to collaborate on R&D over the next year. The key messages of the day were:

  1. Make R&D normal again: we need to find ways to unlock capacity and funds to enable collaborative R&D

  2. Combine forces: continue to compare and test the different options for modular flats and look to make systems compatible with each other

  3. Make modular fun: Bring sustainability and fabrication ideas into the early design process and give the production team time to play

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Practitioners including the Royal Ballet and Opera, Royal Shakespeare Company, British Film Designers Guild, Re-Scene It, and Scott Fleary shared work they are already doing on modular sets and the discussions identified ways to collaborate on R&D over the next year.