elements of theatre

This set design stood out because Yichen utilises foreground and background beautifully. Quite an orthodox way to portray an A/B in the story, really – often set designers split the play space vertically or horizontally when the story requires a split focus, but to see a set split upstage and downstage, and not across, is interesting. The space opens up backstage, and letting in the golden light.

Yichen Li
Eurydice (Gates of Hell), Set Model, 2025

The shadows in the background here make me think of my own memories, as if they’re resurfacing.

Sum Yue (Sammi) Cheong,
Eurydice, Scale Model, 2025

This set, light and projection combined looks almost like a painting. UMAC, the theatre where this was staged, was an integral part of bringing my peers and me out here to Melbourne, to work with the VCA, with Design & Production and to be around your programs, so I have a special relationship with this theatre. My colleague Riski seconded to Richard Vabre, the lighting designer on Cendrillion. I think if we picture a ball, as in Cinderella, we typically think of massive set pieces and an lavish details. I think when we picture a ball in Cinderella, we usually imagine massive set pieces and lavish details. But Ivy Miller took this in a stripped-down direction. Nonetheless, the elements that remain tell the story just right — and the image is powerful.

Ivy Miller (Set Designer)
Production Photograph from Cendrillon, 2025

Again Cendrillon, the colourful nature of these costumes popped. Colourful but not intense – they’re pastel but they don’t die in the light. They’re just the perfect fit.

Maya Anderson (Costume Designer)
Production Photograph from Cendrillon, 2025

This is a bit out of the box, a bit cool. It’s a difficult thing to play with fabric and forms, but they've done this very well with great detail.

Reuben James,
Costume Project: 'Ram Mask', and 'Art Finished Coat', 2024

I believe this egg is the result of a collaboration, an exchange between designer and maker. A design can’t come to life without a skilled maker or realiser. The egg shines through in this picture.

Natalie Lau (Props Maker and Head of Workshop)
Watch On The Rhine, 2025

The depth and textures here are why it’s standing out to me. Without having too many surplus elements. The light is simple and stark, and gives so much intensity to the environment. The light creates illusions of structure supporting the subjects on stage.

Andrew Thompson (Lighting Designer)
Production Photograph from Fountain, 2025

This design really catches the light, and the elevated platform adds a sense of drama. It steps away from naturalism. Like Yichen’s Eurydice, there’s an intriguing spatial division onstage. The movement of the pendant light captures so much transformation, shifting the space from the underworld to the overworld.

Ye Chen,
Scale Model for Eurydice, 2025

Synthesiser draws me in to this piece, and I it evokes lots of emotion. The music combined with the picture takes to me a hospital, and the feeling of something critical. About to happen. I’m on edge.

Lachlan Jones (Sound Designer)
Attempts on Her Life, 2025