Technical Theatre and Performance Design

In this multidisciplinary course you will develop technical, design, and production knowledge and skills for theatre and live performance in the growing and dynamic creative industries. Your real-world experience will be enhanced by learning and working alongside students from our BA (Hons) Theatre Arts course and external partners as you become part of the day-to-day operations of a busy professional venue: Derby Theatre.

You will benefit from being able to draw from the knowledge of a wide range of industry professionals to enhance your networks, relatability and exposure to the industry. There will be opportunities to take part in projects drawn from Derby Theatre’s Arts Council England (ACE) National Portfolio Organisation (NPO) agenda on community, youth and education.    

You will experiment and familiarise yourself with the possibilities of existing and emerging disciplines in the field, such as light, sound, projection, video, digital media, immersive and interactive storytelling, extended realities, AI, stage technology, costume and set design, scenography, production, project and stage management. You will also be supported to explore expanded design practices beyond the theatre stage, such as performance installations, sound installations, interactive audio walks, design-led, site-specific, immersive, socially engaged and devised performances, exhibition and event design in galleries and found spaces.

Take a look at updates from this course on Instagram: @techperformancedesign

The highlights

• Be part of student-driven collaborative productions with our BA (Hons) Theatre Arts course as well as interdisciplinary projects across the School of Arts
• Develop your CreaTech skills (creative skills informed by emerging technologies) and devise, support and design new ways of engaging audiences
• Hands-on experimentation and research will help you develop your own ideas and expertise to become a creative and critical problem solver and multidisciplinary practitioner or artist
• Project management skills will strengthen your capacity to realise your ideas within specific timeframes and enhance your freelance, enterprising and entrepreneurship capabilities
• Opportunities for industry networking events and international collaboration are offered throughout the course and you will be supported to communicate your ideas to diverse audiences and stakeholders 
• Sustainable theatre production, accessibility, inclusivity, civic, and community engagement are at the core of this programme

Expert teaching

The course tutors maintain close industry links and are members of the Association of British Theatre Technicians (ABTT) and committee member of the Society of British Theatre Designers (SBTD), PDEC (Performance Design Educators Collective) and members of OISTAT (International Organisation of Scenographers, Theatre Architects and Technicians). They have links with companies as well as personal contacts with myriad design and technical practitioners currently working in industry and are recognised internationally for their research in the field of performance design.

Practical learning at Derby Theatre

Your course will be delivered at Derby Theatre, a fully equipped, professional theatre and major live performance venue, allowing you to gain valuable industry experience and contacts as you learn. To find out more about the work that Derby Theatre do outside of the University, please visit their YouTube Channel. 

Additionally, you will be taught at our Markeaton Street site and Britannia Mill site and will have access to specialist workshop facilities as well as:

• Computing Laboratories where you will use PC labs to learn about digital media, creative coding and specialist software such as computer-aided design (CAD)
• XR (cross-reality) Lab, a flexible space for visualisation and other projects 
• Multichannel Sound Lab, TV Studios, Music Studios and access to Dubrek Recording Studios 
• Media Loan Hub to loan a range of equipment 
• Digital Design Hub to experiment with a range of techniques and equipment 
• Makerspace student-led workshop

This course is outward-facing and the teaching team have built partnerships with technical and creative partners where students can develop their CreaTech (creative digital) skills whilst demonstrating cultural and commercial impact. 

Derby Theatre - the UK's unique professional, producing and learning theatre

As a Learning Theatre, Derby Theatre provides a unique opportunity for students to learn to their craft by working alongside both academics and theatre professionals in the heart of a professional producing theatre, to develop your skills in technical theatre or performance.  

Students, academics and artists work, create and learn side by side at Derby Theatre. All decisions about the development of both the art and the learning opportunities are made together. At every stage, there is huge potential in the crucible of the arts, learning and research combining to both underpin and inform our future work.   

Derby Theatre provides an extraordinary platform for real life learning to take place, not only through the exciting main stage and studio programmes, but also through the work that the Theatre does with young people, young people in care, emerging artists and the community. Graduates of the programme can also be supported by our Artist Development Programme, In Good Company, which is part of a large regional funding programme. 

Modules, topics and themes

You will work to speculative and live briefs to be part of creative and technical teams working on ‘in house’ productions at Derby Theatre and other venues or environments. Working in Derby Theatre you will get the chance to be embedded and learn from theatre professionals, to work alongside them, to understand how the whole theatre making process works, to have immediate access to staff to ask questions. New Digital and Virtual Technologies, creativity, collaboration, communication, organisation and time management skills are developed at all levels of the Programme. 

As a graduate from this course, you will be a confident designer and/or technician, familiar with the creative possibilities of existing and emerging digital technologies with a particular focus in Theatre and Performance (lighting, sound, video, Computer Aided Design (CAD), Extended Reality (XR) – such as AR and VR; Artificial Intelligence (AI) and content generating tools), low-fi technologies (related to experimental constructions) and tools such as model making, drawing and theatre mechanisms. This course will enable you to use a selection of these technologies fluently. At the same time, you will be equipped with valuable managerial skills including stage management and production management, which will enhance your capacity to realise your ideas within specific timeframes and enhance your freelance, enterprising and entrepreneurship capabilities.

Celebrating student and graduate talent 

The photos above are from the production WELFARE: A Derby Theatre Professional and Community production, a play by Abi Zakarian and directed by Sarah Brigham, Chief Executive and Artistic Director at Derby Theatre. WELFARE showcased the blend of Derby Theatre’s professional produced theatre strand and its community engagement work. This production also embodied the learning theatre ethos and ambition and included 12 University of Derby graduates and current students who took on various professional and non-professional roles, from performing in the show to a range of creative and backstage roles.
 
"From day one our Theatre students are immersed in the busy working life of a professional theatre. They develop the skills and knowledge required of a theatre practitioner, but just as importantly they acquire real-world experience in a working environment that prepares them for employment in the theatre industry." Kit Lane, Senior Lecturer 
 
Photo credit: Pamela Raith 

Please note that our modules are subject to change - we review the content of our courses regularly, making changes where necessary to improve your experience and graduate prospects.

You will work to live and speculative briefs ranging from microprojects to full-length performances, installations and events. Teaching is through a combination of practice-led, studio-based exercises, workshops, performances and lecture or seminar activity.  

You will learn from expert lecturers who are also live performance professionals and artists, as well as from visiting companies, industry professionals and guest lecturers.  

You will be part of creative and technical teams working on ‘in house’ productions at Derby Theatre, and other venues or environments.

Previously, students have had the opportunity to learn by working within their own student-led theatre company with full professional technical support and mentoring.  

In Year 2 working within a group, you will respond to a brief created by your academic team in collaboration with a stakeholder (such as a theatre or tech partner) who is at the forefront of the field. You will be expected to work collaboratively with your peers to realise the brief and reflect critically on your individual experience. 

There will also be the opportunity to take part in masterclass residencies and engage in a variety of field trips that will enhance your learning experience. Field trips in the past have included visiting the Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space, backstage tour and shows at The National Theatre, London gallery visits, and visits and tours at Alton Towers.   

New digital, immersive and virtual technologies, creativity, collaboration, communication critical thinking, organisation and time management skills are developed at all levels of the programme through a variety of briefs.   

Develop@derby will help you build your personal, study and employability skills.  

How you are assessed 

Assessment is through a range of methods including creative portfolios, presentations, written coursework, practical workshops and public performance. 

People you will meet 

You will be taught by practising professionals with expertise in their own specialist areas of technical theatre.   

• Kit Lane – Senior Lecturer. Over 25 years professional theatre experience. Kit has been a Production Manager for over 100 productions in the UK both in London's West End and internationally as well as being a Video Designer with dozens of professional designs nationally and internationally. 
• Cath Badham – Lecturer. Over 25 years as a professional Stage Manager working at theatres across the country including; The Sheffield Crucible, Nottingham Playhouse and The Royal Shakespeare Company.
• Visiting companies, artists and theatre professionals as guest lecturers and mentors will be part of your learning experience. 

2025 entry

These are the typical qualification requirements for September 2025 entry.

Contextual offers may apply to students who meet certain criteria.

English language requirements

IELTS: 6.0 (with at least 5.5 in each skills area)

2025/26

Further information about our fees and support you may be entitled to.

Additional costs and optional extras

Graduate from this programme as a multidisciplinary designer and/or technician familiar with the creative possibilities of existing and emerging digital technologies alongside traditional theatre tools and techniques. You will be able to explore the potential of theatre and performance in both text-based productions and expanding practices such as socially engaged, immersive, site-specific, design-led performance, performance installation, exhibition design, sound design, and event design. This will provide you with the creative, critical, and technical soft and hard skills that are expected at Industry level for becoming a successful free-lancer, employee or progression to postgraduate study. 

Notable Theatre graduates

• Richard Gerver, who studied Theatre Arts at Derby and has become a best-selling author, award-winning educationalist, acclaimed public speaker, and adviser to governments and major corporations across the globe. “There was a sense that anything is possible at Derby," says Richard. "We were studying in an atmosphere where risk-taking, creativity and entrepreneurship were the norm. It gave me a love of learning which has stayed with me.” 
• Dan Clarkson graduated in Technical Theatre in 2016 with a special interest in sound. He has subsequently worked at a number of venues including Birmingham Old Rep and The Donmar Warehouse in London.  He has also undertaken tours with shows as diverse as The Circus of Horrors and Here Come the Boys.

Graduates have also worked in the following roles 

• As Stage, Sound and Lighting Technicians at Sheffield Theatres and Derby Theatre
• As Freelance Stage Managers
• Production Technician at the London Palladium (Disney's Beauty and the Beast)
• Freelance Events Manager with experience at the Tokyo Olympics 2020 and Glastonbury Festival 
• Freelance Theatre Technician with experience working as Technical Stage Staff for Royal Caribbean Cruises
• Community Arts Manager/Performing Arts Technician for a school 
• Freelance Exhibition and Events Logistics Planner with experience from The Peaky Blinders Festival and Fearne Cotton's Happy Place Festival 
• Set Designer for Presentation Design Services, Derby 
• Freelance Designer who gained a postgraduate diploma from the London College of Fashion and has been working on community youth projects at Newcastle Theatre Royal and as a designer and associate artist
• Working in Secondary Education designing school shows following completion of a PGCE 

Contact us

If you need any more information from us, eg on courses, accommodation, applying, car parking, fees or funding, please contact us and we will do everything we can to help you.

Additional information about your studies

Teaching hours

Like most universities, we operate extended teaching hours at the University of Derby, so contact time with your lecturers and tutors could be anytime between 9am and 9pm. Your timetable will usually be available on the website 24 hours after enrolment on to your course.

Course updates

The information provided on this page is correct at the time of publication but course content, costs and other individual course details do change from time to time and are updated as often as possible, so please do check these pages again when making your final decision to apply for a course. Any updated course details will also be confirmed to you at application, enrolment and in your offer letter.

If you are thinking about transferring onto this course (into the second year for example), you should contact the programme leader for the relevant course information as modules may vary from those shown on this page.

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