Shady Dolls

Secondment into Knowledge
LDA Case Study.

The college, through the LDA project “Secondment into Knowledge” has developed a sustaining link with the Shady Dolls Theatre Company, which was established in June 2004. The company comprises of four permanent female actors, and they have created a repertory of productions that included the European premiere of Erin Cressida Wilson’s The Erotica Project at The Greenwich Playhouse in 2005 and Steven Dykes’s Homestead at The Courtyard, Covent Garden in 2006. New writing, in 2007 the company commissioned Steven Dykes and Paul Englishby (acclaimed composer of the RSC’s recent hit musical The Merry Wives of Windsor) to create ensemble piece The Spoils, which performed at the Edinburgh Festival to high acclaim is now waiting for funding to tour London and the south east and its development as a video DVD

The secondment has provided the artistic director of Shady Dolls and the company with access to the tools and academic expertise of the college; for their company to consider and develop lighting design skills and the concept and use of video projection in live performance. The secondment aims to provide the artistic director with knowledge, understanding and practical skills necessary to develop design concepts for their new and existing repertory of productions by using new and emerging lighting techniques and more advanced use of video technologies. The College’s purpose built lighting laboratories provide a structured environment for the development and exploration of the technical and design skills in this area of professional theatre.

Shady Dolls mission is to create accessible and inclusive theatre from a feminine perspective. They aim to educate and inspire through producing provocative new writing and re-examining classics.
For information about Rose Bruford College’s Knowledge Activities visit:
www.theatrefutures.org.uk or email [email protected]