Award-winning theatre set designs go on show at the National Theatre

"The winners and their designs are currently on display at the National Theatre. The exhibition itself is largely made up of presentation boards introducing the designers and explaining their ideas, offering insights into the thought processes behind creating a set. But it's the scale models that truly steal the show. These miniature stages are exquisitely crafted, packed with fine detail, and a genuine joy to look at."

"Some depict well-known classics, made fresh by inventive staging choices; others represent productions you may never have seen, but whose sets suggest you missed something rather special. You'll spot familiar moments reimagined - even if those aren't really Juliet balconies in Romeo and Juliet (and, whisper it quietly, the original text never mentions a balcony at all). As a collection, it offers an education into an aspect of the theatre that is as much art as it is structural engineering."

The 2025 Linbury Prize winners' designs are presented at the National Theatre, featuring presentation boards and meticulously crafted scale models. Presentation boards introduce designers and explain concepts while scale models provide detailed, miniature stages that combine artistic vision with practical construction. Some models reimagine classics with inventive staging choices; others suggest striking designs for lesser-known productions, including altered interpretations of familiar moments such as non-traditional Juliet balconies. The collection demonstrates stage design as both an artistic practice and an exercise in structural engineering. The exhibition is free on the National Theatre's first floor, open Mon–Sat 10am–11pm, and runs through March.

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