Props and Costume Making for Theatre and TV for 15 - 17 Year Olds

Deposit: 28 July - 1 August 2025, Monday to Friday 10 am - 4 pm, one week

Monday to Friday 10 am – 4 pm, one week

Get hands-on experience of designing, casting, mould making and using paint effects to fabricate realistic props and costumes for theatre performances and TV.

This practical and fun course is ideal if you’re interested in finding out what it’s like to work behind the scenes on a theatre or TV project to bring characters to life.

It’s also ideal if you are considering further studies and wish to start your portfolio with a unique and creative project.

Course Description

On this course you’ll design and create a character, producing a prop and a piece for a costume that could be used in a scene on stage or screen.

You’ll create a leather belt for your character, whether it’s for a medieval knight or a gun slinging cowboy, considering the costume breakdown and realism of the piece, giving it a feeling of history to aid in the character development.

Working from an industry style brief, you’ll also create a sculptural headpiece, observing professional prop and costume maker’s work to understand the process they go through in the development of a character, from initial sketches to a finished piece.

During the course you will:

• practise using hand tools for leatherworking, carved foam and latex
• add surface decoration techniques to the pieces through dyeing, stamping, and aging
• make a leather belt using raw vegetable tanned leather with distressed and aged elements
• create a model headdress to make into a mould that reflects your individual interests
• turn your 2D designs into a model and a 3D structure to understand the design process
• work in 3D to create a model, mould and cast replica with paint effects for a realistic finish
• consider how to create a believable costume or prop, whether based in reality or fantasy.

What will you gain?

By the end of the course you'll have imaginative pieces that demonstrate character development, aging and realism for theatre and TV projects.

You’ll also leave with experience of working with various industry materials using a variety of different tools and techniques, with lots of images to add to your portfolio.

Level: Open to all

Entry requirement: You should have an enthusiasm for props, costumes and special effects and an interest in developing your creative and technical skills.

Where you’ll learn: You will be based in the School of Art and Design on the City Campus.

You'll find bright studio and workshop spaces to develop your ideas and create exciting work.

You’ll also have access to our library to use outside of your short course; whilst you can’t reserve or take away books, you are welcome to use them as a resource for research and referencing.

Tutor Profile: Enda Kenny is a costume and prop designer whose work has been featured extensively in TV shows like Game of Thrones, His Dark Materials, Krypton and The Frankenstein Chronicles.

He has also worked on films including Pirates of the Caribbean, King Arthur, The Wolfman and The Golden Compass.

Enda is based in Northern Ireland where he works across a variety of disciplines including leatherwork, millinery, prop costume and costume design.

He has extensive experience of supervising creative teams on projects in the UK, Ireland, France, Morocco, Portugal and Spain.

Need accommodation?

If you're aged 16 or 17 then you can stay unaccompanied with agreement from a parent/guardian.

To support safeguarding, all guests aged 16 and 17 will be accommodated together in the same halls of residence.

The reception and security team are available 24 hours, and there will be a dedicated supervisor(s) during the evenings and mornings, outside of class times.

Guests will be provided with a mobile number for the supervisor(s) during their stay.

If you're aged 15 then you can stay as long as you are accompanied by a parent/guardian.

Find out more at www.ntu.ac.uk/summeraccommodation

Doing your Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award?

This course can count as your Gold DofE Residential.

DofE participants must book both the course and accommodation on campus for this to count towards your Gold Award.

Looking to turn your one-week course into a two-week experience?

If you can match this with any second course, you’ll receive a 10% refund on your course fees.

You might be interested in:

Theatre Design for 15 - 17 Year Olds

Special Make Up Effects for Theatre and TV for 15 - 17 Year Olds

Any questions?

Contact the short course team:

Email: [email protected]

Tel: +44 (0)115 848 2813