Students from The Northern School of Art have been using their creative set design talents to help produce a children’s creative play installation – on dry land.

The School’s Production Design degree students have used their theatre and film set design skills to work with pioneering children’s theatre company, Theatre Hullabaloo, on its newest creative play installation, Deep Sea Adventures at The Hullabaloo in Darlington.

Devised and designed by renowned scenographer and researcher Roma Patel, the new installation in the Creative Play Space at The Hullabaloo is designed to be a magical interactive voyage of discovery and is aimed at young children aged from a few months to 8 years old.

The new installation, which has already caught the attention of the media, features coral reefs to crawl on and mysterious caves to explore, children will also encounter giant fish which are not quite what they seem.

The eye-catching shoal of iridescent fish and jellyfish were all crafted by The Northern School of Art students, who are on the School’s BA (Hons) Production Design for Stage and Screen degree programme at its Hartlepool university-level campus and .

Following a visit and talk on 26 October at the School delivered by Roma, who has created site specific theatre, performances, projections and installations for several companies in the UK and abroad and whose design for a production of Shakespeare’s ‘Tempest’ (2006) can be found in the V&A Theatre and Performance permanent collections, the students got to work making over twenty sea creatures.

After making a wire frame, the students experimented with a range of materials to create the desired luminous effect for the fish and jelly fish.

Second year Production Design degree student Davi Johan-Singh (pictured left above), from Lincolnshire said: “We finally settled on party-wrapping paper which created the look we wanted and was also very cost effective.”

Her fellow student Annabel Jollands (pictured right above), also from Lincolnshire, said: “The most difficult part was getting the structure to stay together. This project has certainly taught me a lot about the practical side of creating props and turning a design into reality.”

Davi added:

“I’ve learned so much by being able to work on a live project alongside someone as experienced as Roma. It’s been brilliant.”

Roma Patel is delighted with the finished product: “The fishes are wonderful and they light really well, they are definitely an asset to the installation.”

The Deep Sea Adventures project is part of an ongoing collaboration between Theatre Hullaballoo and the Production Design degree programme as students have previously also worked on other creative play installations at The Hullabaloo.

Miranda Thain, Artistic Producer at Theatre Hullaballoo says “We are delighted with the work that students from the Northern School of Art have produced for our latest Creative Play Installation, Deep Sea Adventures.

“Creative Play is a core part of our offer for families at The Hullabaloo and its brilliant to see so many visitors coming to play as a free drop-in activity.

“We are proud to work with such a talented team of young people and know that their wonderful sea creatures will inspire the many children who come to play at The Hullabaloo”

Deep Sea Adventures is at Theatre Hullabaloo, Borough Road, Darlington DL1 1SG until April 2020. Entry is free. For further information and opening times visit Theatre Hullablaoo’s website here

The Northern School of Art’s BA (Hons) in Production Design for Stage and Screen is one of a wide range of specialist creative courses offered at the School’s degree and postgraduate level campus in Hartlepool.

For further details and dates of Open Days offering face-to-face discussions with students and staff and tours of the campus facilities and accommodation visit www.northernart.ac.uk