Mr Simon Banham

BA (Hons)

Mr Simon Banham

Reader in Scenographic Studies

Contact Details

Profile

Simon Banham has spent the past 30 years working as a freelance Scenographer/Theatre Designer. He was Head of Design (1991-1995) at Contact Theatre, Manchester, and has a long and continuing relationship with Music Theatre Wales. Most of his current work is with Quarantine, the company he co-founded with directors Richard Gregory and Renny O'Shea in 1998.

Since September 1999 he has taught in the Department of Theatre, Film and Television at Aberystwyth University.

Additional Information

Appointed Commissioner for Weather and Scenography PQ15 at the Prague Quadrennial International Performance Design Exhibition 2015

The Persians designed by Simon Banham/Mike Brookes for National Theatre Wales won the TMA (Theatre management Association) 'Best Design 2010' award.

Greek designed by Simon Banham) for Music Theatre Wales was awarded 'Outstanding Achievement in Opera' for 2011 presented by Theatre Awards UK.

Teaching

Module Coordinator
Tutor
Lecturer

Scenography and Theatre Design.

Research

Scenography as a co-author in the creation of performances. Scenography as alternative and co-dependent 'text', with Quarantine theatre company: issues and territory surrounding working with 'experts of the everyday', untrained performers, creating a highly theatricalised anti theatrical aesthetic, relational environments, and a desire to create 'situations' in work that is situated on the borders of theatre and dance. The integration of a relational scenography within the creation and commissioning of contemporary Opera/music Theatre.

Publications

The Golden DragonBanham, S. 2016
Summer, Autumn, Winter, SpringBanham, S. 2016
WallflowerBanham, S. 2015
Dawns YsbrydionBanham, S. 2015
Maybe we will understand it once we’ve made it…Banham, S. 2015 In : Theatre and Performance Design.1, 1-2, p. 94-106
The TrialBanham, S. & McCarthy, M. 2014
SummerBanham, S. & Gregory, R. 2014
Luci Mie TraditriciBanham, S. J. 2013
The Reading RoomBanham, S. J. 2013
Eight Songs for a Mad KingBanham, S. J. 2013
PingBanham, S. J. 2013
Staging SpacesBanham, S. 2012
The people in the roomBanham, S. 2011 No more Drama. Crawley, P. & White, W. (eds.). Project Press
Entitled: Scenographic design work for Quarantine Theatre Company considering how might we explore theatrically experiences of hope, privilege and disappointment, and negotiate, on and off stage, the impossibility of trying to arrive at a point of completion or perfection. Banham, S. J. 2011
GreekBanham, S. J. 2011
In the Penal ColonyBanham, S. 2010
The Slightest MovementBanham, S. 2010
The Persians: A production of a new version of Aeschylus’s The Persians: presented in the opening programme of National Theatre Wales (NTW). It involved the convergence of the approaches of site-specific work and of attendant devised performance and physical theatre, with those of scripted drama and conventions of stage practice; the application of advanced media and technology in a landscape setting; and levels of involvement for audiences in restricted contexts, outside the constraints of public licensingPearson, M. J., Brookes, M. & Banham, S. J. 2010
Impossible things before breakfastBanham, S. 2010
La TraviataBanham, S. 2010
Make Believe/Impossible Things Before Breakfast: Quarantine co-production with Contact Theatre, Manchester (Supported by the Arts Council England) The researcher’s design work questions how we separate the 'real' from the 'made up' in a theatre by utilising a meta-theatrical frame to illuminate the ordinary and mundane, provoking an examination of notional “realities”: in this case those from which our beliefs/attitudes are formed. Banham, S. 2009
Talk given at the 'Out of the Box and Dusted Down: Foraging and Findings' SeminarBanham, S. 2009 Prifysgol Aberystwyth | Aberystwyth University
For You: Scenographic design work for Music Theatre Wales’s opera, supported by the Arts Council of Wales, Arts Council England, Esmee Fairbairn Foundation, the PRS Foundation, and the Paul Hamlyn Foundation. Part of the researcher’s developing body of design work that is advancing current scenographic and performance thinking applied to the particular performance structure of contemporary opera. Banham, S. & Wales, M. T. 2008
Old People, Children and Animals: Scenographic design work for Quarantine Theatre Company extending the researcher’s canon of work with Quarantine in developing new thinking and practices of performance, involving innovative and creative scenographic research that extends the range, depth and application of current scenographic thinking. Banham, S. 2008
The Soldier's SongBanham, S. & O'Shea, R. 2008
Coming and GoingBanham, S. 2008
RebekkaBanham, S. 2007
7:30 for 8:00: Cooking with my daughtersBanham, S. 2007 UK design for Performance 2003-2007 S.B.T.D. 2007. Burnett, K. (ed.). Quarantine, p. 8-136 p.
Susan and DarrenBanham, S. 2006
RantsoenBanham, S. 2004
White TrashBanham, S. 2004
EatEatBanham, S. 2003