So my advice for someone who is judging the design competition
would be firstly, to start with the brief that's given by the Opera House
and really understand what the participant is being asked to produce,
including all of the specifics, especially things like scale and the dimensions.
That detail really matters.
I would also look very carefully at the piece that has been selected for that year.
I would listen to the music several times and really understand what it is about.
What I love as a director is finding a designer who is able
to take my half baked idea and give it back to me in a way which makes me think,
'Wow! That's exactly what I'm wanting to say here'.
When I sit down to judge an entrant's work, I first of all
sit and just look at the overall final outcome.
After letting that sink in a bit, I might begin to look at the work book.
I will be looking to see whether they have followed the brief
and chosen a director's vision and run with it.
I love looking at their workbooks because it's a real insight into the participants creative journey
and how they have arrived at their final outcome. So it's hugely important to me,
I put equal emphasis on that to the final outcome.
I look for a very visual diary, I suppose, one where pictorially
whether that's found images, or drawing, a story of a process
is given to me because I don't have any other way of know how that
person has come up with their ideas.
I like to see masses of research, but not just superficial research
but research that might go off into different tangents.
Where it is obvious that the participant is excited and is thirsty for different bits and pieces.
A real magpie approach.
Then I like to see experimentation,
where the participant has several ideas, tries them out,
allows them to go wrong, allows them to be hopeless.
Then from that, moves on and finds a different direction.
For me a shortlisted entry is going to be one that makes us stop and look at it
and see things for the first time.
We come and see operas and ballets over and over again
and the reason we do that is because every time a designer and director,
and the whole creative team, come together, they come together with a particular
purpose in mind.
Why they want you to tell the story. What interests them about the story.
What excites them about the story.
A shortlisted entry in terms of the Design Challenge
is one which really embraces that idea and shows us things for the first time,
shows us something slightly unexpected, but one that still makes sense.
When I'm looking for the final winning entry, I'm looking for a candidate who has
come to a natural conclusion from all of the research
and the work that they've done beforehand
and it has come to an organic final end product.
The outcome itself, whether it's a costume or a set design, or a marketing strategy
would show the entire world of the piece.
One where the story can really come alive.
Designers who see themselves as storytellers rather than just set painters,
are the designers who really stand out above the rest and create what I see as a winning entry.
I think when you're faced with a room full of entries
it's important to see each piece with fresh eyes and
allow the initial image to effect you in an honest way.
Then it's very important that each student adheres to the same set of criteria.
I'm quite strict about that, that they have actually read the brief and stuck to it.
It's also really important when you are working with students that you have taught yourself,
that you remain completely fair and impartial when you're considering their designs.
So I've got a few tips for judges.
One is for costumes design, when you're judging a costume,
that it's really helpful to actually touch the costume and to investigate how it's put together
and make sure it's not just held together with safety pins.
A tip for judging a set design would be to bring your eye level down to the audience's perspective
and look at it from there because it's a very different view from standing up looking down on the table.
An example from the past of a design that has really stood out for me
was for The Sleeping Beauty.
As a director's vision I said that I wanted people to think about The Sleeping Beauty from a male perspective
because it's always a girly story traditionally.
There was a fantastic entry of a young guy standing with his shirt off,
staring at the camera, black and white, and the line was 'Wakey-Wakey!'
I just thought it was great because all of a sudden it brought the story into a
very contemporary setting which was very much from a male perspective
and it threw a completely different angle on a story which we all know so well.
That's the kind of thing which I think is really exciting to see in a design.