Fred Meller

Biography

Fred is Programme Director for the Performance Programme at CSM, Senior UAL Teaching Scholar, Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Authority, a Fellow of the Arts Foundation and Distinguished Visiting Professor at Tokyo University of the Arts.

My award winning International professional practice combines Theatre, Scenography and Film for Performance in areas of social engagement. I have exhibited at The Prague Quadrennial in 1999 and 2003, winning the Golden Triga and was selected to exhibit at The World Stage Design in Toronto 2005. These designs are now in the V&A Museum permanent collection. More recent work at the Edinburgh Festival won a Fringe First.

My research interests are located at the intersection of theatre design and scenography. Philosophically my research deploys theories pertaining to truth, and disruption. Authenticity and non-authenticity support the core principle behind the notion of experiential concepts in the form of realia, where meaning is given and cannot be disputed. This challenges the usual visual or haptic readings of materials in performance making.

By removing the expert artefacts of theatre making in the early stage of the process (scale models, costume, character, defined space and so on), and resisting the dominance of the written text, it is possible to uncover and manipulate a process of scenographic thinking that creates rich performance outcomes and has wider applications.