Global creatives grab spotlight as Sharjah prepares to host performance design ‘Olympics'

The National

06-06-2025

Many of the most creative people in the world of theatre will make their way to the UAE this autumn as stars of the backstage enter the spotlight.
Sharjah is to become the first destination in the Middle East to host the prestigious World Stage Design - the only designer-based event to showcase and celebrate performance design from individual creatives.
It takes place every four years, with previous events being held in Toronto, Seoul, Cardiff, Taipei and Calgary. This time, WSD is happening from October 18 to 25 at centres in Sharjah Performing Arts Academy (SPAA) and other sites across the city.
The event features international designers - established and emerging in the business - and draws theatre lovers through to those aspiring to work in the industry.
Sharjah will host WSD's sixth event under the theme Tomorrow's Heritage - the idea being that tomorrow's heritage is today's exploration.
Jacqui George is the project director. A former SPAA programme leader and deputy director, she pitched Sharjah for WSD 2025.
'We've been calling it the expo of design, because we had Expo 2020 on our doorstep when we pitched and it's the kind of nearest comparative,' she says.
'It's been a long build-up, but there's so much detail and so many different components to it.'
WSD brings an often under-celebrated cache of theatre talent into the limelight and will showcase designers across performance design, space and object design, set design, sound design, costume design, lighting design and video.
'We get used to working on our own in theatre and other creative sectors,' Ms George says. 'My background is stage and production management and I know other stage and production managers, but I never really worked with them because you get one on a show and then you go on to your next.
'So, World Stage Design is where all of these international professional designers from all the different disciplines, lighting to sound to costume to set, come together to display the best work.'
WSD 2025 will also include a series of discussions, panels, masterclasses, workshops, and performances, with participants flying in from around the world.
The event has four key segments.
Twelve months ago, organisers opened applications for the World Stage Design Exhibition, inviting professionals to emerging designers covering any production design technique, from lighting to puppets.
'We received over 1,000 submissions from across the globe and we had two panels, which comprised 16 international jury members, that shortlisted them,' says Ms George.
'In the academy building over the eight days, we'll have 100 designers coming from across the world to exhibit their actual work and, on the penultimate evening, we'll award first, second and third in each category.'
Meanwhile, the results of the Theatre Architecture Competition will take place at Bait Obaid Al Shamsi, a historic location chosen in co-ordination with Sharjah Art Foundation.
It will showcase ideas for a 100-seat performance space fulfilling the Tomorrow's Heritage brief alongside sustainable theatre making. Entries were received from more than 50 countries, with those selected to have their creations realised in the heritage house setting announced in June.
Entries for the Technical Invention Prize close in July. It showcases ideas and inventions developed by technicians in the entertainment industry that support theatre production, possibly by solving a problem such as making it rain paper on stage. Twenty finalists will be exhibited at venue partner Sharjah Research Technology and Innovation Park with their ideas potentially future innovation and implementation.
WSD is being co-produced by the International Organisation of Scenographers Theatre Architects and Technicians and SPAA.
Previous events have drawn up to 12,000 participants, from a mix of disciplines and interests, to showcase, entertain, learn and network.
'We're aiming for really healthy engagement, including bringing in new theatre audiences,' says Ms George.
'People who maybe go and enjoy theatre … it's absolutely something for them as well because when we go to the theatre or see a live event and the amazing lighting, or video, incredible costumes, we don't always think about what happens to get that stuff there, what that process is and the people involved.'
That element will also be well showcased by Scenofest, the dynamic 'festival' strand of WSD 2025. It incorporates talks, workshops, masterclasses, performances and live installations, taking place in all the locations mentioned and other areas of Sharjah.
Workshops will include how to light a puppetry performance, with a Hong Kong puppetmaster, and another for costume design using recycled or reusable materials.
'Whether you've never been in a design process or thought about it for theatre, or you are a complete expert doing it for 20 years, there's something in the Scenofest programme for everyone,' says Ms George.
'One of our keynotes is an international designer who works all over the world on very large projects, in the region as well, but then we also show you how to make a show and put it in the boot of your car.
'Even if you don't want to do a workshop or masterclass and just want to see some good, different theatre, there are performances from New Zealand, Nigeria, Hungary, Hong Kong, all over the world, throughout the week.'
Beyond the international theatre community, the WSD project director hopes the event will impact the UAE's burgeoning theatre industry and maybe better unite local theatre practitioners.
'It's also about showcasing what's happening here as those specialists are here, but I don't think the rest of the world knows about it enough,' says Ms George.
'Because this is going to be the first time World Stage Design is in this region, hopefully it might trigger and spark interest and enthusiasm for the genre.
'The theatre ecology here is young. Maybe it hasn't grown as quickly as some other sectors, but there's a huge richness about the work that's being made.'
Ms George also hopes younger WSD visitors might be inspired to explore careers in show business other than acting or singing, maybe in a role where there is a skills shortage.
'A challenge the industry faces on an international level, not just here, is unless you get engagement and interest at a young age, a career opportunity doesn't really present itself,' she says.
'You don't hear many young people going, 'I'm going to be a lighting designer', but if you look at the opportunities and the career it gives you…if World Stage Design can highlight to a younger generation all of these really viable careers, then that'll be a massive tick for me as well.'