Caroline Townsend

Biography

I am a costume maker of both Women’s and Menswear and I am passionate about crafts and making, especially for performance. I studied costume making at Wimbledon School of Art from 1976 to 1978, and was an industry consultant when it became a BA Hons course. I have taught Costume Construction at The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama since 1998. Before coming into education originally I worked for English National Opera in both the Ladies and Men’s making wardrobe. I then moved on to work as a freelance costume maker mostly making costumes for West End musicals as well as some film and TV work. As the Programme Leader for BA (Hons) Theatre Practice my wish is to share my personal theatre practice experience with all the specialist courses on the Programme and to encourage students and graduates to apply their understanding of the rigour of traditional performance to contemporary and innovative work as well as more mainstream practice.

Research Interest

History of tailoring The current development of the role of the costume constructor Widening participation and diversity in student recruitment