Scenic Design & Consultation

Q: Do you replace our set designer?

No - we work under your designer's intent. The service turns creative design into a technical package that can be built, signed off and toured: drafting, engineering coordination and CNC-ready component design, with the designer's look held all the way through.

A gothic archway scenic set piece built in the TSA workshop

Sets, Scenery & Props · Scenic Design & Consultation

We draw the set. Engineered to move. Ready to build.

TSA's in-house scenic design and drafting - your concept resolved into a fabrication-ready drawing set, with engineering coordination and formal design reviews inside the same workshop that builds it. Designer's intent, built to last. Since 1979.

Read a project story →

Or call 1300 439 872

Scenery designed, built and toured for stages around Australia

Where this starts

Three ways in.
One drawing set.

You do not need drawings to start. We pick your project up wherever it stands and take it to fabrication readiness, documented at each step.

A designer inspects a white lit scale model of the Parisian rooftop set in the workshop — Scale model in the workshop

Start from a concept

Sketch
Model box
Mood reference

A sketch, a model box or a mood reference is enough - design development and drafting resolve it from there, with the designer's intent held throughout.

Two staff review drawings pinned to a board beside a scenic staging unit built for NGV — Drawings reviewed beside the unit

Start from your designer's drawings

Designer's drawings
Technical package
Engineering behind it

We work under your designer's intent, developing the technical package to fabrication readiness with the engineering to back it.

A raw plywood Parisian rooftop set under construction with an elevation drawing pinned behind it — Rooftop set with its drawing

Start from a build brief

One engagement
Concept to fabrication-ready
Straight into the workshop

Design and construction scoped as one engagement - concept through fabrication readiness, straight into the workshop build.

Not sure where your brief sits? and we will scope it with you.

Building scenery since

Materials designed for

In-house

Concept to fabrication-ready

Designed, built and toured, Australia wide

A hedge-maze scenic wall standing in the workshop with a worker on a ladder — **Hedge maze** scenic wall

A finished three-building street facade set with touring show banners above — **Street facade** three buildings, finished

The completed Moulin Rouge skyline set with a red windmill and elephant, in the workshop — **Moulin Rouge!** skyline set, complete

What Scenic Design & Consultation is

From concept to
fabrication-ready.

Scenic Design & Consultation is TSA's in-house design and drafting service for stage scenery. We resolve a scenic concept into a fabrication-ready drawing set, engineered to the automation and rigging it has to move with.

Scenic design at a glance
Done in-house	Drafting, engineering coordination and formal design reviews, in the workshop that builds the set, so what gets drawn is what gets built, signed off and toured
Engineering	Load paths, interfaces and structural requirements coordinated early, before a single sheet is cut
Workshop	Turning concepts into stage scenery since 1979; the former Adelaide Festival Centre Workshop
Handover	Straight into Set Construction, down a corridor, not across a contract

Fabrication-ready drawing set CNC machine-ready components Reviews before fabrication Engineered load paths Since 1979 designer's intent held

What the design stage does for your show

Four jobs, one drawing set.

Turn a sketch into a set

You bring a sketch, a model or a reference - we bring the drafting.

Know it moves, on paper

Design informed by automation performance and rigging constraints from the outset, load paths and interfaces coordinated early.

Get it past the review

Formal design reviews before fabrication begins, load-bearing elements engineered and documented, and assumptions and responsibilities written down - the paperwork your venue and insurer ask for.

Design for the whole run

Touring repeatability, transport efficiency, duty cycle and serviceable access are drawing-stage decisions.

What you get

A drawing set you can
build, sign off and tour.

You finish with one coordinated package: drawings, engineering and documentation that agree with each other, produced in-house by the people who will build the set. Five components, below.

Design development & consultationYour concept worked through with the people who will build it - materials, finishes, movement and budget realities tested against the brief before anything is drawn in anger.Consult

Engineering coordinationLoad paths, interfaces and structural requirements identified and coordinated early, designed to meet relevant codes and standards, and a consulting engineer engaged where certification is required.Engineered

In-house draftingA fabrication-ready drawing set produced inside the workshop, progressed with documentation and control at each step - the link between the creative brief and what the workshop actually cuts, welds, paints and packs.Drafting

CNC designPrecision scenic components resolved as machine-ready CNC files, so parts fit first time in the workshop and again at every venue.CNC

Design-review milestones & documentationFormal reviews before fabrication begins, and clear documentation of assumptions, interfaces and responsibilities - handed into the build, and into your records.Documented

Resolved on paper, proven on stage.

Design runs straight into the same workshop's fabrication:

Fabrication readiness is a handover down a corridor, not across a contract
Drawn by the people who will build, finish and tour the set
The documentation travels with the set

Or see where the build goes next

This page

The set itself: the set piece, wagon, show deck or portal
Concept to fabrication-ready drawing set
Engineered to the automation and rigging it has to work with

Production Engineering

Technical Design & Drafting

Whole-show motion control
Flying
The staging structure beneath the set

Whichever side of that line your brief lands on, you deal with one team. For the right-hand column, see Technical Design & Drafting.

A gold arch stage set with GALA signage and crew standing on stage under truss rigging

On the job

What gets drawn is what gets built, signed off and toured.

Gala arch the gold set on stage under the truss rig

The alley set for MJ The Musical, seen from the side — **Alley set** side view

Hand-cut applique on the floorcloth for MJ The Musical — **Floorcloth** applique

In the wings

MJ The Musical.
Designed to move.

TSA engineered the toaster lift behind MJ The Musical, with automation control and rigging, kept show-ready.

Read the case study →

Resolved on paper, proven on stage

Designs that
went the distance.

Dense infrastructure, repeatable touring and long runs are decided at the drawing stage.

See all projects

Long-run commercial build

Moulin Rouge! The Musical

Scenic fabrication with complex stage engineering and integrated technical infrastructure - resolved by drafting and engineering coordination before fabrication began.

See projects

International touring build

SIX the Musical

Touring scenic systems integrating with lighting and automation across multiple venues - repeatability and efficient deployment decided at the drawing stage.

See projects

Robust scenic construction under way in the workshop

High-cycle permanent install

Matilda the Musical

Robust scenic construction supporting automation, flying systems and repeated high-cycle performance - duty cycle designed in from the start.

See projects

Immersive modular staging

Come Alive! The Greatest Showman Circus Spectacular

Modular scenic systems for immersive staging and high audience proximity - modularity and close-proximity finish quality specified at concept stage.

See projects

From design to stage

Model boxes and drawings built into sets.

Scenic design worked through model boxes and drawings, then built and seen on stage.

A clay maquette of a raised hand with an extended index finger on a workshop bench. — Clay maquette of a raised hand.Spartacus

The Mousetrap set archway and window seat with dressed chairs and a side table. — Finished archway and window seat.The Mousetrap

An aluminium truss frame for an oval structure under construction in the workshop. — Aluminium frame for an oval.Illuminate Adelaide

A performer on the phone in a period bedroom set with a man's silhouette behind sheer curtains. — Period bedroom set on stage.Sunset Boulevard

Crew fit out a painted rustic scenic set with ladders backstage. — Painted rustic set, in fit-out.Hadestown

A performer flies on a broom prop above a clockwork stage set under red and green light. — Clockwork set, flying broom.Brolga Theatre, Maryborough

Two riggers assemble the mirrored disco-ball truss backstage on the Sister Act set. — Mirror ball cage, engineered.Sister Act, Brisbane

A Raynok automation control desk with dual monitors showing cue and drawing software. — Cue and drawing software on desk.Wicked

Australia wide

Designed and built. Toured nationally.

The drawing set hands straight into the workshop build.

FAQ

Questions
about the design.

If your question isn't here, call us or send your concept - we will come back with the right answer for your production.

Call 1300 439 872 →

What is Scenic Design & Consultation at TSA?

It is the design and drafting front end of a TSA scenic build - taking your concept and progressing it to a fabrication-ready drawing set, in-house. Drafting, engineering coordination and formal design reviews happen inside the same workshop that builds the scenery, with documentation and control at each step.

Do you replace our set designer?

No - we work under your designer's intent. The service turns creative design into a technical package that can be built, signed off and toured: drafting, engineering coordination and CNC-ready component design, with the designer's look held all the way through.

What do we get at the end of the design stage?

A fabrication-ready drawing set, with the load-bearing elements engineered and the assumptions, interfaces and responsibilities set down in writing. It hands straight into the workshop build, and the documentation stays with the set through installation and handover.

Can you design scenery that moves?

Yes - integrated scenic structures are designed to automation and rigging interfaces from the outset, with load paths and structural requirements coordinated early. For whole-show motion control, flying and staging beyond the set itself, the design work sits with TSA's Production Engineering technical design and drafting service.

Do you design for touring and long runs?

Yes - repeatability, transport efficiency, duty cycle and serviceable access are designed in at the drawing stage. Touring productions are the workshop's proven core, and permanent installs are designed to the realities of sustained use, not only opening night.

Does TSA have to build what it designs?

Design runs as the front end of a workshop build, and that is where it works hardest - the drawing set is produced by the people who will fabricate it. If your situation is different, talk to our team and we will scope the right engagement for your production.

Concept to fabrication-ready

Draw it.
Build it.

Tell us about your production - the concept, model or drawings you have, and the automation and rigging the set has to work with. A TSA engineer will scope the design with you, and the drawing set hands straight into the workshop build, Australia wide.

Read a project story →

We talk. The concept, model or drawings you have.
We scope. A TSA engineer scopes the design with you.
We draw. To fabrication readiness, then into the workshop.

Or call 1300 439 872 [email protected]

Eight capabilities. One TSA.

Eleven industries. One TSA.