Biography
Early History
Abigail’s involvement in theatre began with Brecht’s Caucasian Chalk Circle at age six, followed by a teenage surrounded by the alternative West Country festivals teaming with the likes of Forkbeard Fantasy and Footsbarn Theatre Company. Her dance background included the experimental dance at Dartington College of Art in the 1970’s and she had designed and produced costumes for 3 youth productions before leaving school. Abigail went on to study Dance Theatre at the Laban Centre, London, where she specialised in Costume Design.
Professional History
For the past 20 years she has been a freelance designer and lecturer and also has her own production company Mele of London. Always pursuing entrepreneurial activities, this began as a fashion enterprise, creating up-market, trendy maternity clothes in the early 1990’s, selling in Harrods and on the Fulham Road. The umbrella of Mele now covers all her activities which included creating the ‘enormous penis’ for Simon Vincenzi’s show ‘The Man with the...’ at the Young Vic. Abigail has designed and realised costumes for over 100 choreographic works with choreographers including Richard Alston, Lea Anderson, Matthew Bourne, Mark Baldwin, Emlyn Claid, Aletta Collins, Shobanah Jeyasing, Rosemary Lee, William Louther, Jacob Marley, Wayne McGregor, Henri Oguike, Ashley Page, Sheron Wrey. She was the resident designer for the National Youth Dance Company for 13 years and for Union Dance for 3 seasons.
21st Century
Her theatre work includes costumes for ‘The Hobbit’ by JRR Tolkien produced by VFP Ltd. which ran in London’s West End. Abigail has lectured at various Higher Education institutes in London including The Royal Academy of Dance, London College of Fashion, Laban, Croydon College and Wimbledon School of Art. Her commitment to education includes community projects, most recently with the National Theatre Education Unit, English Heritage, English National Ballet and the Barbican Centre, London. The designs for ‘The Hobbit’ and an accompanying educational video were part of the Society of British Theatre Designers 2D>3D Exhibition 2002-5 and this exhibit was selected to be part of the UK contribution at the World Stage Design Exhibition in Toronto in 2005. Abigail was nominated for an Arts Foundation Fellowship Award in 2004 and in 2006 contributed to the Costume Symposium held at the Arts Institute in Bournemouth with her paper Shapes in Space - dance costumes and their stories.
Now
Abigail is now Senior Lecturer in Costume Design at Wimbledon College of Arts, University of London. She is currently resident designer with Zimbabwean choreographer Bawren Tavaziva, who was a runner up with ‘Umdlalo Kasisi’ for the first Place Prize for Choreography in 2004. Her work with Tavaziva Dance can be seen as part of the current SBTD exhibition ‘Collaborators’ at the V&A Museum in London from November 2007.
Photo: Chris Nash