Ella Burrell
Theatre Designer and maker

Ella is a Theatre Designer and Maker, who recently graduated from the BA (Hons) Theatre Design course at Nottingham Trent University (NTU). Though she works in designing, assisting and making sets and costumes primarily for theatre and live events, she is also interested in branching out into film and television, through recent experiences in the short film 'The Walk', where she worked as the Costume Trainee.

 

Originally from Herefordshire, in the West Midlands, Ella's first engagement with theatre was, as a child, watching her dad perform in shows with the local amateur musical theatre society 'Hereford Musical Theatre Company' (HMTC), and through trips to watch pantomimes with her family and her primary school. Ella joined HMTC's youth group in 2011 and went on to perform in a number of shows with the youth group and with the adult company such as 'The Sound of Music', 'Oliver!' and 'Sister Act'. She also performed in dance shows with Nicola's School of Dance, a local dance school that provided classes in ballroom, Latin and Freestyle dance (which was usually a combination of basic hip hop, contemporary and breakdance).

 

In 2018, Ella worked backstage with props, set dressing and quick changes, on HMTC's autumn production of 'The Producers'. This allowed her to learn more about the backstage processes that go into creating a live performance. She became intrigued with the creative side of making a piece of theatre and she combined her loves of theatre, art and music, and her interests in architecture and history, on the BA Theatre Design course at NTU.

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Outside of her work, Ella loves listening to and performing music. She enjoys playing the flute and singing. During her time at NTU, she was a member of their Concert Band and their Choir and Chamber Choir. She was also on the committee for the Nottingham Trent Student Union's Music Society, for which she has held the positions of Social and Wellbeing Secretary (2020-2021) and of President (2021-2022). Some of her other interests include photography, listening to comedy podcasts, spending time with friends and family and watching YouTube!

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Ella enjoys a variety of theatre but her favourite genre is musical theatre because she always enjoys watching shows where music and dancing are used to help the story progress and create emotive performances.