A selection of the best British theatre designs of the last four years will be on show at the V&A this autumn in a new display Collaborators: UK Design for Performance 2003 - 2007.

From pantomime and drama to opera and dance in the UK and abroad, this display will bring together the work of over 100 of Britain’s most creative theatre designers recognised worldwide for their skills and innovative designs. On display will be designs by Paul Brown, Richard Hudson and Ralph Koltai, three of the most internationally acclaimed set designers of recent years, as well as work by recent Linbury Prize winner Becs Andrews. The displays of costumes, puppets, drawings, photographs, models of stage sets and interactive digital presentations will highlight the collaborative nature of theatre design.

This display will include designs for inventive contemporary performances such as Boxed by the Seven Sisters company, which took place in a series of shop windows on Oxford Street (London 2006). There will be international opera and drama designs including Paul Brown’s surreal set for La Traviata at the 25.000-seat Arena di Verona (2004) and Es Devlin's 2006 Laurence Olivier Award-winning costume designs for the RSC’s production of Dog in a Manger. The display will also explore designs for musicals such as Christopher Oram’s set for Evita at the Adelphi Theatre (London 2006) and Rick Fisher’s lighting scheme for Billy Elliott at the Victoria Palace Theatre (London 2005) which won ‘Best Musical’ at the 2005 Evening Standard Theatre Awards.

Collaborators will feature designs for new and re-developed theatre spaces including Camden Roundhouse, the Gdansk Theatre in Poland and Wexford’s New Opera House which will open to the public in 2008. There will also be designs for innovative outdoor and "found-space" productions including Mulgrave, a promenade performance on the Yorkshire coast in 2005 by Wilson + Wilson company and Corcadorca’s production of The Tempest performed on the pond in Fitzgerald’s Park, Cork (2006).

The selection of designs on display has been chosen by the Society of British Theatre Designers in collaboration with the V&A’s performance curators.