Linda originally trained as a graphic designer and spent many years working in central London for a publishing company, designing magazines. Her role was not editorial but visual – taking journalistic copy and shaping how it lived on the page. She worked closely with photography, sketching layouts, commissioning illustrations, and thinking constantly about how images and text told a story together.
“It was a very visual job,” she explains, “and that background has actually been incredibly useful in theatre.”
After that chapter, Linda retrained as an interior designer. Later, after having children, she trained again as a garden designer and ran her own garden design business for many years. Each stage of her career added another layer to how she understands space, atmosphere, and how people experience an environment.
When she eventually retired from garden design and moved to Glossop, theatre wasn’t part of the plan – at least not initially.
Linda first came to Partington Theatre as a volunteer, expecting to help with front of house duties. “I thought I was just coming in to sell raffle tickets,” she says. But when her design background became known, she was encouraged to help with set painting. From there, her role quickly evolved.
Although she doesn’t like formal titles, Linda is now best described as the theatre’s set designer, leading the set painting team and coordinating closely with set builders. “It’s very collaborative,” she says. “Lighting is separate, and set construction is separate, but the set is built according to my designs. I don’t really see myself as ‘head of’ anything – it’s about working together.”
Since joining in October 2021, Linda has been involved in around 32 productions. For the first year she assisted another designer; since then, she has led the design work herself.
Every production starts with a meeting. The director brings together representatives from lighting, costume, stage management, and set design to talk through the vision for the show. At this stage, Linda often hasn’t even seen the script.
“The director tells us what they’re hoping to achieve,” she explains. “What kind of world they want, how the set needs to function.”
Linda then goes away to think, sketch, and develop ideas. These are discussed with the director, refined, and eventually turned into a finished stage plan. That final plan is what the set builders use to construct the physical set.
One of the biggest surprises for newcomers is speed. “The design stage usually happens within a week,” Linda says. “When I first arrived, I was amazed at how fast everything moves. One set comes down, another goes up almost immediately.”
Although Linda arrived with strong design skills, theatre brought a new challenge: scale.
“I was used to working on magazine pages,” she says. “That’s very different from a stage. You might have beautiful detail in a drawing, but if it’s too small, the audience at the back of the auditorium won’t see it.”
Learning to exaggerate details, simplify shapes, and think about visibility from every seat in the house became part of her process. It’s a shift that now informs everything she designs.
A major part of Linda’s work – and the work of her team – is creating realism. Not just building a set, but making it feel lived in.
“Often, you don’t just build a set – you build it and then deliberately ruin it,” she laughs.
Walls are painted and then distressed. Wallpaper is applied and then peeled back. Scorch marks appear near cookers. Corners are worn down. Floors are aged so they look as though years of feet have crossed them. New furniture or soft furnishings are treated to look old, faded, and used.
There’s also the practical reality of theatre: everything must function safely and believably. Even sound matters. “If something opens or closes, it has to sound right,” Linda explains. “A wooden object can’t suddenly sound like a cupboard if it’s meant to be something else.”
The goal is always the same: that the audience never notices the work. “If they’re thinking about the set, we haven’t done our job properly.”
On a typical build night, anywhere from three to twelve people might be working on stage. Set builders and painters often work side by side, sawing wood, climbing ladders, painting walls. “When there are twelve of us, it gets very crowded,” Linda says. “But it’s a good kind of chaos.”
The theatre is always looking for help – particularly people who can assist with construction. The flats used for sets are large, tall, and heavy, and moving furniture involves carrying items up and down several flights of stairs from storage areas.
But experience isn’t essential. “We need all sorts of people,” Linda explains. “Strong people to help build, creative people who can work independently, and also people who are simply happy to paint.
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This Theatre is run by Volunteers
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Notice is hereby given to all members in respect of the 2025 Annual General Meeting to be held in the Clubroom at Partington Theatre on Thursday 30th October at 7pm.