Rate My Professor Anna Cordingley

Associate Professor Anna Cordingley is Head of Design & Production and Associate Director for Learning and Teaching at the Victorian College of the Arts, Faculty of Fine Arts & Music, University of Melbourne. She is an award-winning set and costume designer whose work has been performed on major stages throughout Australia, Europe, Britain, and the United States. Her designs encompass theatre, opera, dance, musical theatre, cabaret, exhibitions, events, public art, and installations. Recent credits include costume design for Opera Australia's Idomeneo (Melbourne, 2024), directed by Lindy Hume; set design for Melbourne Theatre Company's Much Ado About Nothing (Melbourne, 2025), directed by Mark Wilson; and costume design for Opera Australia's The Magic Flute (Sydney, 2024), directed by Kate Gaul. Other notable designs feature set and costumes for Bell Shakespeare's Macbeth, directed by Peter Evans; Back to Back Theatre's Multiple Bad Things; Sydney Opera House's Amadeus; Opera Australia's Carmen and Aida; Victorian Opera's Salome, Sunday in the Park with George, Cassandra, Echo & Narcissus, and The Threepenny Opera (with Sydney Theatre Company and Malthouse); Opera Queensland's Don Giovanni; Melbourne Theatre Company's Storm Boy (with Queensland Theatre), Jasper Jones, Sunday, and Abigail's Party; Bell Shakespeare's Anthony and Cleopatra and Richard III; and Malthouse's Hour of the Wolf, Anna K, Meow Meow's Little Mermaid, A Golem Story, 'Tis Pity She's a Whore, Furious Mattress, Happy Days (with Belvoir), Knives in Hens (with South Australian Theatre Company), A Commercial Farce, and Chunky Move's An Act of Now and Connected.

Cordingley's exhibition and installation designs have appeared at the State Library of Victoria, Arts Centre Melbourne, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, The Sage Gateshead, and Baltic Contemporary Art Centre. Her achievements include the Helpmann Award for Best Scenic Design for Jasper Jones (Melbourne Theatre Company); Sydney Theatre Award and APDG Award for Amadeus (Sydney Opera House); two Green Room Awards; nominations for multiple Helpmann Awards, Sydney Theatre Awards, and Green Room Awards; Kristian Fredrikson Memorial Scholarship for Design; John Vickery Scholarship; and Australian Students Prize. She contributes to academic leadership in design education and serves as a visiting lecturer at SRH Hochschule für Kommunikation und Design, Berlin.