Ms Leigh Bishop

Leigh Bishop, head of the costume department at the University of Cape Town’s (CTDPS) Centre for Theatre Dance & Performance Studies, is an award-winning costume designer and stylist. She is a versatile artist whose experience ranges from theatre, opera, television series and commercials to international feature films. Leigh has a National Diploma in Fine Art from the Witwatersrand Technikon in Johannesburg and an Honours Degree in Technical Theatre from UCT specialising in costume. 

She has worked alongside acclaimed national and international artists and directors on productions such as the award-winning Wooden Camera, Nothing but the Truth, Bopha, Making of a Mahatma, Beyond Borders, Sarafina,  Mandela and de Klerk,  The Ghost and the Darkness and 10 000 BC.  

In 2008 she won a Naledi Award for her zany and offbeat costume designs in Mark Donford May’s production of The Magic Flute. In 2015 and 2017, she won the highly acclaimed Fleur du Cap Award for Slowly and Twelfth Night, directed by Geoffrey Hyland. 

Her work has been described as an ‘utterly captivating sensory feast and combines her hands-on experience in all aspects of costume, attention to detail and love for the visual art of storytelling.’ 

Noted for her exceptionally creative and artistic talents, technical and organisational skills, Leigh embraces diversity and inclusivity in the workplace. She has demonstrated this in her ability to work with a range of people from local to international superstars as John Khani, Jennifer Steyn, Angelina Jolie, Michael Caine, Emily Mortimer, Dani Glover, Afre Woodard and Morgan Freeman to students and historically disenfranchised people, who all respond to her warmth, resourcefulness, intellect, and professionalism.