Lighting Design

Tree of Codes: Now Olivier Nominated /  by Rob Halliday

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Tree of Codes, the internationally acclaimed dance show which Rob created with director/choreographer Wayne McGregor, visual designer Olafur Eliasson, composer Jamie xx and sound designer Nick Sagar, has been nominated as Best New Dance Production in the 2018 Olivier Awards. The nomination follows the show’s run at Sadler’s Wells in London during 2017. [link].

Since Sadler’s Wells, the show has been seen in Aarhus, Melbourne and Sydney. New dates for the show during 2018, 2019 and 2020 will be confirmed shortly.

The 2018 Olivier Awards will be presented at the Royal Albert Hall in London on Sunday, April 8th.

Photo: Joel Chester Fildes

Tree of Codes: Sydney /  by Rob Halliday

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The acclaimed dance show Tree of Codes which Rob created with director/choreographer Wayne McGregor, visual designer Olafur Eliasson and composer Jamie xx, is celebrating the new year at the Sydney Festival in Australia.

Once again, Rob was supported by a great team, including Australian production electrician Dale Mounsey, console operator Nathan Daqunha, and the teams from the Sydney ICC and Sydney Festival.

The show is playing at the new Darling Harbour Theatre, part of Sydney's re-built International Convention Centre. Four performances only, from January 6th to January 10th. Catch it while you can!

Tree of Codes at the Sydney Festival: [link]
Tree of Codes in CX magazine: [link]
Tree of Codes in LSi magazine: [link]

Photo: Ravi Deepres.

Another Chance To See Tree of Codes /  by Rob Halliday

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Turns out, Aarhus wasn't the last chance to see the remarkable dance show Tree of Codes, on which Rob collaborated with Wayne McGregor, Olafur Eliasson and Jamie xx, originally at the Manchester International Festival and subsequently in New York, Paris, London and Denmark.

The show has another confirmed date, this time in Australia as part of the 2017 Melbourne Festival. 

The show will play at Melbourne's Lyric Theatre from October 17-21st. 

Further details and tickets are available via the Melbourne Festival website [link]

Photographer: Joel Chester Fildes

Show Three at Storyhouse /  by Rob Halliday

Rob returns this week to Storyhouse in Chester, to light the third show of the opening season - A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

The show is directed by Storyhouse’s Artistic Director, Alex Clifton, and designed by Jess Curtis, continuing the collaboration from the theatre’s opening show, The Beggar’s Opera; that show continues as part of what will soon be a four show rep season.

Rob also lit the second show in the season, Alice in Wonderland, and is delighted to be part of the hugely successful opening of this exciting new theatre.

[Storyhouse]

Presenting: Storyhouse /  by Rob Halliday

Rob is delighted to have been chosen to light much of the opening rep season of shows at the new Storyhouse theatre in Chester.

Storyhouse is a conversion of the abandoned 1930s Odeon cinema by architects Bennetts Associates, incorporating a theatre, a studio theatre, a cinema, and a library together with wonderful foyers spaces in what was the original cinema auditorium. The main theatre has a very particular trick: for most of the year it will operate as a proscenium arch theatre facing three levels of seating, perfect for receiving incoming tours. But for Storyhouse's own shows, it converts to a wonderfully intimate thrust stage, of the kind familiar to anyone who has visited the summer seasons of outdoor theatre at Chester’s Grovesnor Park Open Air Theatre over the last few years. The team behind Grovesnor Park are now running Storyhouse, and in fact three of the shows that open indoors at Storyhouse will later transfer outdoors to the park over the summer.

Rob has been involved with Storyhouse for the last three years, helping to oversee the technical planning for the theatre alongside theatre consultants Charcoalblue, and identifying the range of lighting fixtures and control systems needed to best deal with the theatre’s dual nature, before working with the theatre’s technical team to create the final shopping list of lighting equipment for the venue. As he says, “that probably then makes me the perfect choice to light the opening season of shows, since on the one hand I have a deep hypothetical knowledge of the theatre from years of staring at drawings of it, and on the other if I'm not happy with the equipment stock the theatre has the only person I can complain to is me!”

In the opening season, Rob will light The Beggar’s Opera and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, both directed by Storyhouse’s Artistic Director, Alex Clifton, and Alice In Wonderland, directed by Derek Bond. All three productions are designed by Jess Curtis.

The opening performance, of Beggar’s Opera, takes place on Thursday 11th May; it then plays in rep with the other shows and the season's fourth production, Julius Caesar. 

[Storyhouse]