I was reading through a recent edition of Light & Sound International when something caught my eye: tucked away at the back of the magazine, in the section for reviews of new lighting and sound products, this issue had two new reviews. Both reviews were for moving lights. And what stood out was that they …
Continue reading Are we getting closer to having beautifully silent light in venues?
Often, when we're very first sketching ideas for a new theatre, we need to illustrate something - or someone - on the stage. It's really important for turning a series of scale-less architectural lines into something that has a human scale, and it provides a magic focus to the drawing - it tells you where …
I recently got interested in how theatre companies choose their names, and the more I thought about it the more I realised that a lot of companies were named after Shakespeare quotes. So I decided to try to count how many there were. It was, at first glance, a surprisingly high number - roughly 30%. …
Continue reading What’s in a name? Why are so many theatre companies named after Shakespeare quotes?
You may not have noticed, but the world is getting more honest. Well, the world of design, at least, is getting more honest. Theatre is getting more honest. Architecture is getting more honest. Let me give you some evidence. Start with architecture. Look at many buildings completed in the last ten years and you'll notice …
Continue reading Honesty is the best policy in theatre design
On 15th July I hosted the sixth Coffee with Arup discussion. Coffee with Arup is a series of informal chats in which we catch up with our collaborators and peers from the worlds of arts, culture, entertainment, leisure and sport over a cup of virtual coffee - and for this installment I wanted to hear …
It's funny how, sometimes, the same new problem pops up at the same time in completely unrelated projects. I was recently working on a design for an outdoor venue for a standing audience. At the same time I was reviewing the crowd barrier arrangement in an indoor venue. And for a third project I was …
Just as travelling is one of the most carbon-intensive aspects of life, the travel and transport associated with touring shows is a major contributor to the carbon footprint of the performing arts industries. So when I recently came across an AI tool which was used by North America 2026 in their successful bid for the …
Continue reading Using AI to reduce the carbon footprint of touring
The Bridge Theatre Since opening in October 2017 The Bridge has hosted seven productions by the new London Theatre Company, the latest being a new stage adaptation of Harriet Lane's book Alys, Always. The book (I understand from synopses although - disclaimer - I've not read it) tells the story of Frances the Newspaper Sub-Editor who, caught …
I'm currently helping to design a theatre in Knowsley, near Liverpool. It's a reconstruction of one of the earliest-recorded indoor theatres in the UK, the 16th-17th century Cockpit-In-Court. The working title is Shakespeare North and it's a fascinating project. I've enjoyed learning about what we know (answer: very little) and what we need to speculate …
Continue reading What’s the point in Reconstructed Theatres?
I've just come back from ITEAC 2018 - a conference which runs every four years exploring current trends in theatre building design. Here's my favourite (or most future-useful) quotes while they're fresh in my mind. [These are all paraphrased via my scribbled notes. Happy to correct if I have misquoted.] "In the cinema you need …
