Process of Illumination

For the final episode of this series we’re turning the questions from firsts to lasts.

After looking back at some of those formative first moments in our previous episode, this time I pose a series of “last time” questions to Peter Small, Catja Hamilton, Lucia Sanchez Roldan and Joseph Thomas.

Some reflective, some practical, and some just for fun — exploring the last things they’ve learnt, the moments that surprised them, the work that challenged them and the experiences that have stayed with them.

It feels like a fitting way to bring the series to a close — looking not necessarily at endings, but at where these four designers are right now, and how their experiences continue to shape what comes next.

As we come towards the end of this series I posed my guests a number of questions around the theme of ‘the first time’ and ‘the last time’ — some serious, some nostalgic, and some that hopefully made them think a little differently about their careers.

In this episode, we’re starting with ‘the first time’.

We hear about the first shows they ever worked on, the first time they stood in a theatre and thought, “I’m actually a lighting designer,” and the first lesson they had to learn the hard way.

So, let’s go back to the beginning.

From opera and immersive experiences to one-night concerts and new writing, this episode takes us across some very different stages and spaces and explores just how varied a career in lighting design can be.

In this second part of our episodes about building a career in Lighting Design we chat about work-life balance.

A career in theatre and live events is an all-consuming affair. The hours are long and tech weeks stretch, often ending up being back to back across multiple projects. Work-life balance is extremely important, but often hard to get right. I chat to my guests about finding that balance, love of the industry and what success looks like for each of them.

In this episode we chat about building a career in lighting design.

How did our guests get those first lighting design opportunities, and how do they keep the work coming? We explore how they accessed early roles, built their reputations, diversified their work, and why timing, opportunity, and a little luck all play a part in building a successful career.

In this episode we dive into technical rehearsals.

With the creative team bringing every element of the show together for the first time, tech can often be the most intensive phase of the production process.

As they transform the show from the rehearsal room into a fully realised production, how do our guests handle the pressures of creating work whilst the schedule is tight and how do they ensure effective communication with their team?

In this episode we continue our exploration of the creative process by looking at how we take a design concept and shape it into a rig of lights.

We'll be discussing the balance between creativity and technicality, exploring the practical challenges of bringing creative ideas into the real world. How do our guests navigate the technical considerations of light, fixtures, and rigging to turn their concepts into reality?

In this episode of 'Process of Illumination’ we explore the first stages of building a lighting design. What’s the first brushstroke on the page? From responding to a script to communicating key concepts to the wider creative team, where does the process begin?

Peter Small, Catja Hamilton, Lucía Sánchez Roldán and Joseph Thomas discuss the first steps in bringing a design to life.

In this episode of Process of Illumination we find out how Catja Hamilton, Lucía Sánchez Roldán, Peter Small and Joseph Thomas got started in the lighting industry.

We discover what it was that first sparked their curiosity for light, what made them want to pursue it as a career and how they took the leap into becoming a Lighting Designer.

In this first episode of 'Process of Illumination' we’re going to jump straight in by focusing on collaboration. It’s a word that gets used all the time in our industry — but what does it really mean and what does collaboration look like day-to-day from a lighting designer’s point of view.

Peter Small, Catja Hamilton, Lucía Sánchez Roldán and Joseph Thomas each share their own perspective on how collaboration shapes the work they make.