NEWS

2011-05-30T11:12:00.002+01:00

Back in May I spent a couple of weeks in the far north (of London) designing light for a new piece for Candoco Dance Company, choreographed by Marc Brew.

It was a really enjoyable project - the rehearsal room had a relaxed and friendly feel to it, and the room next door was a swimming pool. Brilliant!

The performance was dynamic and looked great, and forms part of a new double bill by Candoco Dance Company. Candoco Dance Company has been commissioned for Unlimited as part of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad. Performances throughout 2012 will be announced nearer the time.

The Woods

2011-01-31T16:55:00.003Z

January has disappeared into the making of The Woods, a new performance and installation piece from Jane Packman Company.

I've been involved in making the project from its inception; indeed it was in part inspired by a short piece I wrote during a development week with Mapping4D at The Dark Room, back in 2006. That piece was just one of several starting points - the project as it opens this week at mac is a devised piece which has been collaboratively authored by the company.

It's been a challenge to realise a project of this scale in a big white gallery space, but also fun and energising to be working with such a great team... and looking up from my laptop, I must say it's looking beautiful.

The Woods runs at mac until 27th February 2011.

2010-11-27T22:20:00.002Z

Unlike most projects, I helped to make a lot of noise in Uninvited Guests' new performance piece Make Better Please.

Working in a beautiful space up on the roof of Bristol Old Vic, the show seeks to take on the troubles of the world - and make them bettter. And it works really well: the engagement with the audience is handled with great care, and the performance properly attempts to grapple with some of what is happening in the world.

It's been a privilege to be able to contribute to the work - by creating a simple, sensitive, yet dynamic lighting design; and by helping to create a cacophony during the performance!

Tin Soldier

2010-11-27T15:37:00.003Z

A couple of weeks ago I designed lighting for Tin Soldier, a small and satisfyingly dark show for children, which the

Whilst on tour, the show has picked up a great review from The Guardian, and it's running at the Royal Exchange in Manchester from 15th December. If you're in the north west this Christmas, and want an inventive sacharine-free show for children, you should check this out!

M2M

2010-10-03T13:30:00.002+01:00

Only time for a quick post this afternoon, but Unlimited's new play for children, Mission to Mars, is up and running and looking really special....

I'll post some more photos soon, but if you're in London in the next month, you should check it out, with or without any 7-11 year olds you might know! Details via the Unlimited site here.

Iris in Amsterdam

2010-08-31T17:16:00.009+01:00

Unfortunately I'm not packing my bags for this one, but Melanie Wilson's Iris Brunette is off to Amsterdam to be part of the Netherlands Theatre Festival Fringe 2010. The last time I saw the show was in Bristol back in November '09, but I know it's in capable hands again for these performances, and will be as beautiful, dark and delicate as ever.

More info and book tickets here, if you happen to be in Amsterdam this weekend... (3-6 September 2010).

Extra-Ordinary

2010-06-23T17:02:00.003+01:00

Leonie just texted from South Africa, with the news that Extra-Ordinary has won a National Arts Festival Ovation Award in Grahamstown. It's great recognition for this satirical dance piece, featuring David Toole and Lucy Hind, which we put together a couple of months ago at Development Lab in Bradford.

Congratulations guys!

Treasured - A Secret Journey

2010-06-06T14:56:00.006+01:00

Sunday afternoon, and I'm blogging from the garden following an intense couple of production weeks on Treasured - A Secret Journey by Jane Packman Company.

It's a very special performance for one person at a time, commissioned my mac (Midlands Arts Centre) as part of their re-opening season following a extensive refurbishment. Both the building and the performance are really exciting...

Jane's been developing the project over the last four years, and all the time and effort of her exceptional team really shows. I've created a satisfyingly effective lighting design for the piece, and I also put together a pleasing (at least for the geeks) technical system to allow the performers to operate the show themselves.

Have a look at the trailer above. Book tickets here. It really is lovely!

A Small Town Anywhere

2010-05-01T10:18:00.003+01:00

A little late, perhaps, but here's the documentation of A Small Town Anywhere, a project I've been collaborating on for a couple of years, since our first development at the National Theatre Studio back in 2007. This film is of the full theatrical release of the project, which we made at BAC last Autumn (2009).

Made by Coney, A Small Town Anywhere has been another of those projects where I've been involved as both collaborating artist and lighting designer. Wrangling with ideas and post-it notes around large tables and talking animatedly over dark ales; as well as designing light and sourcing snow and the moon. Pleasingly involved and elemental!

Iris Update...

2009-09-26T20:32:00.004+01:00

I've just heard that Iris Brunette won the Best Production Award at the Dublin Fringe 2009!

Iris Brunette

2009-09-03T15:12:00.002+01:00

Following successful performances in Edinburgh, as part of the British Council Showcase, Melanie Wilson is touring Iris Brunette this Autumn. Iris was one of my favourite projects of last year, and it was a pleasure to revisit it this summer.

Whilst at the festival, Mel got some great reviews, including this from Joyce McMillan of The Scotsman:

"[She is] a remarkable poet in word and sound, going straight to the heart of that longing for a last, precious touch of intimacy." * * * *

And here's what Kultureflash had to say about my lighting design:

"We find we've been effortlessly woven into the thread of this post-apocalyptic patchwork, appearing and disappearing from view thanks to Ben Pacey's brilliantly conceived lighting."

It's a dark, gentle and extraordinary performance, for only 20 people at a time. I can't recommend it enough, really. The full tour dates are on the Fuel site, here.

Water Music

2009-06-25T12:50:00.002+01:00

I'm currently working with Lewis Gibson and VJ Mox on Water Music for the Greenwich and Docklands Festival. We've been on site at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich all week. It's a beautiful site, we've got a great crew, and the weather's been good so far..! But being outside, we have to wait until the sun sets before we can do much with the lighting, so there's been a couple of quite late nights this week.

The photo is fresh from the early hours of this morning, during our final focus session before tonight's first performance.

The Moon The Moon

2009-06-15T17:24:00.001+01:00

A nice quote from Culture Wars, in their review of The Moon The Moon.

"The figure of the moon is a ghostly pervasive omnipresence, who[...] thanks to Ben Pacey’s superbly dexterous lighting, fades between unearthly half-presence and concrete reality."

Working on the Moon...

2009-02-27T18:35:00.007Z

I'm busy working on the moon at the moment.

No, not that one, this one.

It's all looking very exciting, and the theatre we're working in, Curve, in Leicester is quite amazing. More on this soon...

Mixtape

2009-01-14T20:47:00.005Z

Just before Christmas I was collaborating, devising and designing with Jon Spooner on the first part of Mixtape which Unlimited Theatre is creating and curating. Between us we made probably the most beautiful 3 minute 20 second show I've ever been part of... it took a bit longer than three minutes to make it, but great to be able to dream, then make, then present all within the space of a few days.

Now the new year has been and gone, I'm looking forward to another collaboration with Unlimited, this time as lighting designer of their new touring show The Moon, The Moon...

The Woods Project

2008-10-05T22:20:00.007+01:00

Last week I was working with Jane Packman and team, on The Woods Project, an atmospheric outdoor promenade performance, which I've been collaborating on as both writer and lighting designer. The performance takes the audience into the woods at nightfall, where they experience a fragmented narrative of destruction and regeneration.

As a lighting designer, it's amazing to be able to work in such a richly textured natural environment. The evening twilight, the limited audience capacity, and the woodland location allow me to work very low-fi and light-weight; getting beautiful results from very little equipment... of which there's not a trace left behind afterwards.

A Small Town Anywhere

2008-10-04T16:12:00.001+01:00

Back in September I spent a very productive week at the National Theatre Studio, collaborating again with Coney, on a project entitled A Small Town Anywhere.

It's always great to spend time at the studio, and espcially good to be in the refurbished building for the first time, looking out onto the bustle of The Cut. We made some good progress on the project, and all being well it'll gestate from this 'wall-of-post-its' into a full production next year...

RISE

2008-08-15T13:35:00.010+01:00

Tom Dale's RISE, the contemporary dance piece I lit last autumn in Cambridge, is currently up in Edinburgh at the festival. It's a dark, atmospheric, edgy show - it was a great project to work on - and I was really happy with how it looked, both originally and in it's current home at the festival. Here's what The Scotsman's Kelly Apter said about it this morning:

"...it's not just Dale's choreography and the technical ease of the five dancers that sets Rise apart, it's also the impact it has on our surroundings. The atmosphere created in Zoo Southside belies the large performance area and spacious seating. Shadowy light, a heavy bass rhythm and the dancers' dark, hooded outfits all conspire to create a closed-in world where nothing good can happen. An oppressive air hangs over us all, as the dancers move through the imaginary urban space..."

A view that is supported by Three Weeks' Neil Brabant, who writes:

"The dark, brooding atmosphere is heightened by the space defining lighting that reduces the space and further locks in the intensity of the performance."

Infinite Lives

2008-07-11T22:54:00.018+01:00

Last night was the opening night of Infinite Lives, a new play by Chris Goode, at the North Wall Summer Festival in Oxford; following a busy few days of technical rehearsals in Leeds.

I've enjoyed and admired Chris's work for ages, and it's been a real pleasure to design lighting for this premiere, particularly as I've been part of a really talented team theatre-makers, including Jon Spooner (Unlimited), Alex Kelly (Third Angel) and Mic Pool.

Infinite Lives was very well received in Oxford, and all being well, there'll be further performances coming soon!

The Internationalist

2008-05-05T17:22:00.013+01:00

I've just been catching up with the reviews of The Internationalist, which has just closed at The Gate. The play was well received, and I'm particularly pleased that several critics picked up on the contribution of the lighting design to the production...

"The lighting designer, Ben Pacey, uses the tininess of the Gate to [his] advantage, turning the stage into a beautifully lit box – either spotlighting the excellent cast or fading them into silhouettes." - The Sunday Times 13/04/08

"The set works brilliantly alongside Ben Pacey’s beautifully realised lighting design... the not-quite tango of Lowell and Sara - silhouetted against a bright white screen - is a perfect a way of staging their burgeoning romance." - Culture Wars 17/04/08

"Tom Scutt’s design and Ben Pacey’s lighting combine beautifully for a silhouetted filmic effect that neatly encapsulates the clash of Hollywood fantasy and dreary reality." - The Stage 14/04/08

Treasured - A Secret Journey

2008-02-18T18:00:00.012Z

A rare picture of me, taken on my phone last week, during a development week for Treasured - A Secret Journey at Warwick Arts Centre. Treasured is a short performance for one person at a time, and involves three amazing pieces of scupltural jewellery, specially commissioned for the show.

We had an intense but productive week - I wrote some of the text, designed light, and operated all the performances. It's a while since I've done this kind of live operation; perhaps not since the beautiful At Home, which I made with Wireframe back in 1999. For Treasured, none of the lighting was pre-programmed, I performed each individual show live. Working this way can feel really satisfying - it imbues the work with a rich generosity - as the three performers and I focus on creating a great experience for just one person, in that moment.

Handmade/Manmade at BDE

2008-01-03T13:29:00.001Z

Back in November 2006 I lit Handmade/Manmade, a dynamic dance piece for Wired Aerial Theatre... commissioned by ROH2, it premiered in the Linbury Studio of the Royal Opera House... bounce on to January 2008, and it's great to see that it's been selected for British Dance Edition, the prestigious showcase for British dance, which is in Liverpool this year.

The BDE performance is on the 30th January, but in the meantime, check out this video of the show at www.article19.co.uk.

Waiting at the V&A

2007-11-22T12:25:00.000Z

I'm thrilled that my lighting design for I Am Waiting For The Opportunity To Save Someone's Life (a site-specific performance I collaborated on in 2006) has been selected to be part of the "Collaborators: UK Design for Performance 2003-2007" exhibition, which opened this week at the V&A in London.

I went to the private view a couple of nights ago, and as well as meeting lots of lovely people, I think the exhibition looks great... it runs until 18 November 2008, and is well worth a visit next time you're in South Kensington! Full details here.

Woods

2007-10-12T12:27:00.000+01:00

Last weekend I ran away to the woods, to spend a couple of days working with director Jane Packman and a great team of performers, on a work-in-progress performance of a new project.

Although it doesn't have a title yet, it's an atmospheric promenade performance, which I've been writing, and it takes the audience into the woods at night... We had positive reactions from our test audience on Sunday night, and I'm looking forward to being able to develop the project further.

Thanks to Chris Keenan for taking some beautiful photographs!

Noor

2007-10-01T13:11:00.000+01:00

I'm back from a busy few weeks working on Anurekha Ghosh and Company's new production, Noor, which opened a couple of days ago at Warwick Arts Centre. Here's what BBC Birmingham had to say...

"With lighting designer Ben Pacey producing an atmospheric ambience of shadow and light, Noor sets an enchanting tone..." BBC Birmingham, 28/09/07

Published Sources

2007-08-24T22:30:00.001+01:00

Last year I designed light for two performances created by artist Spartacus Chetwynd - The Fall of Man was performed at Tate Britain (as part of the Tate Triennial 2006), and Delerious took place in the Serpentine Gallery Summer Pavillion.

A new book of her work - entitled Spartacus Chetwynd - has just been published, featuring some great photos of these performances: I'm happy to say that you can really see the contribution lighting design played in helping to create and define the space and atmosphere of these events.

Good press for Guests!

2007-08-21T11:25:00.000+01:00

I've just read a great review of Uninvited Guests' show Is Is Like It Ought To Be: A Pastoral in today's Guardian. It's currently in Edinburgh as part of the British Council Showcase. I had lots of fun lighting it last year, so it's great to see it getting some recognition - congratulations guys!

And I'm particularly pleased that Lyn Gardner noticed the contribution of the lighting design - she writes, "The sun goes in, the darkness falls and we are transported somewhere very different..." The Guardian, 20/08/07

Man alive...

2007-08-16T12:12:00.001+01:00

Here's a first glimpse of Man Across The Way, which I've just lit for Silver Tongue Theatre. We took the photos in about ten seconds during a tech turnaround up in Edinburgh... but the show's looking great, and should be really tight by the time it gets to Theatre503 in September.