Paul Pyant (born 22 July 1953) is a British lighting designer, whose designs have been featured in the West End, on

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

and in opera houses around the world. He has been nominated for several

Olivier Awards The Laurence Olivier Awards, or simply the Olivier Awards, are presented annually by the Society of London Theatre to recognise excellence in professional theatre in London at an annual ceremony in the capital. The awards were originally known as ...

and

Tony Awards The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual c ...

, winning the Olivier in 2014 for his design for ''

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory ''Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'' is a 1964 children's novel by British author Roald Dahl. The story features the adventures of young Charlie Bucket inside the chocolate factory of eccentric chocolatier Willy Wonka. The story was originall ...

''.

Life and career

Pyant's parents are Leonard Vincent Pyant, a business executive, and Jean Phoebe née Frampton, a medical secretary. He graduated from the

Royal Academy of Dramatic Art The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA; ) is a drama school in London, England, that provides vocational conservatoire training for theatre, film, television, and radio. It is based in the Bloomsbury area of Central London, close to the Senat ...

in London in 1973 and is an associate of the Academy.

Musical theatre

His credits in Britain include numerous West End productions and many productions with Royal National Theatre (RNT) in London. He was nominated for

Olivier Award The Laurence Olivier Awards, or simply the Olivier Awards, are presented annually by the Society of London Theatre to recognise excellence in professional theatre in London at an annual ceremony in the capital. The awards were originally known a ...

s for his designs for ''The Wind in the Willows'' (RNT 1991), ''

Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

'' (2001), ''

A Streetcar Named Desire ''A Streetcar Named Desire'' is a play written by Tennessee Williams and first performed on Broadway on December 3, 1947. The play dramatizes the experiences of Blanche DuBois, a former Southern belle who, after encountering a series of pers ...

'' (2003), '' All's Well that Ends Well'' (2005) and the musicals ''

The Lord of the Rings ''The Lord of the Rings'' is an epic high-fantasy novel by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, intended to be Earth at some time in the distant past, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's b ...

'' (2008) and ''

'' (2014). He won the Olivier for the last of these. The RNT production of '' Othello'' played an engagement in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, New York in 1998.

Ben Brantley Benjamin D. Brantley (born October 26, 1954) is an American theater critic, journalist, editor, publisher and writer. He served as the chief theater critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1996 to 2017, and as co-chief theater critic from 2017 to ...

, in ''The New York Times'', wrote that Pyant's lighting for this production was "exquisite". Pyant's lighting design for the 2010 West End production of '' Waiting for Godot'' was called "lyrical". He has also designed lighting for productions of the

Donmar Warehouse The Donmar Warehouse is a 251-seat, not-for-profit theatre in Covent Garden, London, England. It first opened on 18 July 1977. Sam Mendes, Michael Grandage and Josie Rourke have all served as artistic director, a post held since 2019 by Mi ...

in London since its opening. For the Royal Shakespeare Company, he has lit productions of '' Richard III'', '' The Tempest'', ''The Painter of Dishonour'' and ''

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, ...

''. As one of the creative members of the Sam Mendes "Bridge Project", he designed the lighting for '' As You Like It'' and ''The Tempest'', which played in repertory at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) and

The Old Vic The Old Vic is a 1,000-seat, not-for-profit producing theatre in Waterloo, London, England. Established in 1818 as the Royal Coburg Theatre, and renamed in 1833 the Royal Victoria Theatre. In 1871 it was rebuilt and reopened as the Royal ...

in 2010. Pyant commented on working on the two productions: "You know going into the project that these are two very different productions to light." For the

Chichester Festival Theatre Chichester Festival Theatre is a theatre and Grade II* listed building situated in Oaklands Park in the city of Chichester, West Sussex, England. Designed by Philip Powell and Hidalgo Moya, it was opened by its founder Leslie Evershed-Mart ...

, he designed the lighting for productions in 2005, 2007 and 2008, including ''The Scarlet Letter'' and ''King Lear.'' His designs have been seen on Broadway in ''

Orpheus Descending ''Orpheus Descending'' is a three-act play by Tennessee Williams. It was first presented on Broadway on March 17, 1957 but had only a brief run (68 performances) and modest success. It was revived on Broadway in 1989, directed by Peter Hall an ...

'' (1989), ''

Arcadia Arcadia may refer to: Places Australia * Arcadia, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney * Arcadia, Queensland * Arcadia, Victoria Greece * Arcadia (region), a region in the central Peloponnese * Arcadia (regional unit), a modern administrative un ...

'' (1993), '' Carousel'' (1994), ''Electra'' (1998), ''Primo'' (2005) and '' The Woman in White'' (2005). He was nominated for the

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ce ...

, Best Lighting Design, for ''Orpheus Descending'' and ''Arcadia'', and received nominations for Drama Desk Awards for lighting for ''Carousel'' and the Sam Mendes "Bridge Project" production of ''

The Winter's Tale ''The Winter's Tale'' is a play by William Shakespeare originally published in the First Folio of 1623. Although it was grouped among the comedies, many modern editors have relabelled the play as one of Shakespeare's late romances. Some crit ...

'' (2009).

Opera and ballet

Pyant's extensive opera credits include lighting designs for the premiere of '' The Minotaur'' (1990). From 1974 to 1987 he worked with

Glyndebourne Opera Glyndebourne Festival Opera is an annual opera festival held at Glyndebourne, an English country house near Lewes, in East Sussex, England. History Under the supervision of the Christie family, the festival has been held annually since 1934, e ...

, where he later designed lighting for Sir Peter Hall's productions of ''

Le Nozze di Figaro ''The Marriage of Figaro'' ( it, Le nozze di Figaro, links=no, ), K. 492, is a ''commedia per musica'' (opera buffa) in four acts composed in 1786 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with an Italian libretto written by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It premie ...

'', ''

Falstaff Sir John Falstaff is a fictional character who appears in three plays by William Shakespeare and is eulogised in a fourth. His significance as a fully developed character is primarily formed in the plays '' Henry IV, Part 1'' and '' Part 2'', w ...

'' and ''

New Year New Year is the time or day currently at which a new calendar year begins and the calendar's year count increments by one. Many cultures celebrate the event in some manner. In the Gregorian calendar, the most widely used calendar system to ...

'', as well as Stephen Lawless's production of ''

Death in Venice ''Death in Venice ''(German: ''Der Tod in Venedig'') is a novella by German author Thomas Mann, published in 1912. It presents an ennobled writer who visits Venice and is liberated, uplifted, and then increasingly obsessed by the sight of a Poli ...

'', among others. Since 1985, he has designed productions for the

English National Opera English National Opera (ENO) is an opera company based in London, resident at the London Coliseum in St Martin's Lane. It is one of the two principal opera companies in London, along with The Royal Opera. ENO's productions are sung in English ...

(ENO). Early designs for ENO included '' Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk'' in 1987, Handel's '' Xerxes'' and '' Carmen'' in 1988, ''Lear'', ''Falstaff'' and '' Street Scene'' the next year. Later, he designed for them '' Orfeo ed Euridice'' (2001) and others. His designs have also been seen at the

Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera (commonly known as the Met) is an American opera company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, currently situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The company is oper ...

in New York, at the

Vienna Staatsoper The Vienna State Opera (, ) is an opera house and opera company based in Vienna, Austria. The 1,709-seat Renaissance Revival venue was the first major building on the Vienna Ring Road. It was built from 1861 to 1869 following plans by August Si ...

, the

Vienna Volksoper The Vienna Volksoper (''Volksoper'' or ''Vienna People's Opera'') is an opera house in Vienna, Austria. It produces three hundred performances of twenty-five German language productions of opera, operetta, musicals, and ballet, during an annual s ...

, the

Royal Opera House The Royal Opera House (ROH) is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. It is the home of The Royal Ope ...

in London, La Scala, Milan; Opera de Monte Carlo, the

Kirov Opera The Mariinsky Theatre ( rus, Мариинский театр, Mariinskiy teatr, also transcribed as Maryinsky or Mariyinsky) is a historic theatre of opera and ballet in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Opened in 1860, it became the preeminent music th ...

in St. Petersburg and elsewhere. He has designed ten productions for the Houston Grand Opera, including ''Rigoletto'' and most recently Handel's ''Xerxes'' in 2010. His designs for ballet include productions by the

English National Ballet English National Ballet is a classical ballet company founded by Dame Alicia Markova and Sir Anton Dolin as London Festival Ballet and based in London, England. Along with The Royal Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet, Northern Ballet and Scottish ...

Northern Ballet Northern Ballet, formerly Northern Ballet Theatre, is a dance company based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, with a strong repertoire in theatrical dance productions where the emphasis is on story telling as well as classical ballet. The company ...

, The Norwegian National Ballet, The Royal New Zealand Ballet, Boston Ballet and Atlanta Ballet. He designed the lighting for ''The Snow Queen'' for the English National Ballet in 2010, with ''The Stage'' reviewer Gavin Roebuck noting "Paul Pyant magically lights these and the dazzling ice scape."Roebuck, Gavin
"Review: ''The Snow Queen''"
The Stage'', 11 January 2010

References

External links

*
Profile and photo of Pyant
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pyant, Paul Lighting designers Living people 1953 births Alumni of RADA