White Light proved to be the Award Winner’s Choice at the 1998 Olivier Awards. Presented by the Society of London Theatres to the best new productions to open in the West End during the year, the award winners were announced at a ceremony on February 16th.

Twenty awards were presented to seventeen shows. Of these seventeen shows, seven were produced at the Royal National Theatre, The Royal Shakespeare Company or the English National Opera using their in-house lighting rigs. But of the remaining ten shows, eight made use of White Light’s services.

The shows were:

Electra at the Donmar Warehouse

(Best actress: Zoe Wanamaker)

Tom and Clem at the Aldwych

(Best Performer in a Supporting Role: Sarah Woodward)

Chicago at the Adelphi Theatre

(Best Actress in a Musical: Ute Lemper, Outstanding Musical Production)

The Fix at the Donmar Warehouse

(Best Actor in a Musical: Philip Quast)

The Royal Opera’s Paul Bunyan at the Shaftsbury

(Best New Opera Production)

Cinderella at the Piccadilly Theatre

(Outstanding Achievement in Dance: Set and Costume designer at Les Brotherston)

Slava’s Snowshow at the Old Vic

(Best Entertainment)

Closer, transferring to the Lyric Theatre from the Royal National Theatre

(Best New Play)

Rick Fisher won the Best Lighting Designer Olivier, for his work on Chips with Everything and Lady in the Dark, both at the Royal National Theatre; Fisher also lit the award winning ballet Cinderella. The other nominees in this category were Paul Anderson (The Chairs at the Royal Court), Hugh Vanstone (Hamlet RSC) and Howard Harrison (The Fix at the Donmar Warehouse, to which White Light supplied lighting equipment).

Lighting designer Mark Henderson also featured in the nominations list; he was nominated alongside Nikolaus Lehnhodd, designer Tobias Hoheisal and costume designer Bettina J Walter in the Outstanding Achievement in Opera category, for their work on the Royal Opera’s production of Paul Bunyan.

The other Olivier Award winners:

Three Hours After Marriage at the Royal Shakespeare Company

(Best Set Designer and Best Costume Designer, both won by Tim Goodchild)

King Lear at the Royal National Theatre

(Best Director: Richard Eyre, Best Actor: Ian Holme)

The Caucasian Chalk Circle at the Royal National Theatre

(Best Theatre Choreographer: Simon McBurney)

Lady in the Dark at the Royal National Theatre

(Best Supporting Performance in a Musical: James Dreyfus)

From the House of the Dead, ENO at the Coliseum

(Outstanding Achievement in Opera: Conductor Paul Daniel)

L’Allegro, Il Penseroso Ed Il Moderato at the Coliseum

(Best Dance Production: The Mark Morris Dance Group)

Beauty and the Beast at the Dominion

(Best New Musical)

Popcorn at the Apollo

(Best New Comedy)

Shows supplied by White Light also featured strongly in the Critics Circle Awards, presented four days earlier. Closer won the Best New Play award, with Liza Walker winning the Most Promising Newcomer award for her role in the show. Oscar-nominee Dame Judi Dench won the Best Actress award for her role in David Hare’s Amy’s View, a Royal National Theatre production which has now transferred to the Lyric Theatre, Shaftsbury Avenue.

Chicago once again picked up Best Musical award, to add to the six Tony Awards collected by the Broadway production of the show. These included Best Choreographer, Best Director, Best Musical Revival, and Best Lighting by lighting designer Ken Billington.

White Light congratulate all of the winners, commiserate with all of the runners up, and look forward to serving you all again in the future!


Jan/Feb 1998 News News Page Home Page