Paul Pyant
Encyclopedia
Paul Pyant is a British lighting designer, whose designs have been featured in the West End
, on Broadway
and in opera houses around the world.
in London in 1973 and is an associate of the Academy.
(RNT) in London. He was nominated for Olivier Awards for his designs for The Wind in the Willows (RNT 1991), Hamlet
(2001), A Streetcar Named Desire
(2003), All's Well that Ends Well
(2005) and the musical The Lord of the Rings (2008). The RNT production of Othello
played an engagement in Brooklyn, New York in 1998. Ben Brantley
, in The New York Times, wrote that Pyant's lighting for this production was "exquisite". His 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
in London since its opening. For the Royal Shakespeare Company
, he has designed lighting for productions of Richard III
, The Tempest
, The Painter of Dishonour and Julius Caesar
. 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 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
, 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
(1989), Arcadia
(1993), Carousel
(1994), Electra (1998), Primo (2005) and The Woman in White
(2005). He was nominated for the Tony Award
, Best Lighting Design, for Orpheus Descending and Arcadia, and received nominations for Drama Desk Award
s for lighting for Carousel and the Sam Mendes "Bridge Project" production of The Winter's Tale
(2009).
(1990). From 1974 to 1987 he worked with Glyndebourne Opera, where he later designed lighting for Sir Peter Hall's productions of Le Nozze di Figaro, Falstaff
and New Year
, as well as Stephen Lawless's production of Death in Venice
, among others. Since 1985, he has designed productions for the English National Opera
(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
in New York, at the Vienna Staatsoper, the Vienna Volksoper
, the Royal Opera House
in London, La Scala
, Milan; Opera de Monte Carlo, the Kirov Opera 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
, Northern Ballet, 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 noting "Paul Pyant magically lights these and the dazzling ice scape."
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
, on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
and in opera houses around the world.
Life and career
Pryant'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 ArtRoyal Academy of Dramatic Art
The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art is a drama school located in London, United Kingdom. It is generally regarded as one of the most renowned drama schools in the world, and is one of the oldest drama schools in the United Kingdom, having been founded in 1904.RADA is an affiliate school of the...
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 TheatreRoyal National Theatre
The Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company...
(RNT) in London. He was nominated for Olivier Awards for his designs for The Wind in the Willows (RNT 1991), Hamlet
Hamlet
The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
(2001), A Streetcar Named Desire
A Streetcar Named Desire (play)
A Streetcar Named Desire is a 1947 play written by American playwright Tennessee Williams for which he received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1948. The play opened on Broadway on December 3, 1947, and closed on December 17, 1949, in the Ethel Barrymore Theatre. The Broadway production was...
(2003), All's Well that Ends Well
All's Well That Ends Well
All's Well That Ends Well is a play by William Shakespeare. It is believed to have been written between 1604 and 1605, and was originally published in the First Folio in 1623....
(2005) and the musical The Lord of the Rings (2008). The RNT production of Othello
Othello
The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in approximately 1603, and based on the Italian short story "Un Capitano Moro" by Cinthio, a disciple of Boccaccio, first published in 1565...
played an engagement in Brooklyn, New York in 1998. Ben Brantley
Ben Brantley
Benjamin D. "Ben" Brantley is an American journalist and the chief theater critic of The New York Times.-Life and career:...
, in The New York Times, wrote that Pyant's lighting for this production was "exquisite". His lighting design for the 2010 West End production of Waiting for Godot
Waiting for Godot
Waiting for Godot is an absurdist play by Samuel Beckett, in which two characters, Vladimir and Estragon, wait endlessly and in vain for someone named Godot to arrive. Godot's absence, as well as numerous other aspects of the play, have led to many different interpretations since the play's...
was called "lyrical".
He has also designed lighting for productions of the Donmar Warehouse
Donmar Warehouse
Donmar Warehouse is a small not-for-profit theatre in the Covent Garden area of London, with a capacity of 251.-About:Under the artistic leadership of Michael Grandage, the theatre has presented some of London’s most memorable award-winning theatrical experiences, as well as garnered critical...
in London since its opening. For the Royal Shakespeare Company
Royal Shakespeare Company
The Royal Shakespeare Company is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs 700 staff and produces around 20 productions a year from its home in Stratford-upon-Avon and plays regularly in London, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and on tour across...
, he has designed lighting for productions of Richard III
Richard III (play)
Richard III is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in approximately 1591. It depicts the Machiavellian rise to power and subsequent short reign of Richard III of England. The play is grouped among the histories in the First Folio and is most often classified...
, The Tempest
The Tempest
The Tempest is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1610–11, and thought by many critics to be the last play that Shakespeare wrote alone. It is set on a remote island, where Prospero, the exiled Duke of Milan, plots to restore his daughter Miranda to her rightful place,...
, The Painter of Dishonour and Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar (play)
The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, also known simply as Julius Caesar, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1599. It portrays the 44 BC conspiracy against...
. As one of the creative members of the Sam Mendes
Sam Mendes
Samuel Alexander "Sam" Mendes, CBE is an English stage and film director. He is best known for his Academy Award-winning work on his debut film American Beauty and his dark re-inventions of the stage musicals Cabaret , Oliver! , Company and Gypsy . He's currently working on the 23rd James Bond...
"Bridge Project", he designed the lighting for As You Like It
As You Like It
As You Like It is a pastoral comedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1599 or early 1600 and first published in the folio of 1623. The play's first performance is uncertain, though a performance at Wilton House in 1603 has been suggested as a possibility...
and The Tempest, which played in repertory at the Brooklyn Academy of Music
Brooklyn Academy of Music
Brooklyn Academy of Music is a major performing arts venue in Brooklyn, a borough of New York City, United States, known as a center for progressive and avant garde performance....
(BAM) and The Old Vic 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
Chichester Festival Theatre, located in Chichester, England, was designed by Philip Powell and Hidalgo Moya, and opened by its founder Leslie Evershed-Martin in 1962. Subsequently the smaller and more intimate Minerva Theatre was built nearby in 1989....
, 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
Orpheus Descending is a play by Tennessee Williams. It was first presented on Broadway in 1957 where it enjoyed a brief run with only modest success. The play is basically a rewrite of an earlier play by Williams called Battle of Angels, which was written in 1940, but had been closed on its opening...
(1989), Arcadia
Arcadia (play)
Arcadia is a 1993 play by Tom Stoppard concerning the relationship between past and present and between order and disorder and the certainty of knowledge...
(1993), Carousel
Carousel (musical)
Carousel is the second stage musical by the team of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II . The work premiered in 1945 and was adapted from Ferenc Molnár's 1909 play Liliom, transplanting its Budapest setting to the Maine coastline...
(1994), Electra (1998), Primo (2005) and The Woman in White
The Woman in White (musical)
The Woman in White is a musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber and David Zippel with a book by Charlotte Jones, based on the novel The Woman in White written by Wilkie Collins...
(2005). He was nominated for the Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
, Best Lighting Design, for Orpheus Descending and Arcadia, and received nominations for Drama Desk Award
Drama Desk Award
The Drama Desk Awards, which are given annually in a number of categories, are the only major New York theater honors for which productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway compete against each other in the same category...
s for lighting for Carousel and the Sam Mendes "Bridge Project" production of The Winter's Tale
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, some modern editors have relabelled the play as one of Shakespeare's late romances. Some critics, among them W. W...
(2009).
Opera and ballet
Pyant's extensive opera credits include lighting designs for the premiere of The MinotaurThe Minotaur (opera)
The Minotaur is an opera in two acts, with 13 scenes by English composer Harrison Birtwistle to a libretto by poet David Harsent, commissioned by the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in London. The work premiered at the Royal Opera House on April 15, 2008 and was shown on BBC2 television on June 7,...
(1990). From 1974 to 1987 he worked with Glyndebourne Opera, where he later designed lighting for Sir Peter Hall's productions of Le Nozze di Figaro, Falstaff
Falstaff (opera)
Falstaff is an operatic commedia lirica in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi, adapted by Arrigo Boito from Shakespeare's plays The Merry Wives of Windsor and scenes from Henry IV. It was Verdi's last opera, written in the composer's ninth decade, and only the second of his 26 operas to be a comedy...
and New Year
New Year (opera)
New Year is an opera in three acts by composer Michael Tippett, who wrote his own libretto. It was first performed by Houston Grand Opera on 27 October 1989, in a production by Peter Hall....
, as well as Stephen Lawless's production of Death in Venice
Death in Venice (opera)
Death in Venice is an opera in two acts by Benjamin Britten, his last. The opera is based on the novella Death in Venice by Thomas Mann. Myfanwy Piper wrote the English libretto. It was first performed at Snape Maltings near Aldeburgh, England on 16 June 1973.The astringent score is marked by some...
, among others. Since 1985, he has designed productions for the English National Opera
English National Opera
English National Opera 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, Covent Garden...
(ENO). Early designs for ENO included Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk in 1987, Handel's Xerxes
Serse
Serse is an opera seria in three acts by George Frideric Handel. It was first performed in London on 15 April 1738. The Italian libretto was adapted by an unknown hand from that by Silvio Stampiglia for an earlier opera of the same name by Giovanni Bononcini in 1694...
and Carmen
Carmen
Carmen is a French opéra comique by Georges Bizet. The libretto is by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée, first published in 1845, itself possibly influenced by the narrative poem The Gypsies by Alexander Pushkin...
in 1988, Lear, Falstaff and Street Scene
Street Scene (opera)
Street Scene is a Broadway musical or, more precisely, an "American opera" by Kurt Weill , Langston Hughes , and Elmer Rice...
the next year. Later, he designed for them Orfeo ed Euridice
Orfeo ed Euridice
Orfeo ed Euridice is an opera composed by Christoph Willibald Gluck based on the myth of Orpheus, set to a libretto by Ranieri de' Calzabigi. It belongs to the genre of the azione teatrale, meaning an opera on a mythological subject with choruses and dancing...
(2001) and others. His designs have also been seen at the Metropolitan Opera
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
in New York, at the Vienna Staatsoper, the Vienna Volksoper
Vienna Volksoper
The Vienna Volksoper is a major opera house in Vienna, Austria. It gives about three hundred performances of twenty-five productions during an annual season running from September through June....
, the Royal Opera House
Royal Opera House
The Royal Opera House 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 of the opera house's original construction in 1732. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The...
in London, La Scala
La Scala
La Scala , is a world renowned opera house in Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as the New Royal-Ducal Theatre at La Scala...
, Milan; Opera de Monte Carlo, the Kirov Opera in St. Petersburg and elsewhere. He has designed ten productions for the Houston Grand Opera
Houston Grand Opera
Houston Grand Opera Houston Grand Opera was founded in 1955 through the joint efforts of Maestro Walter Herbert and cultural leaders Mrs. Louis G. Lobit, Edward Bing and Charles Cockrell...
, including Rigoletto and most recently Handel’s Xerxes in 2010.
His designs for ballet include productions by the English National Ballet
English National Ballet
English National Ballet is a classical ballet company founded by Dame Alicia Markova and Sir Anton Dolin and based at Markova House in South Kensington, London, England. Along with the Royal Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet and Scottish Ballet, it is one of the four major ballet companies in Great...
, Northern Ballet, 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 noting "Paul Pyant magically lights these and the dazzling ice scape."