For a minute I worry that Aideen Malone might return her Olivier award. We ran out of time – big time!” Luckily, the judges and audiences disagreed. If you want to see enchantment, take yourself to Stephen Sondheim’s musical set in the twisted world of fairytale.
Cinderella, Red Riding Hood and others bounce into the forest, which shimmers in a weave of powdery, gleaming branches and light angling through all the trees. Now transferred to the West End from London’s Bridge theatre, it’s a breathtaking piece of design for a seriously playful musical. The woods are very luscious and inviting initially, and then become darker and more mysterious.” As tales old and new collide, and characters stumble far beyond their happy ever afters, design signposts the journey.
After the initial quest into the woods, the characters return to find that arcadia has collapsed into “destruction and wasteland”. Rangy and witty, the Irish designer arrives for our interview convinced that I’ll be chatting to all the “absolutely stunning” creatives behind Into the Woods; Jordan Fein (director), Tom Scutt (set) and Roland Horvath (video). She previously sent light through Scutt’s wheat fields in their Olivier-winning Fiddler on the Roof.
Into the Woods offers a series of smoke and mirror surprises, for which Malone uncages a whole spectrum of smoke and haze: “A fog that’s quite dense but rises, and then a cool fog that stays low on the ground.” Light pierces the layers, especially when characters experience an epiphany (Red Riding Hood plucked from the wolf’s belly, Jack dismounting the beanstalk). What was her own career-setting epiphany? Acting beckoned – but her degree at Dublin Trinity and then Goldsmiths in London also covered backstage roles.
I enjoyed how lighting is very technical and creative at the same time. I haven’t looked back since.” Her career in lighting began on the fringe and working on dance shows. She toured with dancer and choreographer Akram Khan, enjoying how dance let her “play with beautiful bodies in space.
Often you don’t need to worry about the faces, and you can play with angle.” Theatre then became her home turf. Do all directors understand lighting? You have to figure it out once you’re in the space.” Their 2016 Peter Pan at the National was touch and go, she admits: “But we always get there for press night.” The pandemic prompted a long-contemplated masters in light and lighting at University College London.
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