For a minute I worry that Aideen Malone might return her Olivier award. \u201cIt\u2019s funny that I won an award for it, because I would say Into the Woods is one of the most unfinished pieces I have ever done,\u201d declares the lighting designer. \u201cThere was a lot of detail we never got a chance to finish. We ran out of time \u2013 big time!\u201d<\/p>\n
Luckily, the judges and audiences disagreed. If you want to see enchantment, take yourself to Stephen Sondheim<\/a>\u2019s 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\u2019s Bridge theatre<\/a>, it\u2019s a breathtaking piece of design for a seriously playful musical.<\/p>\n double quotation markInto the Woods offers a series of smoke and mirror surprises for which Malone uncages a misty spectrum of smoke and haze<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a stunning piece, but it\u2019s a monster,\u201d Malone declares. \u201cThere was a lot of problem-solving.\u201d From a lighting point of view, it is \u201cabout the passing of time, day and night. The woods are very luscious and inviting initially, and then become darker and more mysterious.\u201d 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 \u201cdestruction and wasteland\u201d.<\/p>\n Sending light through wheat fields in the Olivier-winning Fiddler on the Roof in London\u2019s Regent\u2019s Park. Photograph: Marc Brenner<\/p>\n Rangy and witty, the Irish designer arrives for our interview convinced that I\u2019ll be chatting to all the \u201cabsolutely stunning\u201d creatives behind Into the Woods; Jordan Fein (director), Tom Scutt (set) and Roland Horvath (video). \u201cIt\u2019s a great team effort,\u201d she insists. She previously sent light through Scutt\u2019s wheat fields in their Olivier-winning Fiddler on the Roof<\/a>. Into the Woods offers a series of smoke and mirror surprises, for which Malone uncages a whole spectrum of smoke and haze: \u201cA fog that\u2019s quite dense but rises, and then a cool fog that stays low on the ground.\u201d Light pierces the layers, especially when characters experience an epiphany (Red Riding Hood plucked from the wolf\u2019s belly, Jack dismounting the beanstalk).<\/p>\n What was her own career-setting epiphany? \u201cWas I a little theatre kid?\u201d she considers. \u201cNot really.\u201d A Dublin pantomime at an impressionable age was a turning point, while at her all-girls secondary school, the annual musical cast the tall Malone as swaggering blokes in Oklahoma! and The King and I. Acting beckoned \u2013 but her degree at Dublin Trinity and then Goldsmiths in London also covered backstage roles. \u201cI fell upon lighting, and was definitely more comfortable with not being on the stage, collaborating with the whole team. I enjoyed how lighting is very technical and creative at the same time. I haven\u2019t looked back since.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018Devised work is nerve-racking\u2019 \u2026 A Monster Calls at the Old Vic, London. Photograph: Tristram Kenton\/The Guardian<\/p>\n Her career in lighting began on the fringe and working on dance shows. She toured with dancer and choreographer Akram Khan<\/a>, enjoying how dance let her \u201cplay with beautiful bodies in space. It\u2019s very sculptural. Often you don\u2019t need to worry about the faces, and you can play with angle.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018A bit of magic\u2019 \u2026 Aideen Malone. Photograph: Ian Tait<\/p>\n Theatre then became her home turf. Do all directors understand lighting? \u201cNot to name any names,\u201d she grins, \u201cbut some are very visual, and some aren\u2019t.\u201d She prefers \u201csomebody with nerves of steel who is prepared to try stuff\u201d \u2013 like Sally Cookson, with whom she devised hit shows such as Jane Eyre<\/a> and A Monster Calls<\/a>. \u201cDevised work is nerve-racking,\u201d says Malone, \u201cbecause you don\u2019t know what you\u2019ve got till the last week of rehearsals. You have to figure it out once you\u2019re in the space.\u201d Their 2016 Peter Pan at the National<\/a> was touch and go, she admits: \u201cBut we always get there for press night.\u201d<\/p>\n The pandemic prompted a long-contemplated masters in light and lighting at University College London. \u201cI thought I knew a lot about colour,\u201d Malone says, \u201cbut I learned so much about the detail of a light source, which makes a huge difference when you\u2019re lighting skin tones.\u201d This fascination carries back into her stage work. \u201cTwo people in daylight might look the same, but put them under theatre light and they\u2019re quite different. One person needs 1% more magenta, and one needs 1% less. It\u2019s a challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n Touch and go \u2026 Peter Pan at the National, London. Photograph: Tristram Kenton\/The Guardian<\/p>\n Malone has always been drawn to \u201cthe cool and warm natural colours of daylight\u201d \u2013 a favourite venue is the Open Air theatre in London\u2019s Regent\u2019s Park, where she and Scutt designed Carousel<\/a> and Fiddler. She also embraces projects blending architectural and theatrical knowhow, such as Sadler\u2019s Wells East, which opened last year. A neon sign above the entrance proclaims: \u201cYou are welcome\u201d \u2013 but glowing lighting through the building must sustain that welcome from morning to night.<\/p>\n Although she is broadening her work, theatre retains its essential appeal for her. \u201cYou have a work light on and the space looks flat \u2013 then you put a spotlight on and it\u2019s transformed. It\u2019s a bit of magic.\u201d<\/p>\n