Staged by the Havering Music Makers at the Queen's Theatre

On balance, this was more of a learning experience than a triumph. Which isn't to say that it was a disaster by any means, but it threw up quite a few new challenges for me and I think I'd now be better equipped to do something similar in the future. The design work I've done before hasn't involved lighting so many cloths or having to do such big full-stage dance numbers and I had to relearn some of my old instincts as a result. I was also a bit restricted by the need to work with what was essentially a fixed rig that we'd installed ahead of the Queen's Theatre's community play the following week.

There are a lot of different scenes in Half a Sixpence, and the company had taken a fairly naturalistic approach to the staging of them all. I wanted my lighting to reinforce this, and also reinforce the emotional landscape in which the main character journeys. Because of this, I selected a palette of colours that would let me indicate different times of day and places. This meant sacrificing some of the big bold colours that people sometimes expect at amateur musicals, but this felt sympathetic to the comparatively naturalistic approach taken by the company. I also made use of some steel green (L728) toplight to heighten the sense of discomfort that Kipps feels as he rises the social ladder.

Because of the need to provide good solid blackouts for the numerous scene changes, I didn't spend as long on the transitions between scenes as I would do normally. However, there were several opportunities for shifts and movements of tone and emphasis within scenes, as daylight rose and fell through the shop windows, storm clouds gathered over the military canal and arguments and reconciliations unfolded.

All photographs are by me, Havering Music Makers have their own up but the photographer has helpfully poured flash all over my colours.