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Shakespeare’s R&J
Beyond the Curtain
…”with its set (Anna Kelsey) and lighting (John Rainsforth) being the first elements to shake our reality once we have taken that first step into the theatre...The theatre is dark with Rainsforth’s clever, delicate lighting carrying the weight of the audience’s experience, as we witness three more young men search in the dark and gradually uncover a book that we start to piece together as the play of Romeo and Juliet..”
The Stage
…”John Rainsforth’s bold lighting drenches the setting in vivid neon tones of pink and purple, while white lightning flashes ominously outside the dormitory windows. Sometimes, a flaming orange cross glows in the darkness – a fiery reminder of the condemnation that these young men would face if their passionate love were revealed.”
West End's Best Friend
…”Their efforts are enhanced by John Rainsforth wonderful lighting design, which illuminates Anna Kelsey’s simple raised platform covered in marquetry in subtle varied ways to add atmosphere, and uses handheld torches to illuminate the famous balcony scene, here delivered from a chair. Even the ceiling piece with LED strips helps create the Friar’s cell while, at other times, echoing the theatre metal beams.”
Broadway World
…” and lighting by John Rainsforth is the icing on the cake. Sudden bursts of strobe assist moments of intensity, and the use of torches allude to secrecy. Rainsforth also incorporates a lot of red within his design. This reoccurring ‘redness’ connotes not only to love, anguish, and fear in the tragedy, but more broadly, the Reading Rep theatre itself.”
Reading Rep
Directed by Paul Stacey
Movement Direction by Chris Cumming
Set & Costume Design by Anna Kelsey
Sound Design by Jamie Lu
Lighting Design by John Rainsforth
Associate Lighting Design by Sean Laing & Hilda Harper
Photography by Harry Elletson
BroadwayWorld Best Lighting Designer - Nominee
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