Knight of Illumination Awards 2016 Theatre Shortlist Announced

	Mark Henderson for Sunset Boulevard is one of the shortlisted designers in the Theatre category of this year's KOI Awards. Photo: Richard Hubert Smith

The Knight of Illumination Awards (KOI) Theatre judging panel has announced its eagerly anticipated shortlist for this year's ceremony, which will take place at London's iconic Eventim Apollo, Hammersmith on Sunday, September 18.

Now in its ninth year, the KOI Awards is a celebration of the creative talents of international lighting and digital content designers working in the UK across TV, Theatre and Concert Touring and Events. The Knight of Illumination Awards is organized by lighting designer Durham Marenghi and his partner Jennie, industry organizations the Association of Lighting Designers (ALD) and the Society of Television Lighting and Design (STLD) and content creation, communications and events agency The Fifth Estate Ltd.

The Theatre shortlist is the first to be revealed, after a panel of senior critics from national newspapers and magazines deliberated over the finest lighting and video work in the categories of dance, musicals, opera, plays, and projection design.

The shortlist is as follows:

The ETC Theatre Award for Dance -- Chris Davey for 1984, Northern Ballet; Michael Hulls for Conceal | Reveal, Russell Maliphant Company, Sadler's Wells; and Charles Webber for COAL, Gary Clarke Company, touring (judged by Jonathan Gray of the Dancing Times and Mark Monahan of the Daily Telegraph).

The Hawthorn Theatre Award for Musicals -- Christopher Akerlind for Into the Woods, Menier Chocolate Factory; Mark Henderson for Sunset Boulevard, English National Opera; and David Hersey for Show Boat, Sheffield Crucible (judged by Georgina Brown of the Mail on Sunday and Matt Trueman of Variety).

The Robert Juliat Theatre Award for Opera -- Lee Curran for Orphée et Eurydice, Royal Opera House; Mark Howland for Pelléas et Mélisande, English Touring Opera; and Joachim Klein for Saul, Glyndebourne Festival (judged by Alexandra Coghlan of The Spectator and Richard Fairman of the Financial Times).

The Elation Professional Theatre Award for Plays -- Lucy Carter for Husbands and Sons, Dorfman, National Theatre; Jane Cox for The Flick, Dorfman, National Theatre; and Jan Versweyveld for Songs from Far Away, Young Vic (judged by Georgina Brown of the Mail on Sunday and Matt Trueman of Variety).

The Fix8Group Theatre Award for Projection Design -- Will Duke for The Encounter, Edinburgh International Festival/The Barbican; Gergo His and Róbert Zentai for The Magic Flute, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Southbank Centre; and Peter Mumford for The Ring Cycle, Opera North (judged by the full panel).

Culture critic and broadcaster David Benedict is chairperson of the Theatre category. Formerly arts editor of the Independent and the Observer and chief London critic for Variety, he currently reviews for BBC Radio 4 arts programs and The Arts Desk.

"In this, the ninth year of the KOI Awards, working conditions for lighting designers continue to be extremely pressurized but the quality of imagination and execution in the nominated work remains as high as ever," he states. "We have also seen developments in the use of projection design, as both a dramatic and a design device. It is growing ever more sophisticated across all forms of live theatre, from opera to small-scale dance, and so picking a winner is getting harder every year."

"Once again the Theatre judges have an exciting range of theatrical lighting and projection design to appraise and this process has raised the awareness in our national press of the value and contribution of good lighting and visual imagery to the creative arts performed in the UK," says Marenghi. "All those nominated and all those who create with light in this country should be proud of the standards that are regularly achieved and we at the Knight of Illumination Awards are proud to recognize these skills."

The headline sponsors of this year's awards edition are Clay Paky and OSRAM. The awards are also generously supported by Spotlight Sponsors Ambersphere Solutions, Ayrton, d3 Technologies, Elation Professional, ETC, FIX8Group, Hawthorn, HSL, Light Initiative, MA Lighting, Philips Vari-Lite, PLASA Media and Events, PRG XL Video, Robert Juliat, SGM, and VER Aurora TV.

The Theatre winners will be announced at the KOI Awards ceremony on September 18 at the Eventim Apollo, Hammersmith.