Paul Pyant (born 22 July 1953) is a British lighting designer, whose designs have been featured in the West End, on Broadway and in opera houses around the world. He has been nominated for several Olivier Awards and Tony Awards, winning the Olivier in 2014 for his design for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
Life and career
Pyant's parents are Leonard Vincent Pyant, a business executive, and Jean Phoebe née Frampton, a medical secretary. He graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London in 1973 and is an associate of the Academy.[1]
He has also designed lighting for productions of the Donmar Warehouse in London since its opening. For the Royal Shakespeare Company, he has lit productions of Richard III, The Tempest, The Painter of Dishonour and Julius Caesar. As one of the creative members of the Sam Mendes "Bridge Project", he designed the lighting for As You Like It and The Tempest, which played in repertory at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) and The Old Vic in 2010. Pyant commented on working on the two productions: "You know going into the project that these are two very different productions to light."[10] For the Chichester Festival Theatre, he designed the lighting for productions in 2005, 2007 and 2008, including The Scarlet Letter and King Lear.[11]
His designs for ballet include productions by the English National Ballet, Northern Ballet, The Norwegian National Ballet, The Royal New Zealand Ballet, Boston Ballet and Atlanta Ballet. He designed the lighting for The Snow Queen for the English National Ballet in 2010, with The Stage reviewer Gavin Roebuck noting "Paul Pyant magically lights these and the dazzling ice scape."[17]