Photograph from dirty butterfly - lighting design by Katharine Williams
dirty butterfly | From the show dirty butterfly
Photograph from Outré - lighting design by Katharine Williams
From the show Outré
Photograph from Landscape / Monolgue - lighting design by Katharine Williams
George Irving in Landscape | Photographer: Farrows | From the show Landscape / Monolgue
Photograph from Weaklings - lighting design by Katharine Williams
From the show Weaklings
Katharine Williams's picture

Katharine Williams

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Biography

I light shows.  

I use a lighting language that is bold, beautiful and truthful.  I'm interested in work that is about humanity.  

I love making shows with music, and shows with dance.  I love new writing. My favourite rehearsal rooms to be in are those with an open, collaborative process where all voices are valued.

I have worked mostly in the UK, and also in China, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Canada, the USA, Mexico, Ireland, Holland, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Armenia, Romania, Russia and the Czech Republic.

I grew up by the sea in Yorkshire.  I now live in Edinburgh, where I get to walk my dog on an extinct volcano that overlooks the sea.

I've been lucky enough to collaborate with some amazing artists.

I am committed to development, equality and diversity in theatre through mentorship.

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Film

I lit The Half-Light (directed by Prasanna Puwanarajah) for Fifty Nine Productions and Ruby Films. I worked as documentary filmmaker on Clare Duffy's Extreme Light North project in Shetland and Canada.

 

Theatre, activism and social change

I was lead artist on the Love Letters to the Home Office project which campaigned using art, words and theatre to stop the means-tested tiering of Human Rights that is currently in place in the UK for international families.  I founded the Crew for Calais initiative, which mobilises people from the theatre and creative industries to help refugees.

 

Speaking and Lecturing

I have spoken about light, and my process, at Showlight, PLASA and at the Leeds Performing Light Syposium.

I have done masterclasses and lectures for RWCMD; Goldsmith's, RCSSD; Mountview, University of Leeds, University of Arts Brighton and Carnegie Mellon University (Pittsburgh, PA, USA). I have mentored lighting designers at RCSSD, and I worked as Interim Head of Lighting, Sound and Digital Production for Mountview (alongside my work as a freelance LD) from 2014-2015 whilst helping them find the right person to take on the role in the long term.

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Recognition

  • Education, Education, Education won a 2017 Fringe First Award.
  • Instructions for Border Crossings was long-listed for a 2017 Freedom of Expression Award.
  • I was nominated for Creative Innovation in Lighting at the 2017 Theatre and Technology Awards, for Big Guns.
  • Two Man Show won a 2016 Fringe First Award.
  • Two Man Show was shortlisted for a 2016 Total Theatre Award for Innovation.
  • Going Viral won a 2015 Fringe First Award.
  • Men in the Cities won a 2014 Fringe First Award.
  • A Place At The Table was shortlisted for a 2012 Off-WestEnd Award for Lighting Design.
  • Ivan and the Dogs was nominated for a 2011 Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement In An Affiliate Theatre.
  • Reykjavik was nominated for a 2010 Total Theatre Award for Innovation.
  • The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia? was shortlisted for Best Production at the 2009-2010 Critics' Awards For Theatre In Scotland.
  • I Am Falling was nominated for a 2009 South Bank Show Award.
  • I was nominated for a 2008 Knight of the Illumination Award, for I Am Falling.
  • The Only Girl In The World was TimeOut London's 2008 Off-WestEnd Production of the Year.
  • KI worked as Associate Lighting Designer on Ariel Dorfman's musical Dancing Shadows (Seoul, South Korea) which was Best Musical at the 2007 Korean Tony Awards.
  • Hysteria won a 2006 Total Theatre Award, which was awarded for the integration of space, sound, light and physical performance into a whole theatre that is more than the sum of its parts.
  • The Garden was nominated for a 2006 Total Theatre Award.
  • The Argument was nominated for a 2003 Total Theatre Award.

 

Previous productions

Previous productions

Show name Type Venue/Company Role Creative Team Opened
Mrs Puntila and Her Man Matti Theatre Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh
Lyceum Theatre and Citizen's Theatre 		Lighting Designer Director: Murat Daltaban
Set designer: Tom Piper 		Feb 2020
MOVE Theatre Platform - Glasgow & tour, then touring
Disaster Plan 		Lighting Designer Director: AJ Taudevin
 Jan 2020
Jack Frost Theatre Civic Theatre, Barnsley
Fidget Theatre and Little Mighty 		Lighting Designer Dec 2018, Dec 2019
A Chrismas Carol Theatre Wilton's Music Hall
Wilton's Music Hall 		Lighting Designer Director: Stephanie Street
Set designer: Tom Piper 		Nov 2019
Oor Wullie Musical Dundee Rep & Tour, then touring Lighting Designer Director: Andrew Panton
Set designer: Kenneth MacLeod 		Nov 2019
Love Song to Lavender Menace Theatre Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh Lighting Designer Director: Ros Philips
Set designer: Mamoru Iriguchi 		Oct 2019
Status Theatre Summerhall, Edinburgh Festival, then touring
China Plate 		Lighting Designer Director: Rachel Chavkin
 Aug 2018, Mar 2019, Aug 2019
All Of Me Theatre ARC Stockton and Artsdepot London
China Plate 		Lighting Designer Director: Alex Swift
Set designer: Eleanor Field 		Jul 2018, Aug 2019
The Ugly One Theatre The Tron, Glasgow
Tron Theatre Company 		Lighting Designer Director: Debbie Hannan
 Jul 2019
This Girl Laughs, This Girl Cries and This Girl Does Nothing Theatre Macrobert, Stirling
Stellar Quines 		Lighting Designer Director: Jemima Levick
 May 2019
Lost At Sea Theatre Perth Theatre, then touring
Horsecross Arts 		Lighting Designer Director: Ian Brown
Set designer: Karen Tennent 		Apr 2019
Status Theatre Summerhall, Edinburgh Festival, then touring
China Plate 		Lighting Designer Director: Rachel Chavkin
 Aug 2018, Mar 2019, Aug 2019
The Department of Distractions Theatre Sheffield Crucible
Third Angel 		Lighting Designer Director: Alex Kelly
Set designer: Bethany Wells 		Feb 2018, Jan 2019
Jack Frost Theatre Civic Theatre, Barnsley
Fidget Theatre and Little Mighty 		Lighting Designer Dec 2018, Dec 2019
Hole Theatre Royal Court Theatre
Royal Court Theatre 		Lighting Designer Director: Abbi Greenland and Helen Goalen
Set designer: Cécile Trémolières 		Nov 2018
Gagarin Way Theatre Dundee Rep Theatre
Dundee Rep 		Lighting Designer Director: Cora Bissett
Set designer: Emily James 		Oct 2018
Women In Power Theatre Nuffield Theatre, Southampton
Nuffield Theatre 		Lighting Designer Director: Blanche McIntyre
 Sep 2018
Status Theatre Summerhall, Edinburgh Festival, then touring
China Plate 		Lighting Designer Director: Rachel Chavkin
 Aug 2018, Mar 2019, Aug 2019
All Of Me Theatre ARC Stockton and Artsdepot London
China Plate 		Lighting Designer Director: Alex Swift
Set designer: Eleanor Field 		Jul 2018, Aug 2019
Muckers (Development) Theatre Theatre Madrid
Bath Theatre Royal / Oxford Playhouse 		Lighting Designer Director: Jose Troncoso
Set designer: Verity Quinn 		Jun 2018
Status Theatre BAC
China Plate 		Lighting Designer Director: Rachel Chavkin
Set designer: Eugenia Lies 		Jun 2018
All Of Me Theatre BAC and Cornerhouse Folkestone
China Plate 		Lighting Designer Director: Alex Swift
Set designer: Eleanor Field 		May 2018
The Rivals Theatre Watermill Theatre Newbury
Watermill Theatre Newbury 		Lighting Designer Director: Jonathan Humphries
Set designer: James Cotterill 		Mar 2018
666 Comments Theatre Dukes Theatre, Lancaster
Hear Me Roar Festival 		Lighting Designer Director: Daniel Bye
 Mar 2018
Dead and Breathing Theatre Liverpool Unity
Arch 468 		Lighting Designer Director: Rebecca Atkinson-Lord
 Feb 2018
The Department of Distractions Theatre Sheffield Crucible
Third Angel 		Lighting Designer Director: Alex Kelly
Set designer: Bethany Wells 		Feb 2018, Jan 2019
Log Book Environmental Lincoln Cathedral
Woodland Trust, Common Ground, Threshold Studios and Lincoln Cathedral 		Lighting Designer Director: Emily Lim
Set designer: Fran Edgerley 		Oct 2017
Flood (Part 4) Theatre Albert Dock, Hull (2017 Capital of Culture)
Slung Low 		Lighting Designer Director: Alan Lane
Set designer: David Farley 		Sep 2017
Two Man Show Dance UK Touring, then touring
Rash Dash 		Lighting Designer Set designer: Oliver Townsend Aug 2016, Feb 2017, Aug 2017
The Class Project Theatre Summerhall, Edinburgh
Rebecca Atkinson-Lord 		Lighting Designer Aug 2017
Instructions for Border Crossings Theatre The Arc, Stockton, then touring
Daniel Bye 		Lighting Designer Director: Alex Swift
Set designer: Hannah Sibai 		Feb 2017, Aug 2017
Education, Education, Education Theatre Edinburgh Fringe, Bristol Old Vic, then touring
Wardrobe Ensemble 		Lighting Designer Director: Jesse Jones and Helena Middleton
Set designer: Lucy Sierra 		Aug 2017
An Injury Theatre OvalHouse
Permanent Red 		Lighting Designer Director: Alex Swift
Set designer: Oliver Townsend 		Jul 2017
Ode To Leeds Theatre West Yorkshire Playhouse
West Yorkshire Playhouse 		Lighting Designer Director: James Brining
Set designer: Lucy Sierra 		Jun 2017
Medea Theatre Bristol Old Vic
Bristol Old Vic 		Lighting Designer Director: George Mann
Set designer: Shizuka Hariu 		May 2017
The Darkest Corners Theatre Site-Specific, Transform festival, Leeds, UK
Rash Dash and Transform 		Lighting Designer Director: Rash Dash
Set designer: Oliver Townsend 		Apr 2017
Ready Or Not Theatre MAC Birmingham, then touring
Kali Theatre 		Lighting Designer Director: Helena Bell
Set designer: Rajha Shakiry 		Apr 2017
Big Guns Theatre Yard Theatre, London
Yard Theatre 		Lighting Designer Director: Dan Hutton
 Mar 2017
Partus Theatre ARC Stockton, then touring
Third Angel 		Lighting Designer Feb 2017
Instructions for Border Crossings Theatre The Arc, Stockton, then touring
Daniel Bye 		Lighting Designer Director: Alex Swift
Set designer: Hannah Sibai 		Feb 2017, Aug 2017
Two Man Show Dance UK Touring, then touring
Rash Dash 		Lighting Designer Set designer: Oliver Townsend Aug 2016, Feb 2017, Aug 2017
Creature (R&D) Theatre Chats Palace, London, UK
SDNA 		Lighting Designer Jan 2017
Two To Tune Dance Winterthur, Switzerland
Lola Maury 		Lighting Designer Choreographer: Lola Maury
 Nov 2016
Work Play Theatre OvalHouse
Nick Field and Ovalhouse, with Harlow Playhouse 		Lighting Designer Director: Rebecca Atkinson-Lord
Set designer: Sarah Booth 		Nov 2016
A Month of Sundays Theatre Queen's Theatre, Hornchurch
Douglas Rintoul 		Lighting Designer Director: Russell Bolam
 Sep 2016
Extreme Light North Environmental Sumburgh Head Lighthouse, Shetland Lighting Designer Director: Clare Duffy
 Aug 2016
Two Man Show Dance UK Touring, then touring
Rash Dash 		Lighting Designer Set designer: Oliver Townsend Aug 2016, Feb 2017, Aug 2017
Darknet Theatre Southwark Playhouse
Potential Difference 		Lighting Designer Director: Russell Bender
Set designer: Mila Sanders 		Apr 2016
Am I Dead Yet? Theatre Bush Theatre, London, then touring
Unlimited 		Lighting Designer Director: Amy Hodge
Set designer: Takis 		Nov 2014, Apr 2016
Tribute Acts Theatre The Arc, Stockton, then touring
Theatre State 		Lighting Designer Apr 2016
Every One Theatre BAC, London
Chris Goode and Company 		Lighting Designer Director: Chris Goode
Set designer: Naomi Dawson 		Feb 2016
Weaklings Theatre Warwick Arts Centre
Chris Goode and Company 		Lighting Designer Director: Chris Goode
Set designer: Naomi Dawson 		Oct 2015
Going Viral Theatre Northern Stage, then touring
ARC / Northern Stage 		Lighting Designer Director: Dick Bonham
Set designer: Emma Tompkins 		Jul 2015
Care Theatre Watford Palace Theatre
Tangled Feet 		Lighting Designer Director: Kat Joyce and Nathan Curry
Set designer: Naomi Dawson 		Jun 2015
Adriano in Syria Opera Britten Theatre
Classical Opera 		Lighting Designer Director: Thomas Guthrie
Set designer: Rhys Jarman 		Apr 2015
You Have Been Upgraded Environmental Science Museum, London
Unlimited 		Lighting Designer Director: Jon Spooner
Set designer: Rhys Jarman 		Mar 2015
Error 404 Theatre Polka Theatre
Polka Theatre 		Lighting Designer Director: Alex Swift
Set designer: Fiametta Horvat 		Mar 2015
Am I Dead Yet? Theatre Bush Theatre, London, then touring
Unlimited 		Lighting Designer Director: Amy Hodge
Set designer: Takis 		Nov 2014, Apr 2016
The Faerie Queen Opera Middle Temple Hall, London Lighting Designer Director: Thomas Guthrie
Set designer: Rhys Jarman 		Oct 2014
Bluebeard Opera Ovideu Opera House
Opera de Ovideu 		Lighting Designer Director: Tim Carroll
Set designer: Georgia Lowe 		Oct 2014
Stowaway Theatre New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich, then touring
Analogue 		Lighting Designer Director: Hannah Barker and Lewis Hetherington
Set designer: Rhys Jarman 		Sep 2014
The Comedy of Errors Theatre Grosvenor Park Open Air Theatre
Chester Performs 		Lighting Designer Director: Alex Clifton
Set designer: Jess Curtis 		Aug 2014
Men in the Cities Theatre Royal Court Theatre, then touring
Chris Goode and Company 		Lighting Designer Director: Wenday Hubbard
Set designer: Naomi Dawson 		Jul 2014
The Secret Garden Theatre Grosvenor Park Open Air Theatre
Chester Performs 		Lighting Designer Director: Kate Saxon
Set designer: Jess Curtis 		Jul 2014
Macbeth Theatre Grosvenor Park Open Air Theatre
Chester Performs 		Lighting Designer Director: Alex Clifton
Set designer: Jess Curtis 		Jul 2014
Death Actually Concert Toynbee Hall Theatre
Spitalfields Music 		Lighting Designer Director: Thomas Guthrie
Set designer: Rhys Jarman 		Jun 2014
North Theatre Summerhall, Edinburgh Lighting Designer Director: Clare Duffy
 Jun 2014
Dealer's Choice Theatre Theatre Royal, Northampton, then touring
Northampton Royal and Derngate 		Lighting Designer Director: Michael Longhurst
Set designer: Helen Goddard 		May 2014
Mad Man Theatre The Drum
Theatre Royal Plymouth 		Lighting Designer Director: Chris Goode
Set designer: Janet Bird 		Mar 2014
In Skagway Theatre Arcola Theatre, London
KTR Productions in association with Gúna Nua 		Lighting Designer Director: Russell Bolam
Set designer: Natasha Piper 		Feb 2014
Moominland at Christmas Theatre the egg
Theatre Royal Bath 		Lighting Designer Director: Lee Lyford
 Dec 2013
Medea Theatre Rose Theatre, Kingston
AOD 		Lighting Designer Director: Abigail Anderson
Set designer: Dora Schweitzer 		Nov 2013
The Noise Theatre Northern Stage, then touring
Unlimited Theatre 		Lighting Designer Director: Jon Spooner
Set designer: Rhys Jarman 		Oct 2013
The Ruling Class Theatre English Theatre, Frankfurt, Germany
English Theatre Frankfurt 		Lighting Designer Director: Ryan McBryde
Set designer: Georgia Lowe 		Sep 2013
Othello Theatre Grosvenor Park Open Air Theatre
Grosvenor Park Open Air Theatre 		Lighting Designer Director: Alex Clifton
Set designer: Jess Curtis 		Aug 2013
Cyrano de Bergerac Theatre Grosvenor Park Open Air Theatre
Grosvenor Park Open Air Theatre 		Lighting Designer Director: Lucy Pitman-Wallace
Set designer: Jess Curtis 		Jul 2013
A Midsummer Night's Dream Theatre Grosvenor Park Open Air Theatre
Grosvenor Park Open Air Theatre 		Lighting Designer Director: Alex Clifton
Set designer: Jess Curtis 		Jul 2013
Address Unknown Theatre Soho Theatre
Soho Theatre Company 		Lighting Designer Director: Steve Marmion
Set designer: Katie Lias 		Jun 2013
Not I Theatre Royal Court Theatre Lighting Designer May 2013
Say it With Flowers Theatre Sherman Cymru
Sherman Cymru 		Lighting Designer Director: Pia Furtado
Set designer: Georgia Lowe 		May 2013
A Place At The Table 2013 Theatre Amnesty International UK Headquarter
Daedalus 		Lighting Designer Director: Paul Burgess
Set designer: Paul Burgess 		Jan 2013
Heidi - A Goat's Tale Theatre the egg, Theatre Royal, Bath
the egg 		Lighting Designer Director: Lee Lyford
Set designer: Hayley Grindle 		Dec 2012
Champagne Concert BFI Southbank
Mira Calix's company / BFI 		Lighting Designer Director: Mira Calix
 Sep 2012
Downhill Concert BFI Southbank and Stratford Circus
Shlomo's company / BFI 		Lighting Designer Director: Shlomo
 Sep 2012
Resonance at the Still Point of Change Concert Southbank Centre, London
London 2012 Festival 		Lighting Designer Director: Simon Allen
 Sep 2012
Y Storm Theatre National Eisteddfod Wales, Llandow, Vale of Glamorgan
Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru 		Lighting Designer Director: Elen Bowman
Set designer: Naomi Dawson 		Aug 2012
The Lodger Concert Barbican Concert Hall, Barbican Centre, London
LSO / BFI 		Lighting Designer Director: Nitin Sawhney
 Jul 2012
The Ring Concert Hackney Empire
Soweto Kinch Band / BFI 		Lighting Designer Director: Soweto Kinch
 Jul 2012
The Pleasure Garden Concert Wilton's Music Hall
BFI - RAM Manson Ensemble 		Lighting Designer Director: Daniel Patrick Cohen
 Jun 2012
The Ballroom of Joys and Sorrows Dance Watford Palace Theatre, then touring
Kate Flatt Productions 		Lighting Designer Choreographer: Kate Flatt
Set designer: Hayley Grindle 		May 2012
Spoonface Steinberg and Krapp's Last Tape Theatre Hull Truck Theatre
Hull Truck Theatre 		Lighting Designer Director: Jonathan Humphreys
Set designer: Fabrice Serafino 		Apr 2012
Anne and Zef Theatre Salisbury Playhouse
Company of Angels 		Lighting Designer Director: Ben Kidd
Set designer: Miriam Nabarro 		Mar 2012
GOD/HEAD Theatre Oval House Theatre, London, UK, then touring
Chris Goode and Company 		Lighting Designer Director: Wendy Hubbard
Set designer: James Lewis 		Feb 2012
The Body Theatre ICA
Nigel Barrett and Louise Mari 		Lighting Designer Director: Louise Mari
 Jan 2012
The Balkan Project (working title) development Theatre Bow Arts Trust, London
Daedalus 		Lighting Designer Director: Katharine Williams
 Jan 2012
The French Detective and the Blue Dog Theatre the egg, Theatre Royal, Bath
Theatre Royal Bath 		Lighting Designer Director: Lee Lyford
Set designer: Hayley Grindle 		Dec 2011
The Westbridge Theatre Theatre Local, London, UK, then touring
Royal Court Theatre 		Lighting Designer Director: Clint Dyer
Set designer: Ultz 		Nov 2011
A Place at the Table (2011) Theatre camden people's theatre, London
Daedalus 		Lighting Designer Director: Paul Burgess
Set designer: Paul Burgess 		Nov 2011
Invisible Theatre Ipswich
Transport 		Lighting Designer Director: Douglas Rintoul
Set designer: Hayley Grindle 		Oct 2011
The Tempest Theatre Cripplegate Church, Barbican Centre, London UK
Jericho House at BITE Festival 2011 		Lighting Designer Director: Jonathan Holmes
Set designer: Lucy Wilkinson 		Sep 2011
Bette and Joan - The Final Curtain Theatre Assembly Rooms, Edinburgh Festival Fringe, UK, then touring
Foursight Theatre 		Lighting Designer Director: Rebecca McCutcheon & Sarah Thom
Set designer: Amy Yardley 		Aug 2011
Watercolour Concert Latitude Festival
Louise Mari and Nigel Barrett with Tate Britain 		Lighting Designer Jul 2011
Closer Theatre Theatre Des Capuchins, Luxembourg Lighting Designer Director: Douglas Rintoul
 May 2011
Something or Nothing 2011 Theatre Oval House Theatre, then touring Lighting Designer Director: Sinéad Rushe
 Feb 2011
Landscape / Monolgue Theatre Theatre Royal, Bath Lighting Designer Director: Chris Goode
Set designer: Naomi Dawson 		Feb 2011
Faeries 2010 Dance Linbury Studio Theatre, Royal Opera House, London
ROH2 		Lighting Designer Choreographer: Will Tuckett
Set designer: Michael Vale 		Dec 2010
'The Butterfly Effect' (East-West Percussive Parade) Concert Sha Tin Town Hall, New Territories, Hong Kong
Hong Kong Festival 		Lighting Designer Director: Budgie
 Nov 2010
Ivan and the Dogs Theatre Drum Theatre Plymouth, Soho Theatre London, then touring
ATC and Soho Theatre 		Lighting Designer Director: Ellen McDougall
Set designer: Naomi Wilkinson 		Sep 2010
Reykjavik Theatre South Street Reading, Edinburgh Festival Fringe, then touring
Shams 		Lighting Designer Director: Lucinka Eisler and Carolina Valdez
Set designer: Paul Burgess 		May 2010
The Goat (or Who is Sylvia?) Theatre Traverse Theatre Edinburgh
Traverse 		Lighting Designer Director: Dominic Hill
Set designer: Jonathan Fensom 		Apr 2010
Migrations Dance Circus Space, London
Circus Space 		Lighting Designer Mar 2010
A Midsummer Night's Dream Theatre GSMD
GSMD 		Lighting Designer Director: Douglas Rintoul
Set designer: Hayley Grindle 		Nov 2009
Faith Healer Theatre Assembly Rooms, Derby, then touring
New Perspectives 		Lighting Designer Director: Daniel Buckroyd
Set designer: Juliet Shillingford 		Nov 2009
Don Juan Comes Back From The War Theatre Arts Educational School, London, UK Lighting Designer Director: Richard Cant
Set designer: Bronia Hausman 		Oct 2009
An Ode To My Sisters Theatre South Hill Park, Bracknell, then touring
Images of Elsewhere 		Lighting Designer Director: Lucy Bradley and Yasmin Gurreeboo
 Sep 2009
Not I Theatre South Bank Centre
London Literature Festival 		Lighting Designer Director: Jude Kelly
Set designer: Michael Vale 		Jul 2009
Underdrome Dance Roundhouse, London, UK
Roundhouse 		Lighting Designer Choreographer: Darren Johnston
Set designer: Gideon Berger and Steve Gallagher 		May 2009
Amgen : Broken Theatre Sherman Cymru, then touring
Sherman Cymru 		Lighting Designer Director: Elen Bowman
Set designer: Naomi Dawson 		May 2009
Nocturnal Theatre Gate Theatre, London, UK
Gate Theatre Company 		Lighting Designer Director: Lyndsey Turner
 Apr 2009
A Place At The Table Theatre cpt
Daedalus 		Lighting Designer Director: Paul Burgess
Set designer: Paul Burgess 		Apr 2009
Touched (For The Very First Time) Theatre Trafalgar Studios, London, UK
ILW Productions 		Lighting Designer Director: Douglas Rintoul
Set designer: Colin Richmond 		Feb 2009
Dolls Theatre Tramway, Glasgow, UK
National Theatre of Scotland 		Lighting Designer Director: Carrie Cracknell
Set designer: Simon Daw 		Jan 2009
Captain Oates' Left Sock Theatre Finborough Theatre, London, UK
Green For Go 		Lighting Designer Director: Russell Bolam
Set designer: Ruth Hall 		Jan 2009
Hysteria (China Tour) Theatre Beijing, China, then touring
Inspector Sands Theatre 		Lighting Designer Set designer: Yukiko Tsatsumoto Nov 2008
I Am Falling (Sadlers Wells) Dance Lilian Baylis Theatre, Sadlers Wells, London, UK
Gate Theatre Company 		Lighting Designer Choreographer: Anna Williams
Set designer: Garance Marneur 		Oct 2008
The Rape of Lucretia Opera Snape Maltings, Aldeburgh, UK, then touring
Britten-Pears Festival 		Lighting Designer Director: Ed Dick
Set designer: Robert Innes-Hopkins 		Oct 2008
Our Country's Good Theatre Watermill Theatre, Newbury, UK
Watermill Theatre Company 		Lighting Designer Director: Alex Clifton
Set designer: Paul Burgess 		Sep 2008
Multiple Dance The Place, London, UK Lighting Designer Choreographer: Darren Johnston
 Sep 2008
Hedda Theatre Gate Theatre, London, UK
Gate Theatre Company 		Lighting Designer Director: Carrie Cracknell
Set designer: Holly Waddington 		Aug 2008
Black Stuff Theatre Pleasance, Edinburgh Festival Fringe, UK
Shams 		Lighting Designer Director: Jonathan Young
Set designer: Paul Burgess 		Jul 2008
Faeries Dance Royal Opera House, London, UK, then touring
Royal Ballet / ROH2 		Lighting Designer Choreographer: Will Tuckett
Set designer: Michael Vale 		Jul 2008
Reykjavik development Theatre Trestle Arts Base, St Albans, UK, then touring
Shams Theatre 		Lighting Designer Director: Lucinka Eisler/Beccy Smith
Set designer: Paul Burgess 		Jul 2008
Lola Theatre Trestle Arts Base, St Albans, UK, then touring
Trestle 		Lighting Designer Director: Emily Gray
Set designer: Chloe Lamford and Claire Sutherland (assoc) 		Jun 2008
The Only Girl In The World Theatre Arcola Theatre, London Lighting Designer Director: Alex Clifton
Set designer: Paul Burgess 		Apr 2008
Triptych Theatre Southwark Playhouse, London
Southwark Playhouse & Karl Sydow 		Lighting Designer Director: Sean Mathias
Set designer: Paul Burgess 		Apr 2008
Three More Sleepless Nights / FourPlay Theatre Tristan Bates Theatre, London
Green For Go 		Lighting Designer Director: Russell Bolam
Set designer: Ruth Hall 		Apr 2008
Black Stuff Theatre South Street, Reading, UK
Shams Theatre 		Lighting Designer Director: Jonathan Young
Set designer: Paul Burgess 		Mar 2008
Outré Dance South Bank Centre, London, UK, then touring
Array 		Lighting Designer Choreographer: Darren Johnston
Set designer: Darren Johnston 		Feb 2008
dirty butterfly Theatre Young Vic, London, UK
Young Vic 		Lighting Designer Director: Michael Longhurst
Set designer: Garance Marneur 		Feb 2008
I Am Falling Theatre Gate Theatre, London
Gate Company 		Lighting Designer Director: Carrie Cracknell
Set designer: Garance Marneur 		Jan 2008
Life on the Borderline Theatre Site-specific venues in London
Az Theatre 		Lighting Designer Director: Jonathan Chadwick
Set designer: Agnes Treplin 		Nov 2007
Collaborators - Design for Performance Exhibition Environmental V&A Museum, London
SBTD 		Lighting Designer Director: Kate Burnett
Set designer: Mike Elliot 		Nov 2007
BUSK - Kings of the Sidewalk Dance Wyvern Theatre, Swindon, then touring
Banxy and Makin Projects 		Lighting Designer Choreographer: Banxy
 Oct 2007
Selfish Theatre cpt, London, UK
Daedalus 		Lighting Designer Director: Paul Burgess
Set designer: Paul Burgess 		Oct 2007
Meetings Theatre Arcola Theatre, Dalston, London, UK
Blue Hug Theatre Company 		Lighting Designer Director: Dan Barnard
Set designer: James Humphrey 		Oct 2007
Outré 2007 Dance Theater Aan Het Spui, The Hague, Holland
Array 		Lighting Designer Choreographer: Darren Johnston
 Sep 2007
The Sexual Neuroses of our Parents Theatre Gate Theatre, Notting Hill, London, UK
The Gate Theatre Company 		Lighting Designer Director: Carrie Cracknell
Set designer: Phil Brunner 		Sep 2007
Bacchic Theatre Gilded Balloon, Edinburgh Festival Fringe, UK, then touring
Actors of Dionysus 		Lighting Designer Director: Jonathan Young
Set designer: Brendan Fraser 		Aug 2007
The Bridge Dance Laban Centre, London UK, then touring
mimbre acrobats 		Lighting Designer Choreographer: Caroline Pope
Set designer: Charles Camm 		May 2007
Prague Quadrennial Theatre Design Exhibition - British Entry Environmental Industrial Palace, Prague, Czech Republic, then touring
Society of British Theatre Designers 		Lighting Designer Director: Kate Burnett
Set designer: Mike Elliot 		May 2007
Something (1) or Nothing (0) Theatre Lilian Baylis Theatre, Sadler's Wells, London UK, then touring
Guy Dartnell 		Lighting Designer Director: Sinéad Rushe
 Apr 2007
Bless Theatre Theater Ticino, Switzerland Lighting Designer Feb 2007
Collaborators - Design for Performance Environmental Nottingham Trent University, UK
SBTD 		Lighting Designer Director: Kate Burnett
Set designer: Mike Elliot 		Jan 2007
Treasure Island Theatre Tobacco Factory, Bristol UK, then touring
Tobacco Factory 		Lighting Designer Director: Dan Danson
Set designer: Simon Hicks 		Dec 2006
Dolls Development Theatre Tramway, Glasgow UK
Hush Productions with the National Theatre of Scotland 		Lighting Designer Director: Carrie Cracknell
Set designer: James Cotterill 		Nov 2006
Full Circle Theatre Oval House, London
Oval House Theatre 		Lighting Designer Director: Rachel Briscoe
Set designer: James Humphrey 		Oct 2006
The Underpants Theatre Old Red Lion, London
Chancy Productions 		Lighting Designer Director: Richard Braine
Set designer: Katherina Radeva 		Oct 2006
Sardines - The Musical Musical Lillian Bayliss Theatre, Sadler's Wells, London
Islington Music Forum 		Lighting Designer Director: Jonathan Chadwick
Set designer: Agnes Treplin 		Sep 2006
The Garden Theatre Pleasance Dome, Edinburgh Festival Fringe, then touring
Shams Theatre 		Lighting Designer Director: Carolina Valdéz
 Aug 2006
Late Fragment Theatre Tristan Bates Theatre, London
New Company 		Lighting Designer Director: Simon de Deny
Set designer: Lucy Osbourne 		Jul 2006
Revolutionary Stages Theatre City and Islington Sixth Form College
Almeida Projects 		Lighting Designer Director: Helen Eastman
Set designer: Curtis Jordan and Sarah Tipple 		Jun 2006
Time and the Conways Theatre Main Theatre, Royal Patriotic Building, Wandsworth, London
ALRA 		Lighting Designer Director: Robert Swinton
Set designer: Candida Moriarty 		May 2006
Time for the Good Looking Boy Theatre Gulbenkian Theatre, Canterbury
Box Clever Theatre 		Lighting Designer Director: Iqbal Khan
 May 2006
The Imposter Theatre Watford Palace Theatre, then touring
Hoipolloi 		Lighting Designer Director: Shôn Dale-Jones
Set designer: Stefanie Muller 		Apr 2006
Hysteria Theatre Nightingale Theatre, Brighton, UK, then touring
Inspector Sands Theatre 		Lighting Designer Set designer: Yukiko Tsukamoto Mar 2006
Pete and Dud - Come Again Theatre The Venue, London, then New Zealand transfer
Come Again Productions 		Lighting Designer Director: Owen Lewis
Set designer: Janet Bird 		Mar 2006
Lighting Development Week Theatre National Theatre Studio, London
National Theatre Studio 		Lighting Designer Director: Carrie Cracknell
Set designer: James Cotterill 		Feb 2006
Yørgjin Oxo – The Man Theatre Theatre 503, London
Pursued by a Bear 		Lighting Designer Director: Alex Clifton
Set designer: Alice Walkling 		Dec 2005
Autumn Festival of Light Environmental Chestnuts Park, Tottenham, London Lighting Designer Nov 2005
Making Dickie Happy Theatre Warehouse Theatre, Croydon Lighting Designer Director: Robert Gillespie
Set designer: Kevin Freeman 		Oct 2005
The Buzz Theatre Schools tour, then touring
Box Clever Theatre 		Lighting Designer Director: Michael Wicherek
Set designer: Lucien Mansell 		Oct 2005
Baba Yaga Theatre BAC, London
BAC 		Lighting Designer Director: Mervyn Millar
Set designer: Janet Bird 		Oct 2005
Stacy Theatre The Tron, Glasgow
National Theatre of Scotland/Hush Productions 		Lighting Designer Director: Carrie Cracknell
Set designer: Caroline Scott 		Sep 2005
Walk on the Grass Environmental Secret Garden, Regents Park
Royal Parks Trust 		Lighting Designer Sep 2005
Play and Not I Theatre Battersea Arts Centre (BAC), London, UK Lighting Designer Director: Natalie Abrahami
Set designer: Colin Richmond 		Jul 2005
Astronaut Theatre The Pit, Barbican Centre, London, UK, then touring
Theatre O 		Lighting Designer Director: Joseph Alford
Set designer: Simon Daw 		Apr 2005
Out of Nothing Theatre Cambridge Arts Centre, Cambridge, UK
Daedalus Theatre Company 		Lighting Designer Director: Paul Burgess
Set designer: Paul Burgess 		Nov 2004
Nine Days Crazy Theatre Drill Hall, London, UK
signal to noise 		Lighting Designer Director: Liam Jarvis and Ria Parry
 Nov 2004
War Stories Trilogy Theatre oh!Arts, Oxford House, London, UK
Az Theatre 		Lighting Designer Director: Jonathan Chadwick
Set designer: Mamoru Iriguchi 		Nov 2004
A Comedy of Arias Musical New Ambassadors, London, UK
Opera on the Run 		Lighting Designer Director: Jonathan Guy-Lewis
 Sep 2004
A Quiet Afternoon Theatre Komedia Roman Eagle Lodge, Edinburgh, UK, then touring
Stamping Ground Theatre 		Lighting Designer Director: Lucinka Eisler
Set designer: Giles Drayton 		Aug 2004
In Her Dirt Theatre Trestle Arts Base, St Albans, UK
Boldfish Theatre Company 		Lighting Designer Director: Lily Pender
 Jun 2004
Don Giovanni Opera Osuna, Spain
Opera 21 		Lighting Designer Director: Alex Mills
Set designer: Katharine Williams 		Mar 2004
Carmen Opera Osuna, Spain
Opera 21 		Lighting Designer Director: Carolina Valdéz
Set designer: Katharine Williams 		Mar 2004
Burke and Hare Theatre Unity Theatre, Liverpool, UK, then touring
Ophaboom 		Lighting Designer Director: Howard Gayton
Set designer: Becky Hurst 		Feb 2004
The Happy Prince Theatre Gulbenkian Studio, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK
Northern Stage 		Lighting Designer Director: Adel Al-Salloum
Set designer: Imogen Cloët 		Nov 2003
Kiss of Life Theatre Drill Hall, London, UK
cpt Company 		Lighting Designer Director: Chris Goode
 Nov 2003
The Argument Theatre The Pit, Barbican Centre, London, UK, then touring
Theatre O 		Lighting Designer Director: Joseph Alford
Set designer: Isla Shaw 		Sep 2003
Napoleon In Exile Theatre Traverse Theatre 2, Edinburgh and Drill Hall, London
cpt Company 		Lighting Designer Director: Chris Goode
Set designer: Emily Orley 		Aug 2003
Small World Theatre Canadian Tour
Sue Lee and Kosta Andreas Theatre Company 		Lighting Designer Director: Kosta Andreas
Set designer: Tomasin Cuthbert 		Jul 2003
The Englishman Sits in his Caravan at St Osyth/Singing Opera Battersea Arts Centre (BAC), London, UK Lighting Designer Director: Arlette Kim George
 May 2003
Smack Family Robinson Theatre Live Theatre, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK
Live Theatre 		Lighting Designer Director: Jeremy Herren
Set designer: Imogen Cloët 		May 2003
Death and the Ploughman Theatre Gate Theatre, London, UK
Gate Theatre Company 		Lighting Designer Director: Deborah Bruce
Set designer: Imogen Cloët 		Oct 2002
Disco Pigs Theatre Goldsmith's University, London, UK Lighting Designer Director: Lily Pender
Set designer: Becky Brown 		Jun 2002
Something Blue Theatre McCarthy Auditorium, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, UK
Stephen Joseph Theatre Company 		Lighting Designer Director: Laura Harvey
Set designer: Pip Leckenby 		Feb 2002
Man For Hire Theatre McCarthy Auditorium, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, UK
Stephen Joseph Theatre Company 		Lighting Designer Director: Annie Castledine
Set designer: Pip Leckenby 		Feb 2002
Suitcase City Environmental site-specific, Harlow Town Hall, Harlow, UK
Scale Project 		Lighting Designer Director: Paul Burgess/Simon Daw
Set designer: Paul Burgess/Simon Daw 		Dec 2001
Mermaid Theatre Lion and Unicorn Theatre, London, UK
Fondue 		Lighting Designer Director: Lily Pender
Set designer: Becky Hurst 		Apr 2001
Location availability:
  • Worldwide
Contact method Details
Email address

mail@katharinewilliams.co.uk
Website

http://www.katharinewilliams.co.uk
Theatre:
  • International
  • West End
  • Regional (Main House)
  • Regional (Studio)
Musical:
  • International
  • Regional (Studio)
Opera:
  • International
  • Large scale
Dance:
  • International
  • UK National Company
  • Large Scale
Concert:
  • Arena Touring
Architectural:
  • Displays & Art
  • Open Air Events
Education:
  • Lectures
  • Workshops

News

Appearing here soon... a collection of articles from the Focus magazine archives.

Press quotes

Mrs Puntila and Her Man Matti

...the searing impact that the play delivers in this red-hot moment is testament to the skills and work of the entire ensemble, with the lighting, sound, casting, movement and direction all combining to make a startling piece of theatre.
David Petherick, Edinburgh Festival 05/03/2020

Love Song to Lavender Menace

Katharine Williams’ beautiful lighting design illuminates the stage...
The Skinny 22/10/2019
Mamoru Iriguchi’s set design is simple, and effective, the books shining from their shelves in ever diminishing number as the boxing up proceeds. Katharine Williams’s lighting has particular impact when Reid makes his asides in moodily red-lit shadows.
The Scottish Play 20/10/2019
The opening of the show not only grips you with the writing (James Ley), but the expertly finessed lighting (Katharine Williams) adds another layer to the show throughout which draws the audience in, and allows them to be transported with Lewis to the streets of Edinburgh. The use of the books lit up on bookshelf adds not only to the romantic elements interwoven throughout the play, but to the element of suspense and atmosphere within the audience. The delivery of the monologues with the backdrop of this lighting, creates both a sea of tension and slight unrest, especially since both Reid and McVarish have the challenge of taking us on this journey throughout the 80s, with the addition of delivering the dark humour of daily threats and the impact of section 28.
Fresh Air Radio

Lost At Sea

Katharine Williams’s lighting combines with Pippa Murphy’s soundscapes to scud atmospheres evanescent as cloud shapes.
Clare Brennan, The Observer 05/05/2019
The atmosphere of Ian Brown’s production is powerful and constant, thanks in no small measure to the impressive set by Karen Tennent (which is evocative of the darkness of the sea, and is brilliantly illuminated by lighting designer Katharine Williams).
Mark Brown, The Herald 05/05/2019
Katharine Williams’s nuanced lighting joining with Karen Tennent’s video design to capture the power and unpredictability of the sea.
Allan Radcliffe, The Times 01/05/2019
Set on a dark stage with little furniture – but lit with great subtlety by Katharine Williams – Karen Tennant’s design is dominated by a backdrop of screens full of monochrome images of a great, towering, shifting sea. Sometimes they are only glimpsed in part, sometimes they seem set to engulf the stage; but always, they make an eloquent statement about what is to live a life dominated by the sea.
Joyce McMillan, The Scotsman 29/04/2019
In Ian Brown’s excellent production, spare and precise in its staging, the fishermen take on mythic form. Statuesque under Katharine Williams’s severe lighting, they’re like the heroic archetypes of a Peter Howson painting, facing the seas in defiance on Karen Tennent’s inky black set.
Mark Fisher, The Guardian 29/04/2019

Hole

sequinned lights dazzle the eyes and strobe dancing lifts the spirit
Aleks Sierz, The Theatre Times 05/01/2019
Cassie Layton appears alone on a darkened stage, dressed in a corset of fractured mirrors. As the spotlight hits her, light scatters and multiplies across the room, dancing as she dances, and mirroring our own act of looking.
Holly Hooley, The 730 Review 24/12/2018
Katharine Williams’s lighting is dazzling.
Michael Billington, The Guardian 05/12/2018

Education, Education, Education

Winner: Fringe First Award
The Scotsman 25/08/2017

Ode To Leeds

Designer Lucy Sierra opts for a minimalistic set which works perfectly with Katharine Williams’ lighting design, emphasising the piece’s filmic style and firmly putting the focus on the performers.
Adam Bruce, Exeunt Magazine 16/06/2017

Medea

Shizuka Hariu's Set Design begins minimalist and understated, yet quickly becomes breathtaking as Medea ascends the stairs to the heavens. This is accentuated by Katharine William's lighting, that subtly shifts us from one world to the next. This truly is theatre at its very best.
Naia Headland-Vanni, Female Arts 14/05/2017

The Darkest Corners

Katharine Williams’s lighting design is inventive and effective, linking fixed floodlights with handheld spots and even a line-up of cars in the ominous shadows, to cast light into these darkest corners. And Oliver Townsend’s design scales beautifully to the wide open space of the car park.
Mark Smith, British Theatre Guide 21/04/2017

Big Guns

Dan Hutton’s slick, quickly spoken production hurtles on, to the evocative destabilising accompaniment of flickering light and a jangling sound design.
Fiona Mountford, London Evening Standard 29/03/2017
...dim, red lighting, a building soundtrack of looped violin scrapings, performers speaking their lines deadpan into a mic, making uncompromising eye-contact with the audience. It’s incredibly striking – particularly when the lights go out and we’re left in a velvet-black pocket of intensity.
Alice Saville, Exeunt 28/03/2017
Katharine Williams basks the whole thing in the hot pink glow of old Soho sex shops.
Matt Trueman, What's On Stage 27/03/2017
Occasionally a splash of pink paint spills onto the black; otherwise the whole scene is bathed in a bright red light that suggests a perpetual state of emergency (call the ambulance!), and a sense of deepest night.
Aleks Sierz, 27/03/2017
Katharine Williams saturates the dark, boxy set in red, only interrupted occasionally with handheld torches. It creates an atmosphere of blood, anger and fear, and one not of this world. This feels like a film, or a video game, or an artificially constructed place – a fitting, intuitive choice.
Laura Kressly, The Play's The Thing 26/03/2017
Debra Baker and Jessye Romeo sit on a sloping stage, bathed in red light and surrounded by a garish litter of popcorn cartons and 3D glasses.
Fergus Morgan, The Stage 25/03/2017
An eerie string figure rings out, over and over, as the two performers - Debra Baker and Jessye Romeo - sit in an alcove littered with empty cartons of popcorn. They are picked out in dim, blood-red lights that flicker, roar and occasionally fade to pitch black. All manner of audio trickery is deployed - vocal distortion, sudden swerves into pre-recorded dialogue. It’s as forceful an audio-visual experience as I’ve ever come across in a fringe theatre – the entire creative team of designer Rosie Elnile, Katharine Williams (lighting) andKieran Lucas (sound) deserves credit for coming up with this on a shoestring budget.
Andrzej Lukowski, TimeOut 08/03/2017

The Noise

Above all, it’s the lighting and sound that really pull the audience into the heart of The Noise. With a team as strong as Gareth Fry and Pete Malkin as sound designers, and Katharine Williams for lighting, the intensity of some of the scenes became almost unbearably thrilling.
Chronicle Live 11/10/2013

Not I

We are plunged into complete darkness, out of which looms a mouth, out of which a voice erupts in cascades of sound... The world becomes reduced to that anguished mouth in its tiny circle of imprisoning light.
Lynn Gardener, The Guardian 22/05/2013

The Westbridge

With a superb set by Ultz and a shadowy neon-lighting design from Katharine Williams, Clint Dyer's dynamic production ramps up the tension, matching the fractured nature of the story-telling with its own atmospheric bittiness.
Paul Taylor, The Independant 14/11/2011
Scene changes strike like lightning flashes and Katharine Williams' lighting design outshines Ultz's surprisingly simplistic set, leaving us with no idea what we'll face when the lights come up.
Naima Khan, Spoonfed 09/11/2011
as lights blaze bright, then flash and go out, you’re left unsure where the next explosive scene is going to come from
Zoey Craig, Londonist 09/11/2011

Invisible

a crisp, punchy script with dreamy slow motion choreography and innovative lighting/soundscapes
The Stage

Something or Nothing 2011

He speaks of thought, and consciousness, of the interplay between his experiences growing up and his adult being now. Dartnell separates the inner “I” and places it within a single beam of light, a place where whatever happens, we as an audience are meant to forget.
Jake Orr, A Younger Theatre (blog) 23/02/2011
These are complicated and highly theoretical concepts, but Dartnell manages to convey them without lecturing like a professor of philosophy. One way this is done is by the creative use of lighting, designed by Katharine Williams. At the start of the show Dartnell explains the two spotlights that will sporadically appear. When he is inside the one with a rosy pink glow he will express his “private” thoughts and self, which the audience is told to ignore. There’s also the white light of religion that shines down, which he states he will skirt around but not dive directly into.
Laura Anderson, Extra! Extra! 23/02/2011

Landscape / Monolgue

The stage is set up in a mirror image: is he simply talking to his younger self? A former best friend? Towards the end of the play, it seems as if it might be his brother. In Chris Goode's scrupulous production, the lone man casts two shadows on the opposing walls. It is simple science, of course, but nonetheless it feels spooky.
Lyn Gardner, The Guardian 08/02/2011
...on its own terms I was very proud of it, and not least by the extraordinary lighting cadenza which Katharine Williams so beautifully created for the transition between the two plays.
Chris Goode, Thompson's Bank of Communicable Desire

Faeries 2010

Michael Vale’s design and Katharine Williams’ lighting together weave pure magic, creating an intricate little world encased in winding tree trunks that seems infused with a mysterious mist, occasionally peppered with extra twinkles and prudent dashes of glitter.
Nuala Calvi, The Stage 13/12/2010

'The Butterfly Effect' (East-West Percussive Parade)

a thrilling combination of light and sound
poisonkagero.blogspot.com,

Reykjavik

the dreamy, white set evokes the different locations of the story by arrangements of mirrors and chairs and changing light, from the elegant Sundhollin swimming baths to the emptiness of an ice field
Susan Mansfield, The Scotsman 20/08/2010
An amazing theatrical experience. ...Its concept is beguiling and challenging with inventive staging and clever use of multi-media projections (Paul Burgess) and atmospheric lighting by Katharine Williams.
Robin Strapp, The British Theatre Guide 10/05/2010

The Goat (or Who is Sylvia?)

As the relationships on stage split apart and break, all four of the cast – together with an impressive and well-realised set and lighting design – create a performance that grips throughout.
Edinburgh Spotlight 23/04/2010
Jonathan Fensom’s New York apartment set, subtly but perceptively lit by Katharine Williams, provides exactly the right level of sophisticated elegance to maximise the impact of the drama.
Thom Dibdin, The Stage 22/04/2010

Underdrome

a beautiful vision for this iconic space
The Guardian
the venue was transformed into a magical and otherworldly environment that seemed to suggest a trip to the skies
The Times
atmospheric cobalt-blue lighting
The Telegraph

Dolls

a new stage version of Kitano’s film, in which movement, music, visual imagery and language collide to conjure up a strange landscape of sweetness, loss and memory
Joyce McMillan, The Scotsman

Hysteria (China Tour)

It is in the sheer skill and harmonization of all its individual elements that Hysteria excels. Katharine Williams’ lighting does wonders for the surreal shifts of both time and mood.
Culture Wars

I Am Falling (Sadlers Wells)

The lighting shifts in constant rhythm, sometimes illuminating the couple in the throes of a serpentine duet, coiling around each other's bodies while their son looks on from the shadows, excluded from their special relationship. At other times, all three move in and out of thin shards of light, as when Grainger waltzes around the stage with his arms outstretched around an unseen partner in a potent symbol of loneliness and regret.
Neil Norman, Daily Express 07/11/2008

Faeries

At twilight, Edie is caught up in a world of fairies, good and evil. Among the twisted trees and firefly lights of Michael Vale’s evocative, Arthur Rackham-ish decor, a different battle is fought, while the explosions and eerie glow of the blitz are worked into Martin Ward’s atmospheric music.
David Dougill, The Sunday Times 20/07/2008
Edie soon finds herself in Kensington Gardens amid luminous shafts of light and in a twilight world of fireflies and faeries with whom she soon embarks on a perilous adventure amid the falling bombs. And it's here, with the introduction of Blind Summit Theatre's terrific puppets, that the magic really begins to glow.
Mark Monahan, The Telegraph 18/07/2008
The cutest proof of the work's appeal came moments before the close, as Edie, the 10-year-old heroine of this new ''faerie-tale'', prepared to look inside the all-important Golden Coffin, believed to be jam-packed with treasure. After a teasing hint of golden light emerged from it (not unlike the mysterious briefcase in Tarantino's Pulp Fiction, of all things), one noticed that a dozen or so tiny figures from the audience had silently gambolled to the front and were craning their necks over the front of the stage, desperate to get a glimpse of its contents.
Mark Monahan, The Telegraph 18/07/2008
The characters are marvels of ingenuity, so are the designs. A tiny stage framed by tree roots doubles both as Paddington Station (from which Edie was meant to be evacuated) and Kensington Gardens, where the fast-falling twilight is variously lit by the hellish glow of air raids, the flight of fireflies and the cosy lamps of underground fairy homes.
Judith Mackrell, The Guardian 15/07/2008
Michael Vale’s atmospheric set, lit by Katharine Williams, is forever shrouded in an eerie mist and comprises a forest of gnarled tree trunks, and - to the delight of the children, who at one strategic point all creep forward for a closer look- a wooden stage with various hidden compartments, and occasional fairy rings that light up.
The Stage 15/07/2008

Lola

Katharine Williams provides another of her excellent lighting designs.
Andrew Haydon, Timeout London 27/10/2008

The Only Girl In The World

an imaginative set by Paul Burgess... images projected on the window, and at one point on an actress’s hands, and very atmospheric lighting by Katharine Williams
British Theatre Guide,
A more luminous depiction of society’s dark recesses you’ll rarely find.
Timeout London
The intimate studio setting, stark set and moody lighting all help to create an atmosphere of intense emotion and to bring home the horror of a situation expressed in Joe’s parting words, “I don’t have a mind with room for what were done to you.''
The Stage

Outré

Mesmerising... Johnston's dance of shadows is a cabaret for a nightmarish world. It has it's own logic and haunting, disturbing and quite extraordinary beauty
Metro

I Am Falling

Katharine Williams’ lighting flickers and strobes suggestively
Ian Shuttleworth, Financial Times 15/01/2008
Katharine Williams's stunning lighting and Garance Marneur's clever design give a sense of both a small, old fashioned art film house and a dance studio. The intermittent flickering light and Ed Lewis's scratchy soundtrack accompanying much of the action are reminiscent of an early black and white film. Holding this extraordinary vision together is director Carrie Cracknell. Like the memories her atmospheric production attempts to evoke, the images will stay with you long after the final curtain call. A rare treat...
Lucy Popescu, Theatreworld Internet Magazine 14/01/2008
Credit to Edward Lewis's sound, and Katharine Williams's lighting, for whisking us from cliff top to suburban semi in only a bare, black box. But the clincher is Garance Marneur's design that frames the stage like a cinema screen. The techniques that bring movement and text into such a happy marriage have been learnt from the art of the film edit.
Jenny Gilbert, The Independant 13/01/2008
This exquisite miniature... unfolds on stage like a film and yet is intensely alive even as it deals in the currency of death. Text, motion, lighting and sound often seem to be engaged in their own jostling psychological dance, in which past and present shimmer and merge on a liberating journey into the light.
Lynn Gardener, The Guardian 12/01/2008
Epic is overrated. Forty minutes is all you need to make a memorable piece of theatre, as succinctly demonstrated by director Carrie Cracknell in her latest piece, I Am Falling. The atmosphere is intimate, with Katharine Williams’ lighting particularly effective. This is a complex reflection on love and its consequences expressed in the most economic terms, and all the better for it.
Lyndsey Winship, The Stage 10/01/2008
The program described it as “a dance theater collaboration,” a term that under other circumstances borders on the pretentious. In fact, there’s no better way to describe this (now closed) tiny unclassifiable jewel from a superbly indivisible cast of three and their creative team. Unfair though it is to single anyone out, Katharine Williams' startlingly atmospheric lighting was out of all proportion to her economy of means.
David Benedict, Variety

Bacchic

The pumping soundtrack combines with distinctive lighting effects with smoke and mirrors that masked nothing but illuminate the tale making it very accessible. It's not just flash and flying though - the top rate production values and quality of the soundtrack lift it above the mass of Fringe shows. Well directed, brilliantly performed, thrilling and urgent - go see.
Ade Berry, edfringe.com 04/08/2007
A shaft of light beams down on a single rope which hangs like a great exclamation mark above the centre of the stage. It beckons the lone performer, tolls like a bell calling the faithful and pulls the audience towards a piece which sets out to ponder what it is that drives cult-like worship and the creation of iconic figures, past and present.
Huddersfield Daily Examiner

Treasure Island

Lighting is worth a particular mention for its contribution to the production as a whole.
Cathy Cowell, nowt2do.com

Full Circle

the design is exceptionally fine... overcoming the restrictions of the black box in which the play is performed with a shimmering, fractured photo of the vast South African veldt
Jane Edwardes, Timeout London
The enormous political changes have left the family eking out a subsistence kind of living under the steamy heat of the South African sun.
Peter Brown, londontheatre.co.uk

Late Fragment

The staging grips like a malign hallucination.
Dominic Cavendish, The Telegraph 24/07/2006
The staging too is slick - the multiple time changes within the ''classic New York apartment'' set nicely managed with snappy lighting (by Katharine Williams).
Natalie Bennett, Blogcritics.org 09/07/2006

The Imposter

The design team give us a setting with a life of its own as well as sound and lighting to match. I think Molière would have approved.
Anne Morley-Priestman, What's On Stage

Hysteria

Hysteria regularly tips over into beautifully controlled excesses that expose the divide between public and private behaviour. The exaggerations work largely because the interplay between the cast, sound and lighting design is so sharply timed.
Donald Huthera, The Times 23/01/2007
Stamping Ground’s style is truly expressive, the piece is cleverly lit, and the whole piece really does converge around some of the latent hysteria endemic in these over-analytical times.
SG, http://www.fringereview.co.uk/ 08/08/2006
Light, music and partly audible conversation accompanied by mime and movement shifts attention back to the centre stage, to the table and couple at the restaurant. The audience by now may not be aware that they are party not only to the research but also to the carefully drawn physical space turgid with emotions they cannot lightly dismiss. This is an extraordinary production brilliantly staged and performed.
Rivka Jacobson, British Theatre Guide 31/07/2006
Dramaturg Jonathan Young and his team – lighting designer Katharine Williams, set designer Yukiki Tsukamoto, and sound collaborators Carolyn Douning and Adrienne Quartly – have created a funny, innovative and at times disturbing exploration of how humans hang on to their sanity.
Naomi Mapstone, Financial Times

Pete and Dud - Come Again

the transitions between chat show and flash-backs worked well thanks to a neat blend of sound and lighting effects
Peter Brown, London Theatre Guide 08/03/2006

Play and Not I

John Hopkins is a perfect M, ridiculously polite, howling with anguish and blinking his confusion at the spotlight, which switches the characters on and off with the finality of a remote control...
Lucy Powell, Timeout London 27/07/2005
In Natalie Abrahami's Battersea Arts Centre revival of Beckett's Play, a man and two women housed in urns, their heads picked out by a spotlight, rattle through the details of the affair that binds them together in a sort of Sartrean hell.
Dominic Cavendish, The Telegraph 26/07/2005
A far more comprehensible degree of jabbering hysteria is achieved in the companion piece, Not I, a solo role for a spotlit mouth. Lisa Dwan's - contorting and twitching away high up in the air and far back in the dark - makes an unforgettable sight, and in itself is worth the price of admission.
Dominic Cavendish, The Telegraph 26/07/2005
Studio One at BAC has had the seats ripped out so it looks more like a gallery than a theatre, and it creates a minimalist setting for this journey, from the piercing searchlight interrogation of the three heads in urns in Play, to the lone illuminated jabbering mouth of Not I that is silenced only by the terrible darkness.
Lyn Gardner, The Guardian 25/07/2005
In Play, the three protagonists seem doomed to repeat themselves and their banalities for infinity, forever under interrogation by an almighty searchlight. In Not I it is obliteration that beckons, the final putting out of the light. Billie Whitelaw described performing it as ''falling backwards into hell, emitting cries''. Watching it is like falling backwards into hell, hearing cries.
Lyn Gardner, The Guardian 25/07/2005
Amanda Drew, John Hopkins and Anna Hewson, as grey as their urns, speak only when the light is upon them... only the mouths move, and the glimpses of tongue and palate, red where all else is grey, are disquieting reminders of a life in death.
Jeremy Kingston, The Times 22/07/2005
This revival [of of Play] in a double-bill with Not I is ...a clever pairing because of the existence in both plays of a cold, thin beam of light that orders the words into existence.
Jeremy Kingston, The Times 22/07/2005
In Not I the speaker (Lisa Dwan) is no more than a pair of lips caught in the beam of light, a disembodied mouth like an image from a Bacon painting that spouts a torrent of words, on, on, on, not stopping till the beam fades and the mouth, still faintly uttering, vanishes from sight.
Jeremy Kingston, The Times 22/07/2005
...an evening where the imaginative power of the plays knocks you out.
Jeremy Kingston, The Times 22/07/2005
Play, the longer piece, is written for three heads extruding from three ageing, earth-clad urns. They take their turns to speak, prompted by a restless, inquisitive spotlight randomly dancing from one face to another.
Keiron Quirke, Metro 22/07/2005

Astronaut

The design is simple and clever and the whole production is beautifully and thoughtfully lit.
EdinburghGuide.com
...the action manages to excape the shackles of storydom and enjoys instead the extraordinary richness of Theatre O's attention to detail, physical ability and newfound technological innovation... with such spellbinding lighting and sound in accompaniment, these moments mean that Astronaut remains an unmissable delight.
Kultureflash

A Quiet Afternoon

...conjures up a jammed bar full of enthusiastic football fans in a seriously impressive combination of light, sound and movement.
Emer O’Kelly, Sunday Independent (Ireland) 01/10/2005

The Argument

a production that is slick and often strikingly beautiful
The List
brilliant lighting and choreography
The Telegraph

Napoleon In Exile

There are moments of such intense lyricism, it is like having melting snow dripping down your spine.
Lyn Gardner, The Guardian 06/08/2003

Death and the Ploughman

a most remarkable production
Harold Pinter, The Independent
the design and lighting are fittingly tenebrous
London Evening Standard
all four actors get soliloquies to savour and turn in good performances, and they are helped by Katharine Williams’ superbly eerie lighting
The British Theatre Guide