Photograph from The Talented Mr Ripley - lighting design by Christopher Withers
Photographer: Richard Davenport | From the show The Talented Mr Ripley
Photograph from Stig of the Dump - lighting design by Christopher Withers
From the show Stig of the Dump
Photograph from A Spoonful of Sherman - lighting design by Christopher Withers
From the show A Spoonful of Sherman
Photograph from The Talented Mr Ripley - lighting design by Christopher Withers
Photographer: Richard Davenport | From the show The Talented Mr Ripley
Photograph from Disgraced - lighting design by Christopher Withers
Photographer: Martin Kaufhold | From the show Disgraced
Christopher Withers's picture

Chris Withers

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Biography

Chris is a graduate of the BA(hons) Lighting Design course at Rose Bruford College. He now works as a freelance Lighting Designer, Assistant Lighting Designer and Production Electrician. His particular interests lie in lighting for theatre and musicals.

For a full list of credits and production galleries please visit www.chriswithers.co.uk

Previous productions

Previous productions

Show name Type Venue/Company Role Creative Team Opened
Caroline's Kitchen Theatre Derby Theatre, then touring
Original Theatre 		Lighting Designer Director: Alastair Whatley
Set designer: James Perkins 		Jan 2019
The Pied Piper Musical Cornerstone Arts
Goblin Theatre 		Lighting Designer Director: Andrew Barry
Set designer: Amelia Jane Hankin 		Dec 2018
Murder for Two Musical The Watermill Theatre & The Other Palace, then touring
The Watermill Theatre & Paul Taylor Mills 		Lighting Designer Director: Luke Sheppard
Set designer: Gabriella Slade 		Jan 2017, Mar 2017, Oct 2018
My Name is Rachel Corrie Theatre Masra Al-Madina
The Faction 		Lighting Designer Director: Rachel Valentine Smith
Set designer: Holly Pigott 		Oct 2018
Monogamy Theatre The Park Theatre
Original Theatre 		Lighting Designer Director: Alastair Whatley
Set designer: James Perkins 		Jun 2018
Monogamy Theatre Malvern Festival Theatre, then touring
Original Theatre Company 		Lighting Designer Director: Alastair Whatley
Set designer: James Perkins 		May 2018
Brilliant Jerks Theatre The Vaults, London
Lipsink 		Lighting Designer Director: R Banham
 Mar 2018
A Spoonful of Sherman Musical Greenwich Theatre, then touring
United Theatrical 		Lighting Designer Director: Stewart Nicholls
Set designer: Gabriella Slade 		Feb 2018
The Nutcracker and the Mouse King Musical Cornerstone Arts
Goblin Theatre 		Lighting Designer Director: Andrew Barry
Set designer: Carla Goodman 		Dec 2017
Wait Until Dark Theatre Devonshire Park Theatre, Eastbourne, then touring
Original Theatre Company 		Lighting Designer Director: Alastair Whatley
Set designer: David Woodhead 		Aug 2017
My Eyes Went Dark Theatre 59E59 Theater, NYC
107 Group 		Associate Lighting Designer Lighting designer: Elliot Griggs
Director: Matthew Wilkinson
 Jun 2017
Murder for Two Musical The Watermill Theatre & The Other Palace, then touring
The Watermill Theatre & Paul Taylor Mills 		Lighting Designer Director: Luke Sheppard
Set designer: Gabriella Slade 		Jan 2017, Mar 2017, Oct 2018
Murder for Two Musical The Watermill Theatre & The Other Palace, then touring
The Watermill Theatre & Paul Taylor Mills 		Lighting Designer Director: Luke Sheppard
Set designer: Gabriella Slade 		Jan 2017, Mar 2017, Oct 2018
Cinderella Theatre The Wilde Theatre, South Hill Park Arts Centre
South Hill Park 		Lighting Designer Director: Adam Stafford
Set designer: Victoria Spearing 		Nov 2016
Much Ado about Nothing Theatre ReFASHIONed Theatre, Selfridges
The Faction 		Lighting Designer Director: Mark Leipacher
 Aug 2016
Stig of the Dump Theatre Arts Theatre
London Contemporary Theatre 		Lighting Designer Director: Luke Sheppard
Set designer: Gabriella Slade 		Jul 2016
Vassa Zheleznova Theatre Southwark Playhouse
The Faction 		Lighting Designer Director: Rachel Valentine Smith
 Jun 2016
Corbyn The Musical Musical Waterloo East Theatre
Forgotten Password Productions 		Lighting Designer Director: Adam Lenson
Set designer: Christopher Hone 		Apr 2016
Oliver! Musical The Wilde Theatre, South Hill Park Arts Centre
South Hill Park Arts Centre 		Lighting Designer Director: Adam Stafford
Set designer: Victoria Spearing 		Apr 2016
Stig of the Dump Theatre Hounslow Arts Centre, then touring
London Contemporary Theatre 		Lighting Designer Director: Luke Sheppard
Set designer: Gabriella Slade 		Mar 2016
Disgraced Theatre English Theatre Frankfurt Lighting Designer Director: Adam Lenson
Set designer: David Woodhead 		Mar 2016
Richard III Theatre New Diorama Theatre
The Faction 		Lighting Designer Director: Mark Leipacher
 Jan 2016
A Christmas Carol Theatre The Castle, Wellingborough Lighting Designer Director: Luke Sheppard
Set designer: Victoria Spearing 		Dec 2015
Red Riding Hood Theatre Greenwich Theatre
Greenwich Theatre 		Lighting Designer Director: Andrew Pollard
Set designer: Cleo Pettitt 		Nov 2015
Under the Bed Theatre The Arc, Stockton, then touring
154 Collective 		Lighting Designer Director: Dan Mallaghan
 Nov 2015
Romeo and Juliet Theatre New Diorama Theatre then Greenwich Theatre
The Faction 		Lighting Designer Director: Rachel Valentine-Smith
 Jan 2015, Sep 2015
The Talented Mr Ripley Theatre New Diorama Theatre then Greenwich Theatre
The Faction 		Lighting Designer Director: Mark Leipacher
 Jan 2015, Sep 2015
The Marvellous Imaginary Menagerie Theatre UK tour, then touring
Les Enfants Terribles 		Lighting Designer Director: Emma Earle & James Seager
Set designer: Jo Scotcher 		Aug 2015
Heartbreak Hotel Theatre North Greenwich Jetty
Zebedee Productions 		Lighting Designer Director: Sam Curtis Lindsay
Set designer: Carla Goodman 		Jun 2015
Mush and Me Theatre Underbelly, Edinburgh then Adelaide Fringe Festival, then touring Lighting Designer Director: R Banham
Set designer: Carla Goodman 		Jul 2014, Feb 2015
Joan of Arc Theatre New Diorama Theatre
The Faction 		Lighting Designer Director: Mark Leipacher and Rachel Valentine Smith
 Jan 2015
The Talented Mr Ripley Theatre New Diorama Theatre then Greenwich Theatre
The Faction 		Lighting Designer Director: Mark Leipacher
 Jan 2015, Sep 2015
Romeo and Juliet Theatre New Diorama Theatre then Greenwich Theatre
The Faction 		Lighting Designer Director: Rachel Valentine-Smith
 Jan 2015, Sep 2015
Jack and the Beanstalk Theatre Greenwich Theatre
Greenwich Theatre 		Lighting Designer Director: Andrew Pollard
Set designer: Cleo Pettitt 		Nov 2014
Listen, We're Family Theatre Wilton's Music Hall and JW3
Wilton's Music Hall and JW3 		Lighting Designer Director: Matthew Lloyd
Set designer: Carla Goodman 		Oct 2014
Terry Pratchett's Soul Music Musical Rose Kingston
YMT:UK 		Lighting Designer Director: Luke Sheppard
Set designer: Victoria Spearing 		Aug 2014
Mush and Me Theatre Underbelly, Edinburgh then Adelaide Fringe Festival, then touring Lighting Designer Director: R Banham
Set designer: Carla Goodman 		Jul 2014, Feb 2015
Hedda Gabler Theatre Millfield Arts Centre, then touring
Icarus Theatre Collective 		Lighting Designer Director: Max Lewendel
Set designer: Christopher Hone 		Jan 2014
Thebes Theatre New Diorama Theatre
The Faction 		Lighting Designer Director: Rachel Valentine-Smith
 Jan 2014
Hamlet Theatre New Diorama Theatre
The Faction 		Lighting Designer Director: Mark Leipacher
 Jan 2014
Puss in Boots Theatre Greenwich Theatre
Greenwich Theatre 		Lighting Designer Director: Andrew Pollard
Set designer: Cleo Pettitt 		Nov 2013
Othello Theatre King's Theatre Southsea, then touring
Icarus Theatre Collective 		Lighting Designer Director: Max Lewendel
Set designer: Christopher Hone 		Sep 2013
Robin Hood Theatre Greenwich Theatre
Greenwich Theatre 		Lighting Designer Director: Andrew Pollard
Set designer: Cleo Pettitt 		Nov 2012
What the Animals Say Theatre Hull Truck, then touring
Greyscale 		Lighting Designer Director: Lorne Campbell
Set designer: Fly Davis 		Oct 2012
Lucy And The Hawk Theatre Northern Stage, then touring
Switchback Productions 		Lighting Designer Director: Phil Ormrod
Set designer: Cecilia Carey 		Sep 2012
Hindle Wakes Theatre Finborough Theatre
Jackdaw 		Lighting Designer Director: Bethan Dear
Set designer: Holly Seager 		Sep 2012
Aladdin Theatre Greenwich Theatre
Greenwich Theatre 		Lighting Designer Director: Keiron Smith
Set designer: Julie Godfrey 		Nov 2011
Two Halves of Guinness Theatre Devonshire Park, Eastbourne, then touring
Seabright Productions 		Lighting Designer Director: Derek Parry
Set designer: Helen Coyston 		Jun 2011
The Temperamentals Theatre Dublin International Gay Theatre Festival, then touring
Greenwich Theatre 		Lighting Designer Director: Joseph C Walsh
 May 2011
Cleveland Street Musical Above the Stag Lighting Designer Director: Tim McArthur
Set designer: Fi Russell 		Apr 2011
December Man Theatre Finborough Theatre
Constructive Interference 		Lighting Designer Director: Lavina Holland
 Mar 2011
Love C@t Theatre Theatre 503 Lighting Designer Director: Ant Stones
Set designer: Fly Davis 		Feb 2011
Change Theatre Arcola Lighting Designer Director: Ellie Browning
Set designer: Fly Davis 		Feb 2011
Saturn Returns Theatre Finborough Theatre Lighting Designer Director: Adam Lenson
Set designer: Bec Chippendale 		Nov 2010
Gutted: A Revenger's Musical Musical Riverside Studios then Assembly Ballroom
Assembly 		Lighting Designer Director: Chris George
Set designer: Ellan Parry 		Jul 2010
The Great British Country Fete Musical Latitude Festival, Bush Theatre, then touring
The Bush Theatre 		Lighting Designer Director: Anthea Williams
 Jul 2010
Let it Snow 2009 Concert Regents Hall, Oxford Street
YMT:UK 		Lighting Designer Dec 2009
What's Wrong With Angry? Theatre The Kings Head
Hartshorn Hook 		Lighting Designer Director: Patrick Wilde
 Jul 2009
Dreamland Theatre Theatre Royal, Margate
Net Curtains 		Lighting Designer Director: Mel Cook/Toria Banks/Jamie Allan
Set designer: Will Train 		May 2009
The Killing of Mr Toad Theatre Finborough Theatre
D2 & Co 		Lighting Designer Director: David Gooderson
Set designer: Ruth Hall 		Apr 2009
Estranged Theatre The Courtyard
JC Theatre Productions & The Courtyard 		Lighting Designer Director: Chris George
Set designer: Harry Scott 		Apr 2009
Edges Theatre Union Theatre
Nathan Kiley 		Lighting Designer Director: Michael Matus
 Mar 2009
The Master and Margarita Theatre Rose Theatre
Rose Bruford College 		Lighting Designer Director: Matt Wilde
Set designer: Jess Levy 		Feb 2009
Let It Snow 2008 Concert Regents Hall, Oxford Street
Youth Music Theatre: UK 		Lighting Designer Director: Vince Manna
 Dec 2008
The Canterbury Tales Theatre Battersea Arts Centre
LSDA 		Lighting Designer Director: David Newman
 Jul 2008
Frankenstein Musical Barbican Theatre, Plymouth
Youth Music Theatre: UK 		Lighting Designer Director: Nick Stimson
 Aug 2007
Euridice [Underglass] Theatre Rose Theatre
Little Bird Theatre 		Lighting Designer Director: Jamie Franklin
 May 2007
Please Look At Me Now Musical Lorretto Theatre, Edinburgh
Youth Music Theatre: UK 		Lighting Designer Director: Peta Lily
 Aug 2005
Location availability:
  • UK London
  • UK Provinces
  • Worldwide
Theatre:
  • Fringe / Pub Theatre
  • Touring relights
Musical:
  • Touring relights
Concert:
  • Stage Touring
Corporate:
  • Conferences
  • Award Ceremonies
Architectural:
  • Commercial & Retail
Non-professional:
  • Dance
  • Musicals
  • Plays
Education:
  • Workshops
  • Training

News

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

Press quotes

A Spoonful of Sherman

Chris Withers’ clever lighting is a visual treat
Pete Shaw, Broadway Baby 27/03/2018

Much Ado about Nothing

The traverse staging – with Chris Withers’ pulsing lighting and the neon-tube pillars and black sheen of George Glassby’s set – is a catwalk, on which co-directors Mark Leipacher and Rachel Valentine Smith present The Faction’s signature Shakespeare: trimmed down and fast-paced.
Tom Wicker, The Stage 30/08/2016

Romeo and Juliet

By incorporating some innovative lighting design and a lot of subtle underlying music, the comedic tone of the first half and the more sinister feel of the second are well balanced.
Maryam Philpott, The Reviews Hub 21/01/2015
Lighting designer Chris Withers has had a lot of fun with this show which is imaginatively and atmospherically lit especially during the vault scene at the end which makes effective use of candles and tiny spots.
Susan Elkin, What's On Stage 12/01/2015

The Talented Mr Ripley

The lighting design by Chris Withers is equally stunning, working beautifully with the set and Max Pappenheim’s subtle sound design to evoke the heat of the Italian sun and the coolness of the water lapping beneath the raised stage.
Jo Salkilld, josalkilld.com 18/01/2015
Chris Withers’s lighting design also adds to the atmosphere and there are some brilliant moments with towering shadows on the black back walls.
Daisy Bowie-Sell, Time Out 15/01/2015
As ever, the ensemble manage to do a lot with a little, transforming the stylish, stripped back design – just a raised white rectangle, supplemented by Christopher Withers’ evocative shafts of light – into countless different settings.
Catherine Love, Exuent Magazine 15/01/2015

Thebes

Chris Withers’ sculptured lighting design cuts up the empty space into an architectural landscape that is both epic and intimate.
Honour Bayes, The Stage 16/01/2014
Chris Withers’ lighting design merits a mention too, managing as it does to locate the action despite the sparse staging.
Matt Trueman, matttrueman.co.uk 14/01/2014

Hamlet

In this largely empty space, the brilliant work of lighting designers Chris Withers (Hamlet and Thebes) and Matthew Graham (The Robbers) is crucial in carving up the scenes, skilfully offering both shape and atmosphere. Light spills in from offstage, casting interesting shadows, or glows dimly from a single, dangling light bulb. In line with the morbid subject matter, gloomy visual landscapes abound.
Catherine Love, Exuent Magazine 06/02/2014

Robin Hood

Chris Withers’ energetic lighting design adds much in its use of X-factor style moving lights as they zip from Sherwood Forest to Nottingham Castle while illuminating and dazzling the audience.
Peter Jolly, Greenwich.co.uk 05/12/2012

The Temperamentals

Lighting design and production manager Chris Withers' work greatly enhanced the quality of this production.
12/05/2011

Cleveland Street

From the velvet drapes to the Chez Longue of the Crimson Room, the set is incredibly immersive, coming into its own under the red and purple lightings.
James Buxton, Extra Extra 02/05/2011
A delightful representation of a Victorian stage, is flatteringly lit by Chris Withers.
Oliver Valentine, UK Theatre.net 01/05/2011

December Man

Nevertheless, all the above is in total opposition with Chris Withers' faultless light design. Also being pinned to equipment of another show, Withers masterfully floods the stage with warming home-light, and chooses a successful balance between blackout and fade.
Richard J Thornton, Extra Extra 07/03/2011

Love C@t

The simplistic but symbolic use of light by Chris Withers sets off the text, adding another dimension to the story and building on the moods of Munroe, with a strangely cathartic effect on the audience as they journey with him. The only set is a desk chair and a cardboard box which means that the creation of trees, streets and rooms is left wholly to Kinsler, with Withers washing emotive colours on a screen. This technique, when done as well as it is here, makes traditional sets seems almost excessive.
Tiffany Stoneman, A Younger Theatre 28/02/2011

The Great British Country Fete

The soft apple jelly colours of Chris Withers’ lighting design shows this pastoral life as a muddled idyll crammed with traditions such as the bunting strewn on stage of Fly Davis’ set.
Lita Doolan, Daily Info 05/07/2010

What's Wrong With Angry?

With beautifully-lit scenes fluidly flitting between waking drama, imagined nirvana and fitful dreamscapes.
Josh Winning, QX Magazine 23/07/2009
Another note of praise must go to Chris Withers for his Lighting Design within the production. Given the restraints of the Kings Head, he attempted and succeeds in producing the various atmospheres and locations within the show. This is seen during the nightmare sequences where the use of cold shafts of light break apart the stage and heighten the action.
Jake Orr, A Younger Theatre 13/07/2009