The lighting design bursary organised by the Association of Lighting Designers has announced the winner and runners up for the 2008 award.Recent media reporting would have us believe that examinations are getting easier, with students not necessarily reaching the academic levels of their predecessors. Mary Pope, organiser of the judging for this year’s Michael Northen Bursary, would definitely not agree. The Bursary recognises imagination in design and creativity in lighting and the entries for 2008 “gave the judges a very difficult time indeed,” says Mary. “Usually the process is one of elimination, but all the entries this year were of an extremely high standard – the highest that I have seen.”
However, there was one clear winner, Timothy Deiling from Central School of Speech and Drama, with his lighting design for The Visit. The judges – ALD members Natasha Chivers, Jon Clark, Paul Pyant, Jo Town, Mark White, also representing ETC, and Mary, who is the student representative on the ALD executive – said: “Tim showed he had collaborated well, researched his ideas and understood the psychology of the piece. His design was varied, with strong colours and it was easy to make connections between what he described and the images in front of us.” At the presentation on September 9, on the ALD stand at PLASA08, Tim received a cheque for £500 and a copy of Michael Northen’s biography, Northen Lights.
The ALD (Association of Lighting Designers) not only organises the awards on behalf of the Michael Northen Bursary, but also awards £250 to one of the two runners-up. Receiving the ALD cheque this year was Jack Knowles, also of Central School of Speech and Drama, for A Guest for Dinner. Presenting the cheque, ALD member Katharine Williams said the judges had found it difficult to ignore how striking and theatrical the photos were, and how much Jack had committed to very strong and dramatic stage pictures, with a clear style emerging so early in a career.
The second runner-up was Callum Howie of Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, who received £250 from ETC for his lighting for Dialogues des Carmelites. Presenting the cheque, Tony-award winning lighting designer Ken Billington said: “The judges commented on Callum’s honest explanation of the massive learning curve that lighting design can be and they all identified to some degree how challenging Callum had found the process, especially since he was working with a professional director and designer who had far more experience.”
So high was the level of entrants this year that the judges decided that an honourable mention should be made of Emma Thompson of Rose Bruford College for her lighting design for Macbeth – so congratulations to Emma in what has proved to be an exceptional year for the Bursary.
The Michael Northen Bursary is given for a project completed within the past academic year and, as a design bursary, the entries are judged purely on imaginative design and creativity in lighting. Michael set up the fund shortly before he died in 2001, and was delighted that his MBE, awarded that same year, was not just for his services to the theatre but also in recognition of his commitment to encouraging young people in the industry. The Fund is managed by The Mousetrap Foundation, an organisation committed to supporting young theatre practitioners.