The second episode of Seven Stages featuring multi-award winning lighting designer Paule Constable

What was the first show you ever saw? Your biggest theatre regret? And which production would you choose to watch on a loop for eternity? These questions and more make up Seven Stages, the new podcast from The Stage, sponsored by Audible.

In 2005 Paule Constable was the first woman to win an Olivier Award for lighting design. She has since won three more Oliviers, along with two Tonys and three ABTT Knight of Illumination awards.

In her exclusive Seven Stages interview, she reminisces about how she first stumbled across lighting design. She tells host Tim Bano how she got her first lighting job when a follow spot operator friend fell madly in love and ran away to Spain. She took the friend’s job at the Hackney Empire, caught the lighting bug and worked with the company on club events during the acid-house rave scene.

Constable shared her lighting debut with actors David Tennant and Ashley Jensen, in their performance debuts, in The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui with 7:84 Theatre Company in Scotland. She has since gone on to light some of the most iconic shows in theatre including Warhorse, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and Les Misérables. Listen below to hear the full interview.

Every fortnight, you can join Tim Bano for illuminating, intimate conversations with influential performers and creatives who have lived their lives in theatre. Seven Stages podcast, sponsored by Audible, is available anywhere you find your podcasts including Apple Podcasts, Spotify and the link below. Paule Constable’s interview follows legendary actor Ian McKellen.