Client: David Leddy//Fire Exit

Services: Lighting Design

Chris has experienced three deaths, one after another. She’s in prison awaiting trial. But she doesn’t know why.

Written for any gender, originally played by a man, and now performed by a woman without changing a word.

Contrasting bold theatricality, haunting music and razor-sharp slashes of light across a stark stage, Coriolanus Vanishes is a complex descent through passion, shame, devastation and the many, many forms of madness.

Just beneath the surface of everyday life there’s complete anarchy lying in wait.

Exploring how shadowy childhood memories can besiege our adult relationships, Coriolanus Vanishes combines the moral ambiguity of the global arms trade with the chaotic challenges of adopting an abused child.

Sometimes your friends are worse than your enemies, and sometimes you’re the worst of all. What happens then?

First staged in a traditional proscenium arch format, Coriolanus Vanishes transferred to a studio theatre with a thrust stage at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2018. A second layer of technical complexity was the need to fit the show in to a venue shared by several other companies. This meant hanging space for lighting and effects was limited, and turnaround times for re-setting shows required to be complete within 45 minutes. Lighting for the show was adapted to reduce the lighting rig from over 60 fixtures to only four moving lights and some additional effects, without losing any of the original design intent. The transformation of the studio space into the dark world of the show was extraordinary.

“Stunning lighting design … as beautiful a use of light as I’ve ever seen in a play… Enormous credit to lighting designer Nich Smith for the vivid and remarkable world he has created.”
Time Out

‘…the urgency of Leddy’s storytelling and…elemental beauty of his staging …. Looks and sounds exquisite…. Entirely and beguilingly theatrical.’
The Guardian

https://vimeo.com/350935544
https://vimeo.com/350935306

Credits:

Written and directed: DAVID LEDDY

Performed: IRENE ALLAN

Design realised: BECKY MINTO
Lighting design: NICH SMITH
Sound design: DANNY KRASS
Production Management: NIALL BLACK
Stage Management: LINSEY JOHNSTONE
Lighting Technician: G MCDERMOTT
Sound Technician: RICHARD BELL
Assistant Lighting Design: ANA MIRAN

Consultant Producer: KATE BOWEN
General Manager: VIVIANE HULLIN

Fire Exit in co-production with Tron Theatre. Presented at Traverse Theatre and part of the Made in Scotland 2018 showcase. Funded by Creative Scotland