# Paule Constable

Paule Constable is a British lighting designer. She is an Associate Director for the National Theatre, the Lyric Hammersmith and Matthew Bourne's company New Adventures.

## Early life and education

Originally from North Devon and grown up in a military family, Constable moved across various countries in her youth. Constable thought about pursuing her studies in architecture, then pursuing an English degree at Goldsmiths' College, London. Influenced by the art scene in London in the 1980s, she then decided to combine English with Drama, graduating in 1989, while working in the music business. She has since become a Goldsmith fellow, as well as of Rose Bruford College and Central School of Speech and Drama.

## Theatre career

Constable started her career while studying, working for Midnight Design on rock' n' roll concerts design, while starting to develop an interest in the theatre.
Her "big break" came with show The Street of Crocodiles at the National Theatre, for which she was nominated for an Olivier Award for Best Lighting Design at age 26. She also worked on operas, as well as in the theatre, and collaborated extensively with the Royal Opera, English National Opera, Glyndebourne, Opera North, Scottish Opera and Welsh National Opera.
Constable won the 2005, 2006, 2009, 2013, 2020 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Lighting Design. She was also a nominee for four further productions and for a 2007 Tony Award on Broadway. In 2011 she won the Tony Award for Best Lighting Design of a play for War Horse.
Abroad she has worked in Paris, Salzburg, Strasbourg, Berlin, Brussels, New Zealand, Dallas and Houston. For the Metropolitan Opera in New York she has designed lighting for Satyagraha, Anna Bolena, Don Giovanni, Giulio Cesare, The Marriage of Figaro, and others.
She has created fifteen productions at the National Theatre, including Paul. Her lighting designs are regularly seen at the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Donmar Warehouse, the Royal Court Theatre and with Théâtre de Complicité. In the West End she lit Evita, Don Carlos, The Weir and Amadeus (also Broadway, 1999 LA Critics' Award winner).
Theatre-dance productions in Britain and abroad include productions for Matthew Bourne, Will Tuckett and Adam Cooper.
Constable was the lighting designer for the 2010 25th Anniversary Touring Production of Les Misérables, staged at the Barbican Centre in London. A DVD of the live concert performance at the O2 on 3 October has been released. In 2011, this production performed at the Ahmanson Theatre and Constable won the L.A. Drama Critics Circle Award for Lighting Design.
Constable won Tony awards for her work on War Horse in 2011 and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time in 2015.

### Select stage work

For the National Theatre:
* The Normal Heart
* The Ocean at the End of the Lane
* Follies
* Angels in America
* The Light Princess
* The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
* War Horse
In London's West End:
* Les Misérables
* Don Carlos (also at Sheffield Crucible)
* The Glass Menagerie
* Cock
* Wolf Hall Parts One & Two
* Oliver!

## Awards and nominations

| Year | Award | Category | Work | Result |
| 1993 | Laurence Olivier Awards | Best Lighting Design | Street of Crocodiles | Nominated |
| 1999 | Laurence Olivier Awards | Best Lighting Design | Amadeus | Nominated |
| 1999 | Laurence Olivier Awards | Best Lighting Design | Uncle Vanya | Nominated |
| 2001 | Laurence Olivier Awards | Best Lighting Design | Play Without Words | Nominated |
| 2005 | Laurence Olivier Awards | Best Lighting Design | His Dark Materials | Won |
| 2006 | Laurence Olivier Awards | Best Lighting Design | Don Carlos | Won |
| 2007 | Tony awards | Best Lighting Design in a Play | Coram Boy | Nominated |
| 2008 | Laurence Olivier Awards | Best Lighting Design | War Horse | Nominated |
| 2009 | Laurence Olivier Awards | Best Lighting Design | The Chalk Garden | Won |
| 2011 | Laurence Olivier Awards | Best Lighting Design | Love Never Dies | Nominated |
| 2011 | Tony awards | Best Lighting Design in a Play | War Horse | Won |
| 2012 | Drama Desk Award | Outstanding Lighting Design | War Horse | Won |
| 2013 | WhatsOnStage Awards | Best Lighting Design | The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time | Nominated |
| 2013 | Laurence Olivier Awards | Best Lighting Design in a Play | The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time | Won |
| 2014 | Laurence Olivier Awards | Best Lighting Design in a Play | The Light Princess | Nominated |
| 2014 | Tony awards | Best Lighting Design in a Play | The Cripple of Inishmaan | Nominated |
| 2015 | Drama Desk Award | Outstanding Lighting Design | The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time | Won |
| 2015 | Drama Desk Award | Outstanding Lighting Design | Wolf Hall | Nominated |
| 2015 | Laurence Olivier Awards | Best Lighting Design | Wolf Hall and Bring up the Bodies | Nominated |
| 2015 | Tony awards | Best Lighting Design in a Play | The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time | Won |
| 2015 | Tony awards | Best Lighting Design in a Play | Wolf Hall Parts One & Two | Nominated |
| 2017 | Tonic Award | | - | Won |
| 2018 | Tony awards | Best Lighting Design in a Play | Angels in America | Nominated |
| 2018 | Laurence Olivier Awards | Best Lighting Design | Angels in America | Nominated |
| 2018 | Laurence Olivier Awards | Best Lighting Design | Follies | Nominated |
| 2019 | Critics' Circle Award | Special Award | - | Won |
| 2020 | Laurence Olivier Awards | Best Lighting Design | The Ocean at the End of the Lane | Won |
| 2025 | WhatsOnStage Awards | Best Lighting Design | Oliver! | Nominated |

## Advocate for women in theatre

Constable is also well known for being an advocate and supporting women working in theatre. She is only one of two women who have received the Olivier Award for Best Lighting Design. In an interview she commented: “Women still aren’t represented as well as they should be in theatre. It’s a very male-dominated industry and we need to change that."