With its shimmering forest and its descent into darkness and destruction, the fairytale musical Into the Woods has won an Olivier Award for its lighting. Its designer, Aideen Malone, says the design was not finished when the show opened.

“It’s funny that I won an award for it, because I would say Into the Woods is one of the most unfinished pieces I have ever done,” said the lighting designer. “There was a lot of detail we never got a chance to finish. We ran out of time – big time!”

A forest that changes with the story

The production, a Stephen Sondheim musical, follows Cinderella, Red Riding Hood and other fairytale characters as they enter a forest. The woods shimmer with powdery, gleaming branches, and light angles through the trees. The show has now transferred to the West End from London’s Bridge Theatre.

“This is a stunning piece, but it’s a monster,” Malone said. “There was a lot of problem-solving.”

From a lighting point of view, the design tracks the passing of time, from day to night. “The woods are very luscious and inviting initially, and then become darker and more mysterious,” she said. After the characters return from their first journey into the woods, they find that the idyllic setting has collapsed into what she describes as “destruction and wasteland.”

Smoke, haze and moments of revelation

Malone worked with director Jordan Fein, set designer Tom Scutt and video designer Roland Horvath. “It’s a great team effort,” she said. She has previously worked with Scutt on Fiddler on the Roof, which also won an Olivier.

The production uses several layers of smoke and haze. “A fog that’s quite dense but rises, and then a cool fog that stays low on the ground,” Malone said. Light cuts through these layers most strongly at key moments, such as when Red Riding Hood is pulled from the wolf’s belly and when Jack climbs down the beanstalk.

Path to lighting

Malone, who is from Ireland, said she was not a theatre enthusiast as a child. A pantomime in Dublin made a strong impression on her, and she later played male roles in her all-girls school’s annual musicals. She studied at Trinity College Dublin and then at Goldsmiths in London, where she also worked on backstage roles.

“I fell upon lighting, and was definitely more comfortable with not being on the stage, collaborating with the whole team,” she said. “I enjoyed how lighting is very technical and creative at the same time. I haven’t looked back since.”

Her early career was on the fringe and in dance. She toured with dancer and choreographer Akram Khan, and said dance allowed her to “play with beautiful bodies in space.”

She later moved into theatre, where she has worked with director Sally Cookson on shows including Jane Eyre and A Monster Calls. The two devised new work together. “Devised work is nerve-racking,” Malone said, “because you don’t know what you’ve got till the last week of rehearsals.” Their 2016 Peter Pan at the National Theatre, she said, was “touch and go,” but “we always get there for press night.”

During the pandemic, she began a master’s in light and lighting at University College London. “I thought I knew a lot about colour,” she said, “but I learned so much about the detail of a light source, which makes a huge difference when you’re lighting skin tones.”

Looking ahead

Malone has also worked on the Open Air Theatre in London’s Regent’s Park, where she and Scutt designed Carousel and Fiddler on the Roof. She has also worked on Sadler’s Wells East, which opened last year. Its neon sign reads “You are welcome,” and the building’s lighting is designed to keep that message visible from morning to night.

Although she is expanding her work, theatre remains central to her. “You have a work light on and the space looks flat – then you put a spotlight on and it’s transformed,” she said. “It’s a bit of magic.”