Two women face each other across a dark stage beneath a suspended clock and diagonal beams of light.

Guildford School of Acting2021

The Light Burns Blue

The Production

Guildford School of Acting’s July 2021 staging of Silva Semerciyan’s The Light Burns Blue brought the Platform play’s Cottingley Fairies story to a student ensemble production. The drama explores belief, image-making and public fascination through a First World War story centred on young women’s perspectives.

49 photographs in the curated edit

Director: Phyllida Crowley-Smith
Lighting Design: Alex Musgrave
Commissioned by: Guildford School of Acting
Photography: Steve Gregson

A young woman sits beside a desk in smoky backlight, one hand to her chest as light bursts through a textured screen behind her.

A violinist plays facing the audience, framed by a bright horizontal beam cutting through haze behind her.

An ensemble gathers around an elevated woman in a wide amber-lit stage space with long shadows across the floor.

A woman stands on a chair with arms extended while other performers look up through warm amber stage light.

A performer in a striped jacket stands in green haze beside a glowing textured panel as another raises a wand-like prop.

A performer rides a bicycle across a mostly empty stage under angled light and deep surrounding shadow.

Several women in period-style skirts face one another in a tense exchange across a hazy, open stage.

A seated figure is silhouetted beneath a narrow blue downlight, with distant performers barely visible in the surrounding darkness.

A young woman in a white blouse reaches outward in close-up against a black background.

Performers pull a large white sheet across a prone figure on a blue-lit stage.

Two seated women with books smile and talk while a pair of upturned legs appears in the background.

A performer sits at an upright piano in green and purple haze, lit from the side.

A woman in a striped jacket clasps her hands and looks upward, isolated in a tight pool of light.

A lone seated woman is held in a blue spotlight while bright beams cut across the wider stage behind her.

A woman plays piano in cool blue haze, her hands lit against the keys.

An ensemble is arranged across the stage in separate pools of blue light and smoke.

A kneeling woman grips a vintage camera with an intense, open-mouthed expression.

A woman sings or calls out while holding papers, with another performer and a bicycle behind her.

A performer in a fur-like costume reacts dramatically under a focused spotlight.

A fur-costumed performer stands before a group in blue cloaks as a blue beam washes the stage.

A performer moves across a blue-lit floor while an elevated chair scene unfolds in the background.

A performer lies low on the floor clutching a tall pole, looking out intensely beneath stark vertical framing.

A wide ensemble scene spreads across the stage in magenta and blue light, with performers standing and seated at different levels.

A man plays a recorder in close-up while a blurred dancer moves behind him.

A performer aims a hoop on a pole toward a hanging violin against a dark stage.

A woman studies a strip of paper held in both hands, lit by red and blue stage light.

A silhouetted figure stands in a dense shaft of smoky light between tall textured panels.

A solitary figure sits at the edge of a wide smoky stage, with patterned light stretching across the floor.

A woman in an orange dress stands isolated before dark panels marked with projected blue text.

A man in a hat crawls across the floor, casting a long shadow into the stage darkness.

A moustached man in a hat reaches upward from a tight, dark frame.

A woman leans forward on a bicycle, mouth open as if calling out across the stage.

A woman stands with hands spread against a blue textured backdrop, lit from the front.

A woman in white faces a small group and a bicycle across a broad stage filled with pale haze.

Two performers lie on the floor while others stand around them in a wide green-and-white lit stage picture.

A distressed woman covers her mouth in the foreground as two other women stand behind her in smoky light.

A woman in a white blouse holds a vintage camera while a strong beam of light cuts through haze behind her.

A woman in a peach skirt gestures in a smoky pool of light while another sits nearby holding a camera.

A dark wide ensemble scene shows figures, a bicycle and a small cluster of action caught in a narrow strip of light.

A performer crouches low at centre stage with arms thrown out as others stand around him.

A seated woman in a pink dress smiles beneath a glowing round lamp with smoke drifting behind her.

A man in a red velvet jacket smiles in the foreground while a seated woman and projection board sit behind him.

A high wide view shows performers scattered through a smoky room-like stage, with bodies, chairs and textured panels arranged in layers.

An ensemble gathers around a red chair as one woman raises her arm and others react in warm haze.

A woman holds a vintage box camera under harsh overhead light, her face partly carved by shadow.

Hands hold a vintage box camera against a black background, with white sleeves visible at the edges.

An empty stage set with tall textured panels, a patterned box and visible overhead rigging fills the frame.

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Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation Theatre2021

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