Celebrated lighting designer Paule Constable announces retirement

Acclaimed lighting designer Paule Constable has announced her retirement from theatre. 

The multi-Olivier award-winning designer announced the move after accepting her award for Services to UK Theatre at the WhatsOnStage Awards 2025.

Over her lengthy career, she has worked for organisations including the National Theatre, the Donmar Warehouse and the Royal Shakespeare Company, as well as the Michael Grandage Company. Her many shows have included War Horse, Evita, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, The Light Princess and Ballet Shoes, as well as operas with Glyndebourne, the Royal Ballet and Opera and English National Opera.

She has won five Olivier awards and two Tony Awards. 

Asked what spurred her to wind up her career, she told The Stage: "I’ve always said I wanted to stop while I still love it – and I do absolutely love my job.

"I did a lot of advocacy work around the freelance sector during the pandemic, and it made me really aware of people’s experiences that I hadn’t got to know properly.

"I found when we came back after the pandemic much harder. I thought I had better give myself the gift of naming a date." 

Constable labelled her retirement "bittersweet" and said she would miss theatre "terribly".

"But I’m really looking forward to weekends and evenings. I also feel I’ve got an amazing body of work. I don’t have to try and prove anything to myself or anyone else, really. It’s enough," she said.

Despite encouraging younger designers to put their own stamp on her profession, Constable cautioned against excessive use of tech, a trend she had observed in recent years. 

"My aesthetic, my world, doesn’t tend to be hugely technology driven, and I think we’re seeing a shift towards technology," she said.

"I don’t want people to lose their sense that the most important thing at the middle of any piece of live storytelling is the beating heart.

"I do think that’s at risk because there’s more tech. Tech is amazing if you make it about the writing, and make it come from the performer – rather than imposing it." 

However she also urged her successors to continue to take artistic risk, despite a hostile financial climate. 

She said: "If you take creative risks, ultimately the work will be better and more interesting. The funding situation in this country, the fact that the arts is funded so little now, and that we have to get so many commercial partners. 

"You have to be willing to engage with risk."

She added: "If I think about those shows that I’ve had an amazing ride with – War Horse and a A Curious Incident – none of those were set up to be commercial. They were set up in an environment where we took risks with the form, with storytelling, with what we might do for young audiences."