Laurence Olivier Award for Best Lighting Design
# Laurence Olivier Award for Best Lighting Design

The Laurence Olivier Award for Best Lighting Design is an annual award presented by the Society of London Theatre in recognition of achievements in commercial London theatre. The awards were established as the Society of West End Theatre Awards in 1976, and renamed in 1984 in honour of English actor and director Laurence Olivier.

This award was introduced in 1991. There had been an award for Designer of the Year from 1976 to 1990, originally focused on set designers but including an increasing number of commingled nominations for other design specialties through the years. The commingled single award was retired after the 1990 ceremony, with more granular awards introduced in 1991 for Best Set Design and Best Costume Design, along with this Best Lighting Design award.

## Winners and nominees

### 1990s

| Year | Designer | Production |
| - | - | - |
| 1991 |
| 1991 | Jean Kalman | Richard III and White Chameleon |
| 1991 | Alan Burrett | Three Sisters |
| 1991 | Pat Collins | The Illusion |
| 1991 | Paul Pyant | The Wind in the Willows |
| 1992 |
| 1992 | Mark Henderson | Murmuring Judges and Long Day's Journey into Night |
| 1992 | Wayne Dowdeswell | Edward II |
| 1992 | Jean Kalman | The Night of the Iguana and Hedda Gabler |
| 1992 | Sumio Yoshii | Tango at the End of Winter |
| 1993 |
| 1993 | Howell Binkley | Kiss of the Spider Woman |
| 1993 | Paule Constable | The Street of Crocodiles |
| 1993 | Rick Fisher | An Inspector Calls |
| 1993 | Jean Kalman | A Midsummer Night's Dream |
| 1994 |
| 1994 | Rick Fisher | Hysteria, Machinal and Moonlight |
| 1994 | Wayne Dowdeswell | Medea |
| 1994 | Terry Hands and Wayne Dowdeswell | Tamburlaine the Great |
| 1994 | Brian Harris | The School of Night |
| 1995 |
| 1995 | Mark Henderson | All his work during the year |
| 1995 | Rick Fisher | The Cryptogram and Pericles |
| 1995 | David Hersey | Glengarry Glen Ross and Oliver! |
| 1995 | Tina MacHugh | Ghosts and Rutherford and Son |
| 1996 |
| 1996 | David Hersey | Burning Blue, The Glass Menagerie and Twelfth Night |
| 1996 | Mark Henderson | Absolute Hell, La Grande Magia and Indian Ink |
| 1996 | Peter Mumford | Richard II, Mother Courage and Her Children and Volpone |
| 1996 | Chris Parry | A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Way of the World |
| 1997 |
| 1997 | Chris Parry | Tommy |
| 1997 | Mark Henderson | John Gabriel Borkman |
| 1997 | David Hersey | Martin Guerre |
| 1997 | Hugh Vanstone | 'Art' |
| 1998 |
| 1998 | Rick Fisher | Chips with Everything and Lady in the Dark |
| 1998 | Paul Anderson | The Chairs |
| 1998 | Howard Harrison | The Fix |
| 1998 | Hugh Vanstone | Hamlet |
| 1999 |
| 1999 | Hugh Vanstone | The Blue Room and The Unexpected Man |
| 1999 | Paule Constable | Amadeus and Uncle Vanya |
| 1999 | Mark Henderson | Britannicus and Phèdre |
| 1999 | David Hersey | Oklahoma! |

### 2000s

| Year | Designer | Production |
| - | - | - |
| 2000 |
| 2000 | Mark Henderson | Plenty, Spend Spend Spend, Suddenly, Last Summer, The Forest, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, The Real Thing and Vassa |
| 2000 | Howard Harrison | Private Lives, Sleep With Me and The Tempest |
| 2000 | Donald Holder | The Lion King |
| 2000 | Peter Mumford | Collected Stories, Richard III, Summerfolk and The Merchant of Venice |
| 2001 |
| 2001 | Hugh Vanstone | The Cherry Orchard and The Graduate |
| 2001 | Howard Harrison | To the Green Fields Beyond and The Witches of Eastwick |
| 2001 | Mark Henderson | All My Sons |
| 2001 | Paul Pyant | Hamlet |
| 2002 |
| 2002 | Mark Henderson | A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Playboy of the Western World |
| 2002 | Howard Harrison | Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Tales from Hollywood |
| 2002 | David Hersey | My Fair Lady and South Pacific |
| 2002 | Tim Mitchell | Henry IV |
| 2002 | Peter Mumford | Hamlet and Private Lives |
| 2003 |
| 2003 | Peter Mumford | The Bacchae |
| 2003 | Paule Constable | Play Without Words |
| 2003 | David Hersey | The Coast of Utopia |
| 2003 | Paul Pyant | A Streetcar Named Desire |
| 2004 |
| 2004 | Hugh Vanstone | Pacific Overtures |
| 2004 | Simon Corder | Hitchcock Blonde |
| 2004 | Howard Harrison | Ragtime |
| 2005 |
| 2005 | Paule Constable | His Dark Materials |
| 2005 | Howard Harrison | Mary Poppins |
| 2005 | Jean Kalman | Festen |
| 2005 | Paul Pyant | All's Well That Ends Well |
| 2006 |
| 2006 | Paule Constable | Don Carlos |
| 2006 | Rick Fisher | Billy Elliot |
| 2006 | Howard Harrison | Guys and Dolls |
| 2006 | Hugh Vanstone | Mary Stuart |
| 2007 |
| 2007 | Natasha Chivers and Mike Robertson | Sunday in the Park with George |
| 2007 | Neil Austin | Thérèse Raquin |
| 2007 | Jean Kalman | The Crucible |
| 2007 | Kenneth Posner | Wicked |
| 2007 | Hugh Vanstone | Spamalot |
| 2008 |
| 2008 | Howard Harrison | Macbeth |
| 2008 | Paule Constable | War Horse |
| 2008 | Kenneth Posner | Hairspray |
| 2008 | Paul Pyant | The Lord of the Rings |
| 2009 |
| 2009 | Paule Constable | The Chalk Garden |
| 2009 | Neil Austin | No Man's Land |
| 2009 | Neil Austin | Piaf |
| 2009 | Paule Constable | Ivanov |

### 2010s

| Year | Designer | Production |
| - | - | - |
| 2010 |
| 2010 | Mark Henderson | Burnt by the Sun |
| 2010 | Kevin Adams | Spring Awakening |
| 2010 | Jon Clark | Three Days of Rain |
| 2010 | Mark Henderson | ENRON |
| 2011 |
| 2011 | Neil Austin | The White Guard |
| 2011 | Paule Constable | Love Never Dies |
| 2011 | Mark Henderson | After the Dance |
| 2011 | Hugh Vanstone | Deathtrap |
| 2012 |
| 2012 | Bruno Poet | Frankenstein |
| 2012 | Howard Harrison | Anna Christie |
| 2012 | Hugh Vanstone | Ghost |
| 2012 | Hugh Vanstone | Matilda |
| 2013 |
| 2013 | Paule Constable | The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time |
| 2013 | Paul Anderson | The Master and Margarita |
| 2013 | Lee Curran | Constellations |
| 2013 | Mark Henderson | Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street |
| 2014 |
| 2014 | Tim Lutkin and Finn Ross | Chimerica |
| 2014 | Paul Pyant and Jon Driscoll | Charlie and the Chocolate Factory |
| 2014 | Paule Constable | The Light Princess |
| 2014 | Peter Mumford | Ghosts |
| 2015 |
| 2015 | Howard Harrison | City of Angels |
| 2015 | Jon Clark | King Charles III |
| 2015 | Paule Constable and David Plater | Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies |
| 2015 | Jan Versweyveld | A View from the Bridge |
| 2016 |
| 2016 | Mark Henderson | Gypsy |
| 2016 | Neil Austin | The Winter's Tale |
| 2016 | Natasha Chivers | Oresteia |
| 2016 | James Farncombe | People, Places and Things |
| 2017 |
| 2017 | Neil Austin | Harry Potter and the Cursed Child |
| 2017 | Lee Curran | Jesus Christ Superstar |
| 2017 | Natasha Katz | The Glass Menagerie |
| 2017 | Hugh Vanstone | Groundhog Day |
| 2018 |
| 2018 | Howell Binkley | Hamilton |
| 2018 | Paule Constable | Angels in America |
| 2018 | Paule Constable | Follies |
| 2018 | Jan Versweyveld | Network |
| 2019 |
| 2019 | Jon Clark | The Inheritance |
| 2019 | Neil Austin | Company |
| 2019 | Howell Binkley | Come from Away |
| 2019 | Lee Curran | Summer and Smoke |

### 2020s

| Year | Designer | Production |
| - | - | - |
| 2020 |
| 2020 | Paule Constable | The Ocean at the End of the Lane |
| 2020 | Neil Austin | Rosmersholm |
| 2020 | Howard Hudson | & Juliet |
| 2020 | Bruno Poet | Uncle Vanya |
| 2021 | Not presented due to extended closing of theatre productions during COVID-19 pandemic | Not presented due to extended closing of theatre productions during COVID-19 pandemic |
| 2022 |
| 2022 | Andrzej Goulding and Tim Lutkin | Life of Pi |
| 2022 | Neil Austin | Frozen |
| 2022 | Isabella Byrd | Cabaret |
| 2022 | Tim Lutkin | Back to the Future: The Musical |

* 1 2 Due to late March 2020 to late July 2021 closing of London theatre productions during the COVID-19 pandemic in England, the 2022 awards recognise productions that launched anytime from February 2020 to February 2022

## Multiple Wins

### 6 wins

* Mark Henderson

### 5 wins

* Paula Constable (2 consecutive)

### 3 wins

* Hugh Vanstone

### 2 wins

* Neil Austin
* Howell Binkley
* Rick Fisher
* Tim Lutkin
