59 Productions
 | A major contributor to this article appears to have a close connection with its subject. (November 2018) |
 | |
| Industry | Specialist Design |
|---|---|
| Founder | Leo Warner (co-founder Mark Grimmer) |
| Headquarters | London , United Kingdom |
Number of employees | 35 |
| Website | www |
Fifty-Nine Productions (59 Productions) is a design studio with offices located in London and New York City.[1][2]
Origins
[edit] | This section needs additional citations for verification. (November 2023) |
59 Productions was founded in Edinburgh by Leo Warner (shortly joined by co-founder Mark Grimmer). Their early public projects were largely video-led designs for theatre, and included video designs for Stellar Quines Theatre Company's Sweet Fanny Adams in Eden in 2003,[3] and video designs for the then recently-formed National Theatre of Scotland's Roam and Black Watch in 2006, which was featured at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and won several awards.[4][5]
59 Productions relocated to London, where they began a series of collaborations at the Royal National Theatre.[6] Critics at The Guardian commented that with an adaptation of The Waves that they worked on, the team had "created an entirely new art form".[7]
Warner and Grimmer were part of the original creative team for War Horse in 2007, which won several Laurence Olivier Awards[8] in London and five Tony Awards for its subsequent production on Broadway.[9]
59 Productions worked on its first opera in 2007 at the English National Opera, providing the projection design for Philip Glass's Satyagraha, directed by Phelim McDermott and co-directed/designed by Julian Crouch, both of the theatre company, Improbable.[10] This was the first of several collaborations with Improbable, including the design for the Metropolitan Opera's 125th Anniversary Gala in 2009, which raised over $10 million.[11]
In 2012, director Danny Boyle asked 59 Productions to provide the animation and projection design for the opening ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics, which was viewed by over a billion people.[12] They also led the design of the David Bowie exhibition for the Victoria and Albert Museum.[13] The company was commissioned for the Light the Sails project at the Sydney Opera House for the 2014 Vivid Sydney Festival.[14] In 2015, they were responsible for the projection design for the first-ever Broadway production of George Gershwin's An American in Paris. The production won four Tony Awards, including Best Scenic Design of a Musical for Bob Crowley and 59 Productions.[15]
In 2017, the company developed and produced its first production. It was an adaptation of Paul Auster's City of Glass, written by Duncan Macmillan. City of Glass was a co-production with the Lyric Hammersmith, HOME arts center, and Karl Sydow. The production was described by The Daily Telegraph as a "neo-noir thriller that rewrites the rulebook for theatre design."[16]
In 2018, 59 Productions provided both the set and projection design for The Last Ship, a musical by Sting that tells the story of shipbuilding in North East England. The production opened at Northern Stage before embarking on a UK tour. Other projects include the design of Marnie, an opera by Nico Muhly that transferred to the Metropolitan Opera after an initial run at the English National Opera in London. The company also designed events in 2018 for both the first night of the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall and the Edinburgh International Festival.
Alongside their work on the stage, 59 Productions made two virtual reality films in 2018: Grenfell: Our Home,[17] a collaboration with Parable and Channel 4 that won the Audience Award at Sheffield DocFest,[18] and Nothing To Be Written,[19] which was commissioned by the BBC and won Best UK Experience and two other awards at the Raindance Film Festival.[20] In November 2018, Deep Field, their film collaboration with composer Eric Whitacre and NASA, premiered at the Kennedy Space Center.[21]
Selected productions
[edit]- 2018—The Shadow Factory. Set design and projection design for a new play by Howard Brenton at Nuffield Theatre Southampton.
- 2018—Array. Animated artwork projection mapped onto the interior of Beech Street Tunnel in Barbican Centre, London, set to Karawane by composer Esa-Pekka Salonen.
- 2017—Reflections. Animated artwork projected onto the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao as part of the museum's 20th birthday celebrations.
- 2014—Lighting the Sails. At the Sydney Opera House for the VIVID Live festival. Commissioned to create a bespoke animated film for projection onto the roof of the Sydney Opera House. It traced the evolution of the building from its design and construction.[22]
- 2014—Hedwig and the Angry Inch. At the Belasco Theatre, starring Neil Patrick Harris. 59 Productions' Ben Pearcy designed projections.[23]
- 2014—Les Misérables. At the Imperial Theatre. Projections inspired by Victor Hugo's watercolors for a new production of the musical.[24]
- 2009—Al gran sole carico d'amore. At the Salzburg Festival. Katie Mitchell directed Luigi Nono's opera with Leo Warner, creating a "live film" production in which action on stage and visual effects were created, shot, and edited live, and relayed to a cinema screen above the stage.[25]
- 2006—Roam. By Grid Iron Theatre Company at the Edinburgh Airport. 59 Productions created CG and film content and designed the technical systems for the delivery of video in this show. It included a mock-up of a live news report describing Edinburgh's descent into civil war.[26]
Selected tours
[edit]- 2011–2014—War Horse. After a successful run at the Royal National Theatre, the production won five Tony Awards on Broadway, including Best Play and Best Design. The show also toured in the UK, Ireland, North America, Netherlands, Germany, and South Africa.[27]
- 2010—Jónsi Go Live World Tour. 59 Productions conceived, designed, and produced the stage show for Jónsi's 2010 tour of North America, Europe, Australia, and Japan.[28]
- 2009–2014—Les Misérables. The new, redesigned version of the musical toured the UK, Japan, South Korea, Spain, and Australia.[29]
- 2008—The Waves. Started at the Royal National Theatre. It toured the UK, North America, and Europe.[30]
- 2006–2011—Black Watch. Started at the National Theatre of Scotland. It went on to tour the UK, the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.[31]
References
[edit]- ^ "59 Productions". 59 Productions. Retrieved 17 November 2023.
- ^ "About". 59 Productions. Retrieved 17 November 2023.
- ^ "Sweet Fanny Adams in Eden - Stellar Quines". Stellar Quines. Retrieved 26 October 2023.
- ^ Brantley, Ben (24 October 2007). "To Tell These War Stories, Words Aren't Enough". The New York Times. Retrieved 24 October 2007.
- ^ "Awards for the National Theatre of Scotland". National Theatre of Scotland. Archived from the original on 10 April 2014. Retrieved 23 May 2014.[dead link]
- ^ Sears, Amelia (July 2008). "Interviews with the Creative Team" (PDF). National Theatre Education. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 16 May 2014.
- ^ Gardner, Lyn (4 December 2006). "Waves sets a high-water mark for multimedia theatre". The Guardian. Retrieved 16 May 2014.
- ^ Shenton, Mark (9 March 2008). "Hairspray Wins Four 2008 Laurence Olivier Awards Including Best Musical". Playbill. Archived from the original on 24 March 2014. Retrieved 23 May 2014.
- ^ "British play War Horse triumphs at Tony Awards". The Telegraph. 13 June 2011. Retrieved 23 May 2014.
- ^ Brieler, Philip. "The Art of Satyagraha". www.metopera.org. Retrieved 26 October 2023.
- ^ Tommasini, Anthony (16 March 2009). "A Gala of Singing and Nostalgia (Addio, Speeches)". The New York Times. Retrieved 23 May 2014.
- ^ "London Olympics Opening Ceremony 2012". STROMA Films. Retrieved 16 May 2007.
- ^ Menkes, Suzy (18 March 2013). "David Bowie Brought to Life, in All His Guises". The New York Times. Retrieved 23 May 2014.
- ^ "Watch all Lighting of the Sails from the past decade". Sydney Opera House. Retrieved 26 October 2023.
- ^ "Winners". www.tonyawards.com. Retrieved 26 October 2023.
- ^ Allfree, Claire (27 April 2017). "Neo-noir thriller that rewrites the rulebook for theatre design - City of Glass, Lyric Hammersmith review". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 23 November 2018.
- ^ "A new VR documentary takes you inside Grenfell before the fire". Evening Standard. Retrieved 22 November 2018.
- ^ "Grenfell - Our Home". 59 Productions. Retrieved 26 October 2023.
- ^ "BBC - The first ever Virtual Reality Prom - Media Centre". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 22 November 2018.
- ^ "Award Winners - Raindance Immersive Stories 2018 - Raindance". Raindance. 7 October 2018. Retrieved 22 November 2018.
- ^ "Deep Field: The Impossible Magnitude of our Universe". Deep Field. Retrieved 26 October 2023.
- ^ Fisher, Neil (21 May 2014). "How to melt the Sydney Opera House". The Times. Retrieved 23 May 2014.
- ^ Brantley, Ben (22 April 2014). "A Cold War Casualty, Hot for Freedom (and Heels)". The New York Times. Retrieved 16 May 2014.
- ^ Stasio, Marilyn (23 March 2014). "Broadway Review Les Miserables". Variety. Retrieved 16 May 2014.
- ^ Loomis, George (18 August 2009). "Amid Upheavals, a Steady Salzburg Festival". The New York Times. Retrieved 16 May 2014.
- ^ Chadwick, Alan (6 April 2006). "First Class Act". The Metro. Retrieved 16 May 2014.
- ^ "War Horse on Stage: Official Site". War Horse. Retrieved 26 October 2023.
- ^ Aames, Timothy (20 January 2012). "Jónsi & Fifty Nine Productions: Taxidermy Fire Inspires Darkness-to-Light Aesthetic". Alarm. Retrieved 16 May 2014.
- ^ "Les Misérables | Welcome to the Official Website". Les Miserables. Retrieved 26 October 2023.
- ^ Brantley, Ben (17 November 2008). "Six Lives Ebb and Flow, Interconnected and Alone". The New York Times. Retrieved 19 May 2014.
- ^ "National Theatre of Scotland's Black Watch US Tour Dates Announced". All Media Scotland. 16 July 2010. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 19 May 2014.
External links
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