Taking place within the magnificent surroundings of London County Hall, Witness for the Prosecution is crime-literary icon Agatha Christie’s compelling stage play which follows the court case of Leonard Vole who is standing trial for murder. This particular production offers audiences a one-of-a-kind courtroom staging, due to the fact that they actually sit within the Council Chamber of the Edwardian Baroque County Hall and are fully immersed in the action. The lighting designer for this unique production is Chris Davey who approached White Light (WL) to supply the lighting.  

Witness for the Prosecution marks the first time that any live performance has taken place within London County Hall; a setting which proved to be the perfect venue for this particular show. Chris explains: “Witness for the Prosecution sits in the stunningly beautiful old GLC Debating Hall which is just the ideal space, given the fact it is all set mainly in a court room. As this is not a traditional theatre venue though, the main acting space itself is relatively small. That said, we utilised as many areas as we can and all gangways are very much part of the action so audiences are totally immersed in the drama which happens all around them”.  

The show is therefore a site-specific piece and it was very much a case of trying to adapt the venue so that it was suitable for a show of this nature. In total, there are four galleries which each have a lighting position so, for Chris and his team, they needed to ensure that these were used to their full potential, or, as he describes, ‘cram as much in as possible!”. 

Whilst Chris’s role was to naturally light the production and help create and elevate those heightened moments of tension and drama, he also had to take into account the surroundings. He comments: “I really had to be as sympathetic to the building as possible. A lot of the fixtures are lighting the structure and architecture of the space including uplighting each of the pillars and highlighting brass panels between these. There was also the grand Onyx portico positioned behind the judge’s bench which is the focal-point of that entire area”. 

Once Chris knew what he had to achieve with his design, he approached the Customer Service team at WL to draw on his desired fixtures. He explains: “Knowing that these would be the most accommodating to the venue’s aesthetics, I started with an all tungsten mix of ETC Source 4s, ETC Revolutions, Minuettes, Baby Floods along with one MAC Viper Profile. The MSR cold quality of the Viper is used to back light the space and to highlight our protagonist Leonard Vole. The Revolutions are the true workhorse of the rig and are used for corridors shuttering in tight looks, gobos for windows of light and various specials around the Hall (and not forgetting house lights!). The ColorSources are used for lighting the main stage space as well as highlighting particular cast members such as solicitors. I drew on these specifically as many of the case are stood literally next to the audience so we needed tight shuttering in order not to blind those in the viewing galleries.  

He adds: “Interestingly, during the first summer of the run, the Hall became so unbearably hot that we decided to change the ETC Source Fours to ColorSources in order to counter this heat. We also tried changing the architectural tungsten to LED but soon realised this was a step too far! The LED was just not sympathetic to the room’s architecture in the same way that tungsten is so we quickly reverted back to our original fixtures”.   
As this was a site-specific show taking place within a historic space, this obviously meant there were some obstacles that Chris and his team had to navigate as a result. He explains: “I soon discovered that I could only use the lighting positions already available in the Hall, as opposed to creating new ones. That said, we found a way around this by secreting fixtures around the various bits of architecture as well as positioning a Showline SL Strip 400 Batten under the main floor below a trap which was used to great effect to uplight a gibbet”.    

Having opened to critical acclaim and a range of five-star reviews, Witness for the Prosecution is running until September 2022 and will continue to summon audience members for jury service. 

Chris concludes: “This is a great show to be a part of and a genuinely unique experience for any theatre goer. I’d like to say thanks to Production Electrician Andy Murrell, Programmer Liam Tranter and Senior Technician Ian Allaway who all help maintain the look of the production with such care. A big thanks also to WL for supplying the fixtures and for all their support since the show opened”. 

Photos courtesy of Ellie Kurttz.

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