PAUL JACKSON 

​Lighting Designer

Paul Jackson APDG is a multi-award-winning lighting and set designer, dramaturg and theatre maker whose practice encompasses theatre, opera, dance, music theatre, and live events. He is a graduate of the University of Melbourne and RMIT. 

A key creative on several seminal Australian performance pieces, his work has featured in festivals and programmes in the United States, Asia, Europe and the United Kingdom. Listed in The Bulletin’s Smart 100, he was the Gilbert Spottiswood Churchill Fellow for 2007. Paul was an Artistic Associate and Resident Artist at Malthouse Theatre from 2007-2013, and an Artistic Associate at Melbourne Theatre Company from 2022-2024. In 2017, he received an Australia Council for the Arts Fellowship.

Paul is one of Australia’s most awarded designers. He received a Helpmann Award for LITTLE MATCH GIRL (lighting design 2012); Sydney Theatre Awards for LOVE AND INFORMATION (lighting design 2015) and BEAUTY QUEEN OF LEENANE (lighting design 2019); a Critics' Award for Theatre in Scotland for SOLARIS (lighting design 2019); Australian Production Design Guild Awards for LOVE AND INFORMATION (lighting design 2015), AWAY (lighting design 2017), TESTAMENT OF MARY (lighting design 2017), SOLARIS (lighting design 2019) MONSTERS (set and lighting design 2022), ESCAPED ALONE/WHAT IF IF ONLY (lighting design 2023), RUSALKA (lighting design 2024) and TROY (lighting design 2026); Green Room Awards for RECITAL and for COSMONAUT (lighting design 2004) GOTHARAMA (lighting design 2005), IT JUST STOPPED (lighting design 2006), Body of Work 2014 (lighting design), I AM A MIRACLE (set design 2015), TESTAMENT OF MARY and AWAY (lighting design 2017), MELANCHOLIA (lighting design 2018) and Body of Work 2025 (lighting design). He has also received over fifty further nominations for design work from State and National awards. Paul is accredited with the Australian Production Design Guild.

Paul has designed lighting for The Australian Ballet, Royal New Zealand Ballet, Berlin Staatsballett, West Australian Ballet, Queensland Ballet, Opera Australia, Victorian Opera, West Australian Opera, Opera Queensland, New Zealand Opera, Sydney Theatre Company, Melbourne Theatre Company, Black Swan Theatre Company, Gordon Frost Organization, TML, The Production Company, Bell Shakespeare, Playbox, Malthouse, Belvoir, Queensland Theatre, Circa, Ballet Lab, Circus Oz, Chunky Move, World of Wearable Art New Zealand, Arena, Kage, Australian Art Orchestra, La Mama, Taylor/Keene, not yet it’s difficult performance group, Chamber Made and many others. 

Paul has designed and co-designed sets and performance environments for companies and organizations including Belvoir, Malthouse, Berlin Staatsballett, Chamber Made, La Mama, Stephanie Lake Company, Melbourne Workers' Theatre, Chunky Move, Lucy Guerin, Ranters, not yet it's difficult, Melbourne Museum, Melbourne Festival, and Griffin. He has worked as a dramaturg on a range of projects and has extensive experience in technical and production management. 

Paul has collaborated with a diverse range of directors and choreographers including Barrie Kosky, Benedict Andrews, Neil Armfield, Michael Kantor, Marion Potts, Lee Lewis, Sarah Goodes, Matt Lutton, Anne-Louise Sarks, Paige Rattray, Simon Phillips, Andrew Upton, Adena Jacobs, Kip Williams, Shaun Rennie, Anouk van Dijk, Philip Adams, Sarah Giles, Lucas Jervis, Jorma Uotinen, Renato Cuoccolo, Simon Stone, Peter Evans, Javier de Frutos, Yaron Lifschitz, Stephanie Lake, Cathy Marston, Natalie Weir, Remi Wörtmeyer, Sam Strong, Lucy Guerin, Moira Finucane, Susie Dee, Samara Hersch, Ann Yee, Julian Meyrick, David Pledger, Gale Edwards, Bruno Ravella, Tom Wright, Eamonn Flack, Kate Champion and Philip Seymour Hoffman. 

Committed to mentoring emerging designers, Paul has lectured in design at the University of Melbourne, NMIT, RMIT University and Victorian College of the Arts. He was a founding member of not yet it's difficult performance group, was a member of Melbourne Workers' Theatre Artistic Advisory Group and has been on the Board of St Martin's Youth Arts Centre.