Jack Knowles won the 2026 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lighting Design of a Play and is currently nominated for the Tony Award for Best Lighting Design of a Play for Death of a Salesman(Winter Garden Theatre), about which The New York Times wrote, "Jack Knowles pours in illumination from the sides of the stage, turning every face into a Caravaggio."
He previously won the Tony and Drama Desk Awards for Best Lighting Design of a Musical and the Olivier and WhatsOnStage Awards for Best Lighting Design for Sunset Boulevard (Broadway/Savoy Theatre) and the Knight of Illumination Award for Barber Shop Chronicles (National Theatre).
Knowles was included in the 2026 Stage 100 list of the most influential people in British theatre.
He chats with Live Design about his award-winning work.
Production: Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, Winter Garden Theatre, Opening 9th April 2026, directed by Joe Mantello.
Collaborators:
Associate LD - Jess Creager
Programmer - Marc Polimeni
Production Electrician - Dan Coey
House Head - Mike Pitzer
Live Design: What was your intent with the design, and where did your inspiration come from?
Jack Knowles: I wanted to create environments that supported and enhanced the emotional journeys of the characters, whilst guiding the audience through the piece and transforming the space in an instant as the characters and story delves into memories and events as that are imprinted into their minds in a variety of locations I wanted to create worlds in which the audience could really feel the emotions that the characters are going through in the piece. I built up a collection of images from a variety of sources – artists, photographers, installations – that focused on brutalist spaces, abandoned warehouses and gritty spaces that contrasted the natural world with artificial intervention, be it materials or light. I interrogated the feelings and emotions of the storytelling and what is being communicated and the environments that could reflect and enhance this side of the storytelling.
Nathan Lane in Death Of A Salesman
Photo by Emilio Madrid
(Nathan Lane in Death Of A Salesman)
Live Design: What gear did you rely on for your design choices?
JK: The rig is a mixture of GLP X5 Washes and Battens, Ayrton Perseos and Dominos, Chauvet Reve E3 and Martin Mac Ones. Also heavily rely on MDG Atme, Unique Hazers and Viper smoke machines (Look Solutions) with an array of JEM AF1 and Antari AF3 fans. Every fixture in the rig is used with precise intent — there’s no systems that build an image in this show!
Live Design: What was the biggest challenge?
JK: The Winter Garden is a large grand theatre and I needed to be able to create large operatic images that could carry the space whilst containing intimacy and focus on the actors. Constantly ensuring the balance of scale and focus whilst also shifting the space in an instant is something that presented different challenges at different emotional points whilst also demanding a range of exciting creative solutions.
Live Design: What do you think made this design so successful?
JK: The way in which I have been able to make the space transform and create heavily contrasting worlds which truly enforce what the characters are going through and ride along with the storytelling and emotions that the characters are feeling within the piece. The focus on emotion and what the characters were feeling and trying to access gave me a route in to clear environments that are able to transform the space with a tight rhythm and synchronicity with the energy of the play and what the characters are experiencing, be it in the angular world of the plays present, devoured of color and drenched in starkness, to the memories which are bathed in sweeping colors, such as the overly golden tones of the football / young Biff and happy memories, to the gritty dirty, seedy greens and pinks of the memories involving willies mistress. As though these are heightened moments imprinted in the characters' minds. The way in which all the elements of the production have come together creates a visceral experience for the audience to connect and respond to the characters, access deep connections and emotions alongside what they are watching.
