MONSTERS | MALTHOUSE THEATRE

"On its own, Paul Jackson’s almost palatial set of strong geometric planes, sculpted pillars and elliptical skylights could house any play from Sophocles to Pinter, or opera from Vivaldi to John Adams. His lighting of many sudden changes or unfolding shadows, too, is exceptional." - Limelight

"The set and lighting design (Paul Jackson), with its profound shadows and beams of cold, unnatural light, is powerful and highly atmospheric … " - The Guardian

"Aided by a cavernous set festooned with trapdoors and escape hatches, the dancers embody tormented, evanescent figures, their human forms dissolving and recombining to create grotesque and alien morphologies … Paul Jackson’s lighting shifts from tranquil pools of half-light to flashes of genuine discomfort as the tension escalates." - The Age

"The set and lighting are modern marvels of ingenuity. Paul Jackson has turned what upon entry is simply a black “shell-like” stage into a dark hued chamber of secrets, with trap doors and misshapen light sources. I am in awe of how effective that is." -  The Blurb

"Other exquisite elements were the bold stage and lighting design by Paul Jackson, which is about as good as I have ever seen." - Theatre Matters
Winner of the APDG Multi-Discipline Design for A Live Performance Award 2023

Director: Matt Lutton
Choreography: Stephanie Lake
Set Design and Lighting Design : Paul Jackson
Photography: Pia Johnson

RUSALKA | WEST AUSTRALIAN OPERA & OPERA AUSTRALIA

"Breathtakingly beautiful and inventive set, costume, lighting and video design prime this new iteration of Rusalka to be a memorable experience even before the singing starts ... Paul Jackson's moody and expert lighting design" - Limelight

"The combination of Sets (Charles Davis), Lighting (Paul Jackson) and Video (David Bergman) is nothing short of astounding. Together they create moving pieces that allow us to sink into the murky depths of the world of the water people, then rise above the water line to view the human world which looks just as alien. In the final act, we look down on the lake full of water lilies as Rusalka becomes a water sprite floating on the surface. There are basic and not so basic magic tricks added for effect. Most extraordinary is a backdrop that can be a translucent glass, a mirror, a video screen or all three at once. Congratulations to the Design Team for creating these most amazing environments." - Sydney Arts Guide

"… while Paul Jackson’s lighting shimmers on water lilies, creates the shadowed depths of forests, and glows on sumptuous palatial pillars and floors … Sarah Giles and her team have wrought wonders … this Rusalka, as imagined and brought to life in this production, is nothing short of exceptional. It should be given the Moshinsky treatment and marked down for endless repeats." - Stage Noise
Winner of the APDG Lighting for A Live Performance Award 2025

Director: Sarah Giles
Set Design: Charles Davis
Costume Design: Renee Mulder
Lighting Design: Paul Jackson
Video Design: David Bergman
Photography: West Beach Studio 

REBECCA | MELBOURNE THEATRE COMPANY

"Paul Jackson’s lighting carves mood and menace into Horwell’s spaces, shafts of illumination dissolving into cavernous shadows." -  Australian Arts Review
Director: Anne-Louise Sarks
Design: Marg Horwell
Lighting Design: Paul Jackson
Photography: Pia Johnson

AWAY | MALTHOUSE THEATRE & SYDNEY THEATRE COMPANY

"The atmospheric lighting (Paul Jackson) and stark stage design (Dale Ferguson) elevate the almost supernatural quality of the production, accentuating the sense of dislocation and confusion of the characters." - The Herald Sun
Winner of the APDG Lighting for Live Performance Award 2017
Winner of the Greenroom Award for Theatre Companies Lighting Design 2017
Nominated for the Sydney Theatre Award for Lighting Design 2017

Director: Matt Lutton
Design: Dale Ferguson
Lighting Design: Paul Jackson
Photography: Pia Johnson and Prue Upton

LOVE AND INFORMATION | SYDNEY THEATRE COMPANY & MALTHOUSE THEATRE

"The lighting by Paul Jackson is flooded with moodiness and variation, often grey-gold, sometimes deep purple, a virtuoso palette."
- The Saturday Paper

"The lighting design, by the immensely talented Paul Jackson, does as much with shadow and darkness as it does with light." - The Herald Sun
Winner of the Sydney Theatre Awards for Mainstage Lighting Design
Winner of the APDG Lighting for Live Performance Award 2016

Director: Kip Williams
Design: David Fleischer
Lighting Design: Paul Jackson
Photography: Pia Johnson

PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK | MALTHOUSE THEATRE & BLACK SWAN STATE THEATRE COMPANY

"Paul Jackson's lighting is exceptionally good, redefining reality in the blink of an eye."
- The Australian
 
"The lighting (Paul Jackson) is so good it works on the unconscious...."
- Australian Book Review
 
"Paul Jackson’s lighting design is phenomenal."
- ArtsHub
Nominated for Helpmann Award for Lighting Design
Presented at Malthouse Theatre (2016 & 2018), Black Swan State Theatre Company, Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh, Barbican London
​
Director: Matt Lutton
Design: Zoe Atkinson
Lighting Design: Paul Jackson
Photography: Pia Johnson

BEAUTY QUEEN OF LEENANE | SYDNEY THEATRE COMPANY

"The set design is moodily etched by Paul Jackson’s shadowy lighting." - Limelight

"Paul Jackson's lighting design has sunlight through the kitchen window and dimmed twilight and early morning light during scene changes and more muted illumination for evening scenes." - Broadway World
Winner of the Sydney Theatre Awards for Mainstage Lighting Design 2019

Director: Paige Rattray
Design: Renee Mulder
Lighting Design: Paul Jackson
Photography: Brett Boardman

SOLARIS | MALTHOUSE THEATRE, LYCEUM EDINBURGH & LYRIC HAMMERSMITH LONDON

"Though the various scenic configurations remain similar throughout, Paul Jackson’s exquisite lighting ensures that each scene has its distinct aura: the overwhelmingly vibrant colours reflected from Solaris’ oceanic surface fill the stage with a vigour that borders on the
sublime. Like the artist Dan Flavin’s fluorescent installations, these lights are at once ominous, tender, and electrifying." - The Theatre Times (London)
​
"Paul Jackson’s lighting is mesmerising as it evokes the unknown external entity that is this strange, ancient, and apparently sentient planet." - EdinburghFestival.org

​"Paul Jackson’s lighting harks back to the trippy cinematography of the psychedelic inner/outer space exploration films: long bars of starkly contrasting colours fall across the stage, intermittently highlighting the moments of psychological confusion and stress and calling to mind Mark Rothko and Dan Flavin. Which is a nice touch, echoing Tarkovsky’s obsession with the Old Masters, which fills the walls of the space station with Brueghel and Rembrandt." - Witness Performance (Australia)
Winner, Best Design. Critics Award for Theatre in Scotland : Hyemi Shin (set and costume), Paul Jackson (lighting), Tov Belling and Katie Milwright (cinematography), Toby Angwin (visual effects).
Winner of the APDG Lighting for Live Performance Award 2021

Director: Matt Lutton
Design: Hyemi Shin
Lighting Design: Paul Jackson
​Photography: Mihaela Bodlovic (UK) & Pia Johnson (AUS)

THE TESTAMENT OF MARY | MALTHOUSE THEATRE

"It's a wonderful performance that Anne-Louise Sarks' direction, and every element of theatrical design, are [sic] precisely honed to intensify." - The Age
Winner of the APDG Lighting for Live Performance Award 2018
Winner of the Greenroom Award for Theatre Companies Lighting Design 2017

Director:  Anne-Louise Sarks
Set Design: Paul Jackson and Marg Howell
Costume Design: Marg Howell
Lighting Design: Paul Jackson
Photography: Pia Johnson

MEOW MEOW'S THE LITTLE MERMAID | MALTHOUSE THEATRE

"Paul Jackson’s lighting is ostentatious perfection." - Herald Sun

"... while Paul Jackson's lush lighting creates a dense and spectacular atmosphere, from a lurid pink love-mist to a submarine wonderland." - The Age
Nominated for APDG Lighting for Live Performance
Nominated for Green Room Award Cabaret Design
Presented at Sydney Festival, Malthouse Theatre, Perth International Festival of the Arts, Brisbane Festival, Auckland Festival, Edinburgh Festival

Director : Michael Kantor
Design: Anna Cordingley
Lighting Design: Paul Jackson
Photography: Pia Johnson & Prue Upton

MELANCHOLIA | MALTHOUSE THEATRE

​“Paul Jackson’s lighting design triggers the most sensual and terrifying feelings within the audience, as it acutely reflects the hours of time ticking towards doom.”
- Theatre Press
 
“… Jackson’s lighting, as we wait to see if it is “the end” is extraordinary.”
- Stage Noise
 
“Paul Jackson's lighting is – as ever – beautifully evocative and affecting.”
- Theatrepeople
 
“Paul Jackson's lighting design is wondrous, its purples and greens both lush and sickly.”
- Time Out
Winner of Greenroom for Lighting Design
Nominated for an APDG award for Lighting for a Live Performance
​
Director: Matt Lutton
Design: Marg Horwell
Lighting Design: Paul Jackson
Photography: Pia Johnson

THE SHADOW KING | MALTHOUSE THEATRE

"From the warm hues to convey an evening sun to the unforgiving fluorescent light of a shabby jail cell, Paul Jackson's lighting design is immaculately done too." - Artshub
Presented at Malthouse Theatre, Sydney Festival, Adelaide Festival, Perth International Festival of the Arts, Brisbane Festival, Barbican Centre London

Co-Created by Michael Kantor and Tom E. Lewis
Director: Michael Kantor
Design: Paul Jackson, Michael Kantor & David Miller
Costume & Props Design: Ruby Langton-Batty
Lighting Design: Paul Jackson
Photography: Jeff Busby

DYBBUKS | CHAMBER MADE 

'Dybbuks is the result of the work of many collaborators, principally director Samara Hersch, whose inspiration this is, and her lighting and set designer and dramaturg Paul Jackson. Ms Hersch says that what we see is the result of a long conversation between these two.'  - Stage Whispers

​'An unnerving, and quite unforgettable night at the theatre. 4.5 Stars.' - The Age

‘ … a production that teems with contrasts … and inhabits the outer reaches of experiemental theatre … Samara Hersch is a bold talent to watch, and set and lighting designer, Paul Jackson, is an alchemist in his own right. From dais to mikveh to grave – the transformations wrought through that simple, but ingenious stage set are a triumph.’ - Australian Jewish News
Winner of 2021 Music Theatre Now Award

Concept and Direction: Samara Hersch
​Set and Lighting Design and Project Dramaturg: Paul Jackson
Costume Design: Shio Otan 
​Photography: Pia Johnson

I AM A MIRACLE | MALTHOUSE THEATRE

"Marg Horwell and Paul Jackson’s set is both minimal and monumental: there are chairs strewn on and around a black revolving platform with a section of wall to suggest interior space, and the vast curtain that covers the whole of the back of the stage is used brilliantly in the transitions between the first and second scenes, and for the finale. Jackson’s lighting design harasses the actors with jittering fluorescence and drenches the back curtain in red to match the jail clothing and finally confronts the spectators as well." - Daily Review
Winner for Green Room Award for Theatre Set Design
Nominated for Green Room Award for Theatre Lighting Design

Director: Matt Lutton
Design: Paul Jackson & Marg Howell
Costume Design: Marg Howell
Lighting Design: Paul Jackson
Musical Direction: Jethro Woodward
Photography: Pia Johnson

MEOW MEOW'S THE LITTLE MATCH GIRL | MALTHOUSE THEATRE

"For a show centring on the play of light and shadow, lighting designer Paul Jackson must be commended. Plunged into darkness after only a few minutes on stage, the performance relies on a series of phosphoric flares created with found light sources: from torches and sparklers to bicycle-powered stage lights and surrendered mobile phones." - Time Out Sydney

"The lighting design, by Paul Jackson, is consistently ingenious – at one point, our heroine harvests audience members' mobile phones for use as light sources." - Time Out London
Winner of the Helpmann Award for Lighting Design
Nominated for Green Room Award Theatre Lighting Design
Presented at Malthouse Theatre, Sydney Festival, Southbank Centre London

Director: Marion Potts
Design: Anna Cordingley
Lighting Design: Paul Jackson
Musical Director: Iain Grandage
Photography: Jeff Busby & Pia Johnson