Reviews 2001-2010

Edits – Village Underground & Tour, 2010
Choreography by Lea Anderson, Set & Lighting by Simon Corder, Costumes by Sandy Powell, Music by Steve Blake

  • “With no stage or seating, the performance space is two areas that join together in an “L” shape, the audience shuffling from left to right in the corner as the focus of the action moves back and forth throughout. In the larger of the two areas, two wooden frames are suspended from the high roof and squares of light are projected on the floor. The other area features another frame, near to the ground, large enough to contain all six of the dancers. Two men – an electric guitarist and a saxophonist – hovering on the sidelines, in black dresses and dishevelled long black wigs, perform live accompaniment.” – Sam Gauntlett, londondance.com, 4 November 2004

Dancing on Your Grave – Glastonbury Festival & Tour, 2008
Choreography by Lea Anderson, Set & Lighting by Simon Corder, Costumes by Jess Hooks, Music by Steve Blake

  • “Dancing on Your Grave is a small-scale, cabaret-style entertainment aimed at nondance audiences. Anderson’s brief was simple and macabre: what happens when a music hall act bases its performance entirely on death? The dancers Maho Ihara, Gabrielle McNaughton and Ryen Perkins-Gangnes and the musicians – Anderson’s long-time collaborator Steve Blake and the Flea Pit Orchestra’s Nigel Burch – are billed as the “corpse de ballet”. Attractively costumed by Jess Hooks in period garb, this pale faced, deadpan quintet is confined to a raised, square stage flanked on both sides by Simon Corder’s stark neon lighting.” – Donald Hutera, The Times, 28 August 2008

Yippeee!! – Sadler’s Wells & Tour, 2006
Choreography by Lea Anderson, Set & Lighting by Simon Corder, Costumes by Simon Vincenzi, Music by Steve Blake

  • “Simon Corder’s set lines up lighting gear and racks of costumes to suggest a Hollywood sound stage.”  – Debra Craine, The Times, 7 November 2006

Where The Night Goes, Infantjoy – Tour, 2006
Lighting by Simon Corder

  • “The crazy setup included several fluorescent tubes appearing to grow from the stage floor as pillars of light.” – Greg Lexiphanic, 6 February 2006

National Opera Studio Showcase – Hackney Empire, 2006
Directed by Stephen Medcalf, Designed by Libby Watson, Lighting by Simon Corder

  • “The skill of Medcalf’s stagings, most eloquently lit by Simon Corder,…” – Hilary French, The Times, 5 June 2006

Carmen – Teatro Lirico di Cagliari, 2005
Directed by Stephen Medcalf, Designed by Jamie Vartan, Lighting by Simon Corder

  • “The lights of Simon Corder defined the atmosphere with the warm and dazzling colours of Andalusia.” – Floriana Weaver, 2005

Blackened Man – ROH Linbury Theatre 2002 & Buxton Festival 2004
Directed by David Edwards, Set & Lighting by Simon Corder

  • “Lighting was inspired, designs and projections admirable.” – Opera Now, November/December 2004

Double Take – Queen Elizabeth Hall, 2004
Choreography by Lea Anderson, Set & Lighting by Simon Corder, Costumes by Sandy Powell, Music by Steve Blake

  • “The dancers maintain a devastating focus amidst a sense of playfulness and Simon Corder’s stylish use of lighting brings a palpable feeling of intimacy, at times allowing the performers to dance virtually in the dark, with only a green spray clinging to the edges of their dresses.” – Diana Evans, The Stage, 24 May 2004

To Kill a Mocking Bird – Clwyd Theatr Cymru & Tour, 2002
Directed by Tim Baker, Designed by Mark Bailey, Lighting by Simon Corder

  • “…Simon Corder’s suitably oppressive lighting. You can almost feel the claustrophobic heat and cloying humidity of the Deep South, a merciless sun beating down on characters that shimmer and agitate with sweat.” – Glenn Meads, whatsonstage.com, 25 September 2002

Postcard from Morocco – Guildhall School of Music & Drama, 2002
Directed by Martin Lloyd-Evans, Set & Lighting by Simon Corder, Costumes by Frank Simon

  • “In Simon Corder’s single , in the round set, a railway line divides the auditorium, with candle lit tables on either side (the audience chooses between sitting at these tables, or in more conventional seating). We are in a cabaret, and the figures on stage are mere marionettes.” – Nick Kimberley, Evening Standard, 7 June 2002

Liquid Light – Thames Festival 2001
Light Art by Simon Corder & Patrick Watkinson

  • “Highlights of this month’s improved and extended show will include Liquid Light, the illumination over the three nights of the LWT Tower by light artists Simon Corder and Patrick Watkinson into what they promise will be a “monumental beacon of light and images”. – Luke Leitch, Evening Standard, 28 August 2001

3 – Cholmondeleys and Featherstonehaughs, Lawrence Batley Theatre & Tour, 2001
Choreographed by Lea Anderson, Set & Lighting by Simon Corder, Costumes by Emma Fryer.

  • “Bouts of what seems like happy play, peeling off and bunching together, give way to disturbing skipping, muttering and whirling with manically swinging arms. Lit in green and violet by Simon Corder, with long fluorescent tubes dangling like stalactites, they lie on the stage then rise up writhing, as if poisoned.” – Stephanie Ferguson, The Guardian, 23 October 2001
  • “Towards the end, the movements and the set design really began to work together. The dancers were unable to use the space under (and around) the light tubes which reached down to waist level. We were given a real sense of space which was prohibited, of boundaries which couldn’t be crossed. And as the dancers skipped back and forth in a complex pattern, weaving an invisible matrix of the forbidden, it was this sense of exclusion that most accurately conveyed the reality of what it is like to be a child in an adult’s world. Fascinating stuff.” – Chris Blackmore, Vanguard Online, 14 May 2002
  • “…a show which was weird (certainly), wonderful (definitely) and spectacular (undoubtedly).” – Chris Blackmore, Vanguard Online, 14 May 2002