Reviews
The Exorcist - West End
“The head-turning scene (those familiar with The Exorcist in its previous incarnations will undoubtedly know what I am talking about) is impressive, and I would nominate the lighting (Philip Gladwell) for a theatre award if it were within my power.“
London Theatre 1
“Philip Gladwell’s lighting techniques make it easy to become submerged in the storyline.”
Phil Marriot
“Sean Mathias’s direction wrings every bit of tension it can out of John Pielmeier script and Philip Gladwell’s lighting design is always on hand to complement the mood whether it’s the flashes and explosions or light and shadows illuminating parts of the stage and shrouding others in darkness.”
The review hub
Five Guys Named Moe - West End
"It's cool. It's sharp. It's exciting with atmospheric lighting by Philip Gladwell"
Best of theatre
"Philip Gladwell’s striking lighting design brings the Moes’ buoyant world to life."
James Andrews Pocket size
Magic Mike Live - Las Vegas, London, Berlin, Australia & US Tour
“Spectacular Lighting (Philip Gladwell) “
London Theatre
“Philip Gladwell’s Spectacular Lighting”
Broadway World
The World of Extreme Happiness - National Theatre
“First rate Lighting From Philip Gladwell”
Andrzej Lukowski - Time Out
Bugsy Malone - UK Tour
"The production looks fabulous. Jon Bausor’s speakeasy set with centrepiece shabby wrought iron staircase captures a heady sense of the underworld, all atmospherically lit by Philip Gladwell, creating a moody, seedy underbelly lurking behind the bright, sharp lights of speakeasy fun."
British Theatre Guide
"Combined with the first-rate lighting design from Philip Gladwell it all creates a mise-en-scène that echoes the classic ‘Guys and Dolls’ gangster stories of Damon Runyon."
Oxford Mail
"Full credit goes to set designer Jon Bausor and lighting designer Philip Gladwell for the slick staging"
A Brummie at Home
What adds to the “wow” effect from the very beginning is the creatively executed light design and stage set, created by Philip Gladwell and Jon Bausor.
Westend Evenings
"The show is very well lit by Philip Gladwell with neon signs and good use of spotlights and strobes to highlight the action."
Pocket size
"Philip Gladwell’s lighting works brilliantly"
Musical Manda
Combined with the first-rate lighting design from Philip Gladwell it all creates a mise-en-scène that echoes the classic ‘Guys and Dolls’ gangster stories of Damon Runyon
Oxford Mail
LEGALLY BLONDE - Regents Park Open Air Theatre
"lit fantastically by Philip Gladwell."
My Theatre Mates
"while you only see its full effect during the second act due to daylight being a factor in Open Air Theatre, its design from Philip Gladwell illuminates the stage beautifully, including an inspired rainbow light in a pivotal moment."
All That Dazzles
"and Philip Gladwell’s flamboyant lighting (lots of pink & sparkles) reflects the message."
Musical Theatre review
THE JAMES PLAYS - NTS / National
“All three parts are magnificently lit by Philip Gladwell”
Variety
“Add to this some imaginative and clever lighting - steels, adding cold and damp to this amphitheatre of treachery, and the atmosphere is complete. I loved the lighting of the sword, and the backlights on the supports at the rear of the onstage audience. Actually I really liked the lighting design, by Philip Gladwell, full stop.”
Mark Dee
“Jon Bausor's wooden set with its giant sword thrust into the stage looks stunning and is beautifully lit by Philip Gladwell”
British Theatre Guide - David Chadderton
There is an intensely medieval feel about everything which is heightened and reinforced by the truly excellent lighting design from Philip Gladwell. Things really do seem to be happening by candle-light in some sections and the sense of the Scottish evening and night light is carefully, beautifully captured.
British Theatre .com
“Philip Gladwell’s lights help isolate intimate scenes while at other times creating high drama, as when beams spill out behind a lowering drawbridge"
A VERY VERY VERY DARK MATTER - The Bridge Theatre
“Philip Gladwell’s lighting design plays a big part in creating a dark & atmospheric piece.”
Mind the blog
“Anna Fleischle’s excellent design reveals as a warped, magical throng of dangling marionettes, caught in the eerie, seductive shadowiness of Philip Gladwell’s imaginative lighting.”
Independent
“Philip Gladwell’s enchanting and effective lighting design, that really captures key moments of the play well.”
London Culture
Fahrenheit Twins - Told By An Idiot
Funny and resonant, this show is more than just exceedingly clever. It casts such a spell partly because those who created it and that includes the sound and lighting designers, Gareth Fry and Philip Gladwell are all operating at optimum level. The questioning intelligence they bring to their work is admirable and uncommonly powerful.
Donald Hutera - The Times
The combination of Naomi Wilkinson’s versatile snow set, Philip Gladwell’s lighting plot and the soundscape of Gareth Fry are key to anchoring the production with a powerful and sometimes chilling sense of place.
Roger Malone - The Stage
Philip Gladwell's lighting design also helps create the polar ambience with an array of icy and stark colours
Tim Newns- Curtain Up
Much Ado About Nothing - Globe Theatre
“A grown up looking at Mexico during this period has led to a cracking set and Lighting execution from Anna Fleischle and Philip Gladwell respectively”
The Reviews Hub
Member of the Wedding - Young Vic Theatre
“'At the same time, Frankie makes her own, less successful bid for freedom and the play then pivots around a stormy night spectacularly brought to us with the significant aid of sound and lighting designers, Paul Arditti and Philip Gladwell.”
Philip Fisher - British Theatre Guide
“with excellent lighting from Philip Gladwell (never has dusk fallen so imperceptibly in a theatre that the Whingers can recall) during a highly convincing thunder and lightning storm.”
West End Whingers
Terminus - Abbey Theatre Dublin & World Tour
“...they are lit by Philip Gladwell's long horizontal beams, crisscrossing Jon Bausor's black abstract space like searchlights.”
Helen Meany - The Guardian
“Philip Gladwell's lighting keeps the majority of the stage dark, with individual spotlights revealing the players in turn. A thick blanket of smoke adds to the surreal effect, and captures the light in a beautiful way.”
Dan Bacalzo - Theatre Mania
“The two women – the long-haired Olwen Fouéré and her gamine opposite and offspring, Catherine Walker – rise like molluscs from shells in Philip Gladwell's extraordinary half-lighting to grab the audience by the throat.”
Michael Coveney - The Independant
Thoroughly Modern Millie - Watermill theatre
“It’s an outstanding example of how this microspace inspires the ingenious designer. And Philip Gladwell's lighting mouth-wateringly colour washes that monochrome, creating instant atmosphere.”
Judi Herman - Whats on Stage
Kebab - Royal Court Theatre Upstairs & Dublin international theatre festival
'Kebab' makes for unsettling viewing, no doubt helped by Simon Daw's claustrophobic stage space and Phillip Gladwell's moody lighting, which captures the unwelcome seediness.”
James McMahon - RTE entertainment
Philip Gladwell's stripped lighting design gives a seedy air to the atmosphere, which darkens and darkens as the play moves along.”
Sara Keating - Irish Times
Ill Trritico - Opera Zuid
“What catches the attention right away is the beautiful set design (Dick Bird) and the
splendid lighting design (Philip Gladwell)
Henk Krol - De Gaykrant
“... lighting was suggestive and attractive”
Marjolein Sengers - Eindovens Dagblad
Testing The Echo - Out of Joint
“'Mention must also be made of the contributions from designers for set, Paul Wills; lighting, Philip Gladwell; sound, Ian Dickinson; and projections, Thomas Gray, who between them produce an extraordinarily technically cohesive production.”
Graham Gurrin - The Stage
“Phillip Gladwell's lighting and Ian Dickinson's soundscape neatly complement stage action.”
Bill Dunlop - Edinburgh Guide
La Wally - Opera Holland Park - London
“Philip Gladwell’s lighting designs captured the glory of the mountains throughout the seasons. The highlight of this innovative idea came in the form of the final avalanche scene, where Wally disappears behind the sheet, and a talented acrobat is released from the flies on a rope, tumbling down in slow motion to the accompaniment of the end of the score. This was an absolutely beautiful vision, rounding off a superbly heart-rending death scene”
Lotte Greenhow - Music OMH
The lighting by Philip Gladwell here was very fine.
Mark Pullinger, Opera Britannia
Mogadishu - Royal Exchange Manchester / Lyric Hamersmith
Cleverly lit by Philip Gladwell
Michael Coveney - Whats on Stage
Philip Gladwell’s Lighting Carries an air of Palpable threat.
Michael Billington - The Guardian
the lighting, designed by Philip Gladwell was high impact
Martina Spark - Public review
Nineteen Eighty Four - Royal Exchange Manchester
Philip Gladwell’s sickly lighting gives the whole a diseased griminess, almost as if we’re viewing it all through a dirty window— an apt visual equivalent for the flavour of smear, soot and squalor that pervades Orwell’s prose
Sam Marlowe - The Times
A Christmas Carol - Dundee Rep
The lighting effects by Philip Gladwell add an eerie, uncanny atmosphere to the piece.
Allan Radcliffe - The List
Also fair to mention Philip Gladwell, whose lighting design is a major contribution to the mood.
The King & I - Curve Leicester & UK Tour
“beautifully lit by Philip Gladwell”
Robin Strap - British Theatre Guide
“Designer Sara Perks has pulled out all the stops, beautifully aided by lighting Philip Gladwell and some crystal-clear sound Ben Harrison, all of which contributes in a major way to the stunning success of the show”
Michael Davies - Whats On Stage
"Visually it is stunning - sets and costumes look expensive and appropriate for a Royal household thanks to designer Sara Perks and lighting designer Philip Gladwell. The opening, featuring silhouettes, sliding screens and fans, is jawdroppingly good - and that's before the overture is even finished!"
Lizz Brain - Leicester Mercury
“The result, with a spectacular set designed by Sara Perks and lit impressively by Philip Gladwell”
Thom Diblin - The Stage
“Set designer Sara Perks and lighting designer Philip Gladwell team up impressively to create a flourishing eastern landscape, a backdrop which finds itself dominated both by the overbearing golden Buddha statues and the intricate Siamese lanterns”
Andrew Latimer - TV Bomb
Gypsy - Curve Leicester
“And Lighting Designer (Phillip Gladwell) – I found my jaw dropping several times at the stunning effects he achieved”
Ian Spiby - Reviews Gate
“David Needham’s choreography, Sara Perks’s designs and Philip Gladwell’s lighting all do much to complement the atmospheric recreation of Depression-era America”
Michael Davies - Whats On Stage
“a stunning set and wonderful lighting from Sara Perks and Philip Gladwell”
Lizz Brain - Leicester Mercury
Aladdin - Lyric Theatre Hammersmith
“Philip Gladwell’s florescent, psychedelic lighting almost steals the show.”
Honour Bayes - Whats on Stage
Macbeth - Royal Exchange Theatre - Manchester
“Philip Gladwell creates an apprehensive atmosphere with some scenes illuminated only by torchlight or red security beams.”
Dave Cunningham - whats on stage
“Philip Gladwell’s innovative lighting and Ian Dickinson’s fantastic sound effects plunge the audience into the chaos of war.”
Natalie Anglesey - The Stage
Further Than The Furthest Thing - Dundee Rep
“...Ravishingly lit by Philip Gladwell”
Mark Fisher - The Guardian
Awakening - Sadlers Wells
“...beautifully lit by Philip Gladwell”
Louise Levene - The Sunday Telegraph
Limbo
“Beautifully Lit”
Dominic Cavendish - The Telegraph
“Philip Gladwell’s thurusting set and inventive lighting cannily and strikingly fill the space”
Ben Walters - Time Out
“This is lit to Perfection and framed by simple hanging globe lightbulbs or searchlight beams”
The Stage
A Midsummer Night’s Dream - Bristol Old Vic
“In a production crammed full with sensory delights Vicki Mortimer’s striking set comprises a vast wooden skeleton, in close collaboration with Philip Gladwell’s lighting commands the stage”
Clare Brennan - 5 stars - Whats on Stage
Ciara - Traverse
“Philip Gladwells lighting makes time flow effortlessly through Ciara’s tale”
Thom Dibden- The Stage
“Poetically lit by Philip Gladwell”
Michael Coveney- Whats On Stage
Chicago - Curve
“A mostly bare stage, sliced into shapes and coloured into atmosphere by Philip Gladwell’s lighting”
Clare Brennan - The Observer
HAIRSPRAY - UK TOUR
“Philip Gladwell’s bright and colourful lighting plot brought a lot to the show and I loved, at the start of each Act, how the audience was flooded in moving coloured lights to create a fun atmosphere”
Damian Murray
“The simple yet effective set was flooded by an unbelievable festival of colour thanks to the lighting design of Philip Gladwell.”
Paul Downham
“Dick Straker’s video accompaniments, mostly confined to mood-setting backdrops, along with Philip Gladwell’s suitably bubblegum lighting, all help to energise and saturate proceedings throughout”
Kyle Pedly
Mother Courage - Nottingham Playhouse
“Rosa Maggiora's set is simple yet effective, aided in no small way by Philip Gladwell's lighting.”
Steve Orme - The British Theatre Guide
The Bodies - Live Theatre Newcastle
“Maggie Norris's production is broad, sexy and atmospheric, thanks to murky lighting and a cinematic soundtrack.”
Paul Allen- The Guardian
“...allowing cast-members to suddenly burst into unfettered brilliance, aided by Flannery’s poetry and Simon Daw and Philip Gladwell’s visual designs.”
Duska Radosavljevic- The Stage
“Maggie Norris’s fluent and well Judged production is backed up by designer Simon Daw’s flexible use of space and gains much in atmosphere from Katherine Gotts’ evocative music and Philip Gladwell’s precise and often menacing lighting.”
Ron Simpson - What’s on Stage
