KJ

Lighting Designer

KJ is a UK based lighting designer working globally across Theatre, Ballet, Opera & Live Performance Art.

They trained at the University of Hull, Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music & Dance, and the ALPD Lumiere 20:20 Scheme.

KJ’s work includes working with major national & international ballet companies such as Birmingham Royal Ballet, Royal Ballet, Dutch National Ballet, Ballet Nacional de Cuba & Ballet de l’Opera de Nice.


Black Sabbath - The Ballet - Birmingham Royal Ballet
KJ’s lighting adds a brooding presence that encapsulates the light and dark of both the music and the human
experience encapsulated in it.
— ★★★★ - WhatsOnStage
Persephone - Dutch National Ballet
The light of British lighting designer KJ makes me gasp. A stripe of white on the high horizon at the beginning
widens, doubles and progresses to fire red in the underworld. Not through gradations in sweet pink, but through
shades that I - boom - recognize as blood in water. And Persephone.
— Theaterkrant
Black Waters - Phoenix Dance Theatre
KJ’s lighting design is outstanding.
— Darth Europe
Romeo and Juliet - Liverpool Everyman
KJ’s lighting is both striking and subtle.
— ★★★★ - The Stage
Dynolwaith - Sherman Theatre
Gethin Evans’ brilliantly claustrophobic direction and KJ’s dazzling lighting cleverly trapped the character in a box
from which he was desperate to break free.
— ★★★★ - The Stage

Gallery


2026

Production

Company

Little Shop of Horrors Derby Theatre & Northern Stage, Dir. Sarah Brigham
Lulu Bristol School of Acting, Dir. Natalie Simone
Casse Noisette Ballet de l'Opéra de Nice, Chor. Benjamin Miliipied, Lighting Des. Lucy Carter, Associate Lighting Des. KJ
Danse En L'île Festival Jeunes Ballet Bâtiment des Forces Motrices

2025

Production

Company

Winter Draft Works Royal Ballet & Opera, Chor. Matthew Ball & Denilson
Nocturne Ballet de l'Opéra de Nice, Chor. Juliano Nunes
Astitva Jaivant Patel Company, Chor. Jaivant Patel
Dynolwaith Fran Wen/Sherman Theatre, Dir. Gethin Evans
Romeo and Juliet Liverpool Everyman, Dir. Ellie Hurt
Home & Horizons Festival Birmingham Rep
Noises Off New Wolsey Theatre, Tour, Dir. Douglas Rintoul, Sound Des. Helen Atkinson, Lighting Des. KJ
Lil.Miss.Lady Barbican/HighRise Theatre, Dir. Dominic Garfield
United Dances of America Le Ballet de l'Opéra Grand Avignon, Co-Chor. Rena Butler, Stephen Shropshire, Mike Tyus & Luca Renzi
The F*****s and their Friends MIF/Park Avenue Armory, Dir. Ted Huffman, Lighting Des. Bertrand Couderc, Associate Lighting Des. KJ

2024

Production

Company

Alice in Wonderland Shakepseare North, Dir. Nathan Powell
El Peso Del Instante Ballet Nacional de Cuba, Chor. Pontus Lidberg
Persephone Het Nationale Ballet, Chor. Rena Butler
Der Fleigender Holländer Persona Arts, Dir. Iqbal Khan
On The Nature of Rabbits Venice Biennale/Joyce Theater, Chor. Pontus Lidberg
Lines Roots Mbili/Sheffield Theatre, Dir. Junaid Sarieddeen

2023

Production

Company

Jockstrap Jockstrap/Barbican
Flip! Fuel Theatre, Dir. Emily Aboud
Traces Through Time Fallen Angels Dance Theatre/Linbury Theatre, Chor. Paul Bayes Kitcher
Black Sabbath - The Ballet Birmingham Royal Ballet, Co-Chor. Pontus Lidberg, Raul Reinoso & Cassi Abranches
Applause Guildford School of Acting, Dir. Stewart Nicholls
Company Guildford School of Acting, Dir. Alison Pollard
My Borhter's Keeper Theatre 503, Dir. Robert Awosusi

2022

Production

Company

Who's Holiday Tuckshop, HOME & Southwark Playhouse, Dir. Kirk Johnson
SHED Northern Rascals, Co-Chor. Anna Holmes & Sam Ford
Dogs Liverpool Playhouse, Dir. Nathan Powell
Illegal Dance Avant Garde Dance, Chor. Tony Adigun
Hotel Birmingham Royal Ballet, Chor. Morgann Runacre-Temple
Happy Meal Traverse Theatre, Theatre Royal Plymouth & Roots, Dir. Jamie Fletcher
Der Fleigender Holländer Persona Arts, Dir. Iqbal Khan
Celebrated Virgins Theatre Clwyd, Dir. Eleri B. Jones
Black Is... Fubunation/Sadlers Wells, Chor. Fubunation
As You Like It Northern Broadsides, Dir. Laurie Sansom

Pre 2022

Production

Company

Decades: Stories From the City Leeds Playhouse, Co-Dir. James Brining, Amy Leach, Evie Manning, Sameena Hussain, Amanda Huxtable & Tess Seddon
Black Waters Phoenix Dance Theatre, Chor. Sharon Watson
Aperture Trinity Laban, Chor. Kerry Nicholls
Khepri Joss Arnott Dance, Chor. Anabelle Lopez Ochoa
Head Above Water Joss Arnott Dance, Chor. Joss Arnott
HE-SHA Trinity Laban, Chor. Theo Lowe
The Sea Tells a Story Verrve, Chor. Ben Wright