Theatre – Will Simpson

PROJECTION DESIGN

SELECTED WORK

My projection work sits somewhere between cinema and stage — where story, image, and architecture meet. Each design begins with the rhythm of the performance: how movement, light, and time interact within a living space. I’m interested in how an image can shape atmosphere, guide attention, or hold emotion without saying a word. It’s less about spectacle and more about presence — creating something that quietly supports the story while deepening the audience’s connection to it.

Over the years, I’ve been fortunate to collaborate with remarkable directors, designers, and production teams who understand that projection is not an add-on, but a narrative instrument. From Rocky the Musical in Stuttgart with Stage Entertainment, to Derren Brown: Miracle on tour, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at West Yorkshire Playhouse, and Theatre of Illumination for Light Night Leeds — each project has been a unique exploration of how moving image can exist in dialogue with live performance.

The Kite Runner remains a defining collaboration — a production that’s evolved through multiple stagings across the West End, Broadway, and now North America. Each new version brought a chance to refresh and refine the design — to respond to the play’s emotional core in new ways. The Broadway production, in particular, was an extraordinary experience: a creative team at the top of their game, a story that resonated deeply with audiences, and a sense of shared purpose that’s rare to find. Knowing that thousands of people across the U.S. have since seen the show — and that our designs helped carry its emotional weight — is both humbling and deeply fulfilling.

Theatre is never a solo act. Projection design can be a painfully solitary process at times — long nights of trial, error, and revision — but surrounded by the right people, those mistakes become moments of discovery. I don’t make as much theatre these days, but nothing else comes close to the shared, communal act of live storytelling — where every flicker of light becomes part of something larger than yourself.

Selected Work

2002-2025