Gavan Swift
Lighting Designer
Gavan is an award-winning lighting designer who works with leading companies and directors across Australia and internationally. His work spans commercial musical theatre, opera, theatre, concerts and events.
His lighting designs for musical theatre include: Mamma Mia, Heathers: The Musical, Mack & Mabel, Chess, The Mikado, The Pirates of Penzance, Hot Shoe Shuffle, Little Shop of Horrors, Sweet Charity, Fiddler on the Roof, Jolson, Buddy, Oh What a Night, Footloose, Hair, Xanadu, and Saturday Night Fever both in Australia and on London’s West End.
Other lighting designs include:
- Moby Dick: for Francisco Opera, San Diego Opera, State Opera of South Australia, Washington National Opera, LA Opera and Dallas Opera.
- Salome: for Victorian Opera
- The Ham Funeral, Three Sisters, Entertaining Mr Sloane King Lear and Hamlet: for State Theatre Company of South Australia
- The Winter’s Tale, Pericles, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream: for Bell Shakespeare
- Anything Goes, Sugar (Some like it Hot), The Music Man, Thoroughly Modern Millie, and Mame: for The Production Company
Gavan has also designed lighting for Opera Australia, Sydney Theatre Company, Melbourne Theatre Company, Ensemble Theatre, Windmill Theatre Co., Australian Theatre for Young People, Opera de Montréal and Florida Grand Opera.
Gavan’s associate lighting designer work includes the Australian productions of Moulin Rouge, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Parts 1 & 2, The Book of Mormon, Frozen, Aladdin, Cabaret, The Full Monty, Chicago, High School Musical, A Chorus Line, South Pacific, Wicked and The Lion King. Additionally, he was associate lighting designer for the Mexican production of Wicked and the London production of A Chorus Line.
Gavan has extensive experience designing lighting for events, concerts and tours. His designs for concerts include:
- Set and lighting design for Jimmy Barnes’ Soul Deeper tour and the reformation arena tour of Cold Chisel
- Opera Australia’s New Year’s Eve Galas at Sydney Opera House
- Sydney Festival’s Symphony and Jazz in the Domain (2003 – 2014)
- Three tours for Hi-5
- The Australian arena tour and Monte Carlo season of Burn The Floor
- Concerts for Elaine Paige, David Byrne, Glen Hansard
- For television, Gavan has designed lighting for nine Helpmann Awards for Foxtel and the ABC and the Danish Crown Prince Couple’s Awards at the Sydney Opera House for SBS.
Gavan is a graduate Australia’s National Institute of Dramatic Art and a recipient of the Mike Walsh Fellowship.