Jon Buswell Tickets

Jon has designed lighting for well over one hundred productions in the UK, Europe and Australia.   A graduate of Croydon School of Art near London UK, Jon worked initially for the Royal Shakespeare Company before becoming a freelance designer in 1997.  Since then he has enjoyed a highly successful career lighting a varied array of works in all disciplines of the performing arts.

Jon was the Technical Director of West Australian Ballet in Perth from 2008 – 2015 where he designed lighting for all the major repertoire. During this time he has also designed lighting for Black Swan State Theatre Company, The Royal New Zealand Ballet and various other companies. In July 2015 he took up the position of Technical Director at The Australian Ballet and for the company he lit David McAllister’s first full length ballet The Sleeping Beauty, and the shortened version for children, which was a huge triumph.

In 2016 he lit two new works in the mixed bill program, Symphony in C, at the Sydney Opera House for The Australian Ballet, and returned to West Australian Ballet to light a new production of The Nutcracker.  He also designed the candelabra for the 2016 tour of Chopin by Candlelight with Piers Lane, presented by Andrew McKinnon.

In 2017 Jon’s engagements included lighting a new production of Romeo and Juliet for the Royal New Zealand Ballet and relighting La Fille mal gardée for Queensland Ballet, and Don Quixote and Peter Pan for West Australian Ballet.

2018 commences with lighting La Bayadere for Queensland Ballet -a co-production with West Australian Ballet and Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Canada.  For West Australian Ballet he lights a new production of Dracula - a co-production with Queensland Ballet, a new work by Alice Topp for The Australian Ballet and The Nutcracker for the Royal New Zealand Ballet.

Other recent engagements include lighting Glengarry Glen Ross, Blithe Spirit and The Seagull for Black Swan State Theatre Company and revival productions of Don Quixote for Royal New Zealand Ballet, Coppelia and Cinderella with West Australian Ballet and The Sleeping Beauty with Queensland Ballet as well as relighting the West Australian Ballet production of Pinocchio for Opera du Rhin in France. He has also lit Coppelia for Queensland Ballet, The Sleeping Beauty for Royal New Zealand Ballet, Signs of Life for Black Swan State Theatre Company and Sydney Theatre Company, Monument, a new work by Gary Stewart to commemorate the centenary of Canberra, New Zealand Opera’s The Flying Dutchman, directed by Matthew Lutton and West Australian Ballet’s new production of La Sylphide.

In 2011 he won (along with his fellow creative team) a WA Dance award for Helix, Choreographed by Barry Moreland and featuring Daryl Brandwood.

Prior to moving to Australia, Jon worked extensively in theatre throughout Britain on productions including Twelfth Night, Sherlock Holmes in Trouble, Secret Heart, Port and A Midsummer Night’s Dream all for the Royal Exchange Theatre Manchester. For the Chichester Festival Theatre he has lit The Coffee House, and Wild Orchids with Patricia Routledge, for the Minerva Theatre, Chichester The Accrington Pals and Stairs to the Roof and for the Royal Theatre, Northampton The Importance of Being Earnest.

Jon’s work in London has included the Theatre Royal Haymarket (Lady Windemere’s Fan with Vanessa Redgrave, Joely Richardson and Googie Withers, and The Royal Family with Judi Dench, both directed by Sir Peter Hall), The Royal Court at the New Ambassadors Theatre (The Vagina Monologues), the Apollo Theatre (My Brilliant Divorce with Dawn French) and the Lyric Theatre (Al Murray – Who Dares Wins). 

For the Royal College of Music he has lit The Magic Flute directed by Jhur Hemanus and Oedipus Rex and Gianni Schicchi directed by Jean Claude Auvray, Otello for Lyric Opera of Chicago directed by Sir Peter Hall, and for the Australian Ballet he also designed Lighting for Raymonda, Constant Variants, Symphonie Fantastique, and Night Path. 

Jon has also worked as Lighting Designer for televised features such as the UEFA Gala Awards 2000 and Nutcracker Sweeties, for Birmingham Royal Ballet and the BBC and as a visiting lecturer for The University of Central England in Birmingham and the Victorian College of the Arts.