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{{Short description|Production company}}{{COI|date=November 2018}}{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2018}}{{Use British English|date=January 2018}}

factoids

| footnotes = | intl = }}Fifty-Nine Productions (59 Productions) is a Scottish design studio and production company with offices located in London and New York City.WEB, 59 Productions,weblink 2023-11-17, 59 Productions, en-US, WEB, About,weblink 2023-11-17, 59 Productions, en-US,

Origins

{{more citations needed section|date=November 2023}}59 Productions was founded in Edinburgh by Leo Warner and Mark Grimmer. Their early projects include video designs for Stellar Quines Theatre Company's Sweet Fanny Adams in Eden in 2003,WEB, Sweet Fanny Adams in Eden - Stellar Quines,weblink 26 October 2023, Stellar Quines, and video designs for the then recently-formed National Theatre of Scotland's Roam and Black Watch in 2006, which was featured at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and won several awards.NEWS, Brantley, Ben, To Tell These War Stories, Words Aren't Enough,weblink 24 October 2007, The New York Times, 24 October 2007, WEB, Awards for the National Theatre of Scotland,weblink dead,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20140410100608weblink">weblink 10 April 2014, 23 May 2014, National Theatre of Scotland, {{dead link|date=October 2023}}59 Productions relocated to London, where they began a series of collaborations at the Royal National Theatre.NEWS, Sears, Amelia, Interviews with the Creative Team,weblink 16 May 2014, National Theatre Education, July 2008,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20140714233820weblink">weblink 14 July 2014, dead, dmy-all, Critics at The Guardian commented that with an adaptation of The Waves that they worked on, the team had "created an entirely new art form".NEWS, Gardner, Lyn, Waves sets a high-water mark for multimedia theatre,weblink 16 May 2014, The Guardian, 4 December 2006, Warner and Grimmer were part of the original creative team for War Horse in 2007, which won several Laurence Olivier AwardsNEWS, Shenton, Mark, Hairspray Wins Four 2008 Laurence Olivier Awards Including Best Musical,weblink 23 May 2014, Playbill, 9 March 2008, dead,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20140324015047weblink">weblink 24 March 2014, in London and five Tony Awards for its subsequent production on Broadway.NEWS, British play War Horse triumphs at Tony Awards,weblink 23 May 2014, The Telegraph, 13 June 2011, 59 Productions worked on its first opera in 2007 at the English National Opera, providing the projection design for Philip Glass's Satyagraha, directed by Phelim McDermott and co-directed/designed by Julian Crouch, both of the theatre company, Improbable.WEB, Brieler, Philip, The Art of Satyagraha,weblink 2023-10-26, www.metopera.org, en, This was the first of several collaborations with Improbable, including the design for the Metropolitan Opera's 125th Anniversary Gala in 2009, which raised over $10 million.NEWS, Tommasini, Anthony, Anthony Tommasini, A Gala of Singing and Nostalgia (Addio, Speeches),weblink 23 May 2014, The New York Times, 16 March 2009, In 2012, director Danny Boyle asked 59 Productions to provide the animation and projection design for the opening ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics, which was viewed by over a billion people.WEB,weblink London Olympics Opening Ceremony 2012, STROMA Films, 16 May 2007, They also led the design of the David Bowie exhibition for the Victoria and Albert Museum.NEWS, Menkes, Suzy, David Bowie Brought to Life, in All His Guises,weblink 23 May 2014, The New York Times, 18 March 2013, The company was commissioned for the Light the Sails project at the Sydney Opera House for the 2014 Vivid Sydney Festival.WEB, Watch all Lighting of the Sails from the past decade,weblink 2023-10-26, Sydney Opera House, en, In 2015, they were responsible for the projection design for the first-ever Broadway production of George Gershwin's An American in Paris. The production won four Tony Awards, including Best Scenic Design of a Musical for Bob Crowley and 59 Productions.WEB, Winners,weblink 2023-10-26, www.tonyawards.com, en-US, In 2017, the company developed and produced its first production. It was an adaptation of Paul Auster's City of Glass, written by Duncan Macmillan. City of Glass was a co-production with the Lyric Hammersmith, HOME arts center, and Karl Sydow. The production was described by The Daily Telegraph as a "neo-noir thriller that rewrites the rulebook for theatre design."NEWS,weblink Neo-noir thriller that rewrites the rulebook for theatre design - City of Glass, Lyric Hammersmith review, Allfree, Claire, 2017-04-27, The Telegraph, 2018-11-23, en-GB, 0307-1235, In 2018, 59 Productions provided both the set and projection design for The Last Ship, a musical by Sting that tells the story of shipbuilding in North East England. The production opened at Northern Stage before embarking on a UK tour. Other projects include the design of Marnie, an opera by Nico Muhly that transferred to the Metropolitan Opera after an initial run at the English National Opera in London. The company also designed events in 2018 for both the first night of the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall and the Edinburgh International Festival.Alongside their work on the stage, 59 Productions made two virtual reality films in 2018: Grenfell: Our Home,NEWS,weblink A new VR documentary takes you inside Grenfell before the fire, Evening Standard, 2018-11-22, en-GB, a collaboration with Parable and Channel 4 that won the Audience Award at Sheffield DocFest,WEB, Grenfell - Our Home,weblink 2023-10-26, 59 Productions, en-US, and Nothing To Be Written,WEB,weblink BBC - The first ever Virtual Reality Prom - Media Centre, www.bbc.co.uk, en-GB, 2018-11-22, which was commissioned by the BBC and won Best UK Experience and two other awards at the Raindance Film Festival.NEWS,weblink Award Winners - Raindance Immersive Stories 2018 - Raindance, 2018-10-07, Raindance, 2018-11-22, en-GB, In November 2018, Deep Field, their film collaboration with composer Eric Whitacre and NASA, premiered at the Kennedy Space Center.WEB, Deep Field: The Impossible Magnitude of our Universe,weblink 2023-10-26, Deep Field, en-US,

Selected productions

• 2018—The Shadow Factory. Set design and projection design for a new play by Howard Brenton at Nuffield Theatre Southampton.
• 2018—Array. Animated artwork projection mapped onto the interior of Beech Street Tunnel in Barbican Centre, London, set to Karawane by composer Esa-Pekka Salonen.
• 2017—Reflections. Animated artwork projected onto the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao as part of the museum's 20th birthday celebrations.
• 2014—Lighting the Sails. At the Sydney Opera House for the VIVID Live festival. Commissioned to create a bespoke animated film for projection onto the roof of the Sydney Opera House. It traced the evolution of the building from its design and construction.NEWS, Fisher, Neil, How to melt the Sydney Opera House,weblink 23 May 2014, The Times, 21 May 2014,
• 2014—Hedwig and the Angry Inch. At the Belasco Theatre, starring Neil Patrick Harris. 59 Productions' Ben Pearcy designed projections.NEWS, Brantley, Ben, A Cold War Casualty, Hot for Freedom (and Heels),weblink 16 May 2014, The New York Times, 22 April 2014,
• 2014—Les Misérables. At the Imperial Theatre. Projections inspired by Victor Hugo's watercolors for a new production of the musical.NEWS, Stasio, Marilyn, Broadway Review Les Miserables,weblink 16 May 2014, Variety, 23 March 2014,
• 2009—Al gran sole carico d'amore. At the Salzburg Festival. Katie Mitchell directed Luigi Nono's opera with Leo Warner, creating a "live film" production in which action on stage and visual effects were created, shot, and edited live, and relayed to a cinema screen above the stage.NEWS, Loomis, George, Amid Upheavals, a Steady Salzburg Festival,weblink 16 May 2014, The New York Times, 18 August 2009,
• 2006—Roam. By Grid Iron Theatre Company at the Edinburgh Airport. 59 Productions created CG and film content and designed the technical systems for the delivery of video in this show. It included a mock-up of a live news report describing Edinburgh's descent into civil war.NEWS, Chadwick, Alan, First Class Act,weblink 16 May 2014, The Metro, 6 April 2006,

Selected tours

• 2011–2014—War Horse. After a successful run at the Royal National Theatre, the production won five Tony Awards on Broadway, including Best Play and Best Design. The show also toured in the UK, Ireland, North America, Netherlands, Germany, and South Africa.WEB, War Horse on Stage: Official Site,weblink 2023-10-26, War Horse,
• 2010—Jónsi Go Live World Tour. 59 Productions conceived, designed, and produced the stage show for Jónsi's 2010 tour of North America, Europe, Australia, and Japan.NEWS, Aames, Timothy, Jónsi & Fifty Nine Productions: Taxidermy Fire Inspires Darkness-to-Light Aesthetic,weblink 16 May 2014, Alarm, 20 January 2012,
• 2009–2014—Les Misérables. The new, redesigned version of the musical toured the UK, Japan, South Korea, Spain, and Australia.WEB, Les Misérables {{!, Welcome to the Official Website |url=https://www.lesmis.com/ |access-date=2023-10-26 |website=Les Miserables |language=en-US}}
• 2008—The Waves. Started at the Royal National Theatre. It toured the UK, North America, and Europe.NEWS, Brantley, Ben, Six Lives Ebb and Flow, Interconnected and Alone,weblink 19 May 2014, The New York Times, 17 November 2008,
• 2006–2011—Black Watch. Started at the National Theatre of Scotland. It went on to tour the UK, the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.NEWS, National Theatre of Scotland's Black Watch US Tour Dates Announced,weblink 19 May 2014, All Media Scotland, 16 July 2010,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20141006073359weblink">weblink 6 October 2014, dead, dmy-all,

References

{{Reflist}}

External links

• 59 Productions Official Website

{{Navboxes|title = Awards for 59 Productions|list ={{DramaDesk ProjectionDesign}}{{OlivierAward SetDesign}}{{TonyAward MusicalScenicDesign}}}}{{Authority control}}