Leading Light with…Prema Mehta – Part Two

The White Bear Theatre in Kennington.

Prema graduated and, like a lot of designers I’ve spoken to, started working in pub theatres and lighting shows on the fringe. The first show that Prema ever lit was a piece called I Live in Tribeca at the White Bear Theatre. It was directed by Michael Longhurst and she received some fantastic reviews – something she recalls as “not being bad for a first show!”. However, the dream of being a lighting designer soon clashed with the realities of it. She comments: “Whilst I was enjoying the experience of working on the fringe, I was literally earning next to nothing. I remember one of my first jobs was a profit share and the producer sent me a cheque for all of £15. I remember her saying that it would be enough for some chocolates and magazines. I replied that it wasn’t enough to cover my travel!”.

Not only was the money less than impressive but the lifestyle of being a lighting designer was something that Prema also found difficult. She explains: “Being a lighting designer can be quite isolating; especially when you have gaps between jobs. There are a lot of those in the early stages of your career so I needed to find something else in order to make ends meet”. For Prema, this came in the form of work for the NHS and the local government, where she was “literally the assistant to the assistant”. She continues: “Part of the attraction of working for a large organisation was that I’d be around people and wouldn’t feel so isolated. The irony then was that I’d spend five hours in a photocopy room by myself!”. Prema then found herself trying to balance her lighting design career with her other work. She recalls: “My colleagues at the office knew all about my theatre work, yet those in the theatre knew nothing about my 9-5 job. Therefore when I finished at the NHS or wherever, I’d go and get changed in the car into jeans or something similar before I’d nip off to a theatre meeting”.

Prema during her time at Saracens where she was a Project Manager and got to work closely with one or two well-known faces!

And whilst her theatre career was initially slow going, the part time work she’d taken on actually started to take off. She comments: “I went from corporate parenting to youth offending to health and social care integration. I then worked  in prevention and well being and, whilst I was there, worked closely with consultants. Off the back of this, I was offered some work for Saracens Rugby Club. Now I’m not a rugby person at all but was headhunted to be a Project Manager there during the Rugby World Cup! It was a fantastic experience as I was suddenly in charge of managing projects, with an event held at the O2 Arena and holding my own within a very testosterone-fuelled environment”.

Alongside her work at Saracens, Prema was still working in theatre. However, she noticed how her two different careers were contrasting in terms of her progression. She recalls: “I couldn’t believe how quickly I’d gone from being an assistant at the NHS to a Project Manager at Saracens. Conversely, my theatre career had moved at a snail’s pace. Looking back, it makes me question how much theatre really allows people to grow. I think that I was able to move so quick in an industry I knew nothing about because I had that support whereas theatre seems to move at a slower pace where opportunities don’t come around that often”.

Prema had been working at Saracens for around a year and, despite her making waves in her new role, she still had a passion for theatre. She comments: “Theatre was where my heart lay and I was still doing projects on the side. There came a point where I thought to myself – I’ve been out of drama school for eight years and if I leave theatre now, I’ll have fallen to the side and not made anything of it. One thing that Saracens did in terms of character was make me a much more confidence person. So whilst I accepted that a sustainable career within theatre would be a challenge, I was ready now. It almost felt time to repeat my success at Saracens in theatre”. By leaving her job at Saracens, Prema was able to concentrate on her theatre work full time. She recalls: “I now just had more time to invest in my work. I could write to people, email them and get them on my radar. I was able to really sit down and think ‘right, what do I need to do next?’”.

Wipers at Leicester Curve Theatre is a highlight of Prema’s career (so far)

A turning point for Prema came when she had a meeting with Watford Palace Theatre’s Artistic Director Brigid Larmour. She comments: “I met with Brigid when I was in quite a frustrated mindset. I told her that I felt I wasn’t getting the right opportunities and that my work just needed a stage. Thankfully she listened to my concerns and was generous enough to give me a space to work in and experiment. Following this, I then designed three very different productions at Watford and it’s an opportunity I’m forever grateful for. It just felt great to be moving out of the pub fringe world and working on a much bigger scale; something which really helped me grow as a designer. Following this, I then worked at York Theatre Royal, Hull Truck and Latitude Festival. What it basically meant was my work could be seen on a much wider scale and people could really engage with my lighting. Everything just seemed to happen at once but it felt very much deserved – I’d been working away for several years by this point and felt that I’d earned some recognition (at long last!)”.

East is East at Northern Stage is another show which Prema is particularly proud of.

Looking through Prema’s CV, she’s been extremely busy. Whether it’s Sheffield Theatres, Bush Theatre, Leicester Curve, York Theatre Royal or Northern Stage, her designs have graced stages across the country. She jokes: “The irony is that I moved into a lovely flat not too long ago and I now spend my life on a train! At the end of last year, Trainline sent me an email saying I’d travelled 17.12 times the length of the UK  – and that was just with them!”. So what is her proudest moment so far? She has a clear answer: “I worked on a play in 2016 called Wipers, written by Ishy Din and directed by Suba Das. It was designed by Isla Shaw who created this amazingly structured barn set. I then had this huge opportunity to bring this alive using the lighting, which I feel I did. It was one of those projects which ticked every box for me: new writing, brilliant creative team and a phenomenal set. It opened in Leicester before touring to Coventry and Watford and it felt really special to return to Watford Palace”. Other highlights for Prema include East is East at Northern Stage, her work at Hull Truck along with last year’s Of Kith and Kin (“I’ve always wanted to work with Rob Hastie and one of my favourite playwrights is Chris Thompson so it was like a dream come true!”). Last year also saw Prema work on her first ever panto: Beauty and the Beast at the Queen’s Theatre. She states: “I’d never even seen a panto before so I was able to approach the show with a fresh pair of eyes and even break the rules!”.

The cast and crew for Of Kith and Kin.

Alongside her work on-stage, Prema is an advocate for greater diversity off it. She comments: “I feel we in theatre could do more to reach out to larger pools of our community to widen our workforce. Whether it’s gender, race or class, we needed to be doing more to bring in new faces and personalities. A lot of people (like myself) didn’t even know this was an industry so we really need to ensure that we don’t lose what could be an untapped resource of talent”. As a result, Prema is working closely with the ALD, The Young Vic, Sheffield Theatres, UK Theatre and Arts Council England to explore the role of representation within the industry and ways in which theatrical organisations can be more proactive under the work of Stage Sight.

Our time together has come to an end and Prema has to run away to another meeting. She’s just finished on A Passage to India and is preparing to make another train journey tomorrow as she visits another theatre. She remarks: “It’s non-stop at the moment. I look forward to a quiet night in when I can remember what my flat looks like!”. From the sound of what she’s told me, Prema’s busy schedule won’t be quieting down any time soon.

Photos courtesy of the Andy Roberts, Olivier Awards, Pamela Raith, Prema Mehta, Sarah Hickson and the White Bear Theatre.