Matthews Phala is a lighting designer and stage manager, and is the Lighting Technician for The Centre for The Less Good Idea.

Phala, who was born in Soweto, Johannesburg, recalls early engagements with the arts by way of the local hostel dwellers, many of whom would gather to play music, sing, and dance over the weekends. This sparked a keen interest in dance and performance for Phala, who would attend performances at The Market Theatre as often as he could during his school years. Still, a career in the arts was not something he believed to be possible for himself and following his high schooling, Phala joined a one battalion military training school in Bloemfontein.

It was upon returning to Soweto that he met up with old friends who had started a performing arts group, and subsequently took part in various concerts and festivals at The Market Theatre and nationally as an actor and dancer. It was shortly after this that Phala made the leap from acting into technical training which has since seen him working as a lighting technician, designer, and stage manager for performing arts productions and companies across the globe, including the National Arts Festival, the Dance Umbrella, and more.

Having worked with fellow lighting technician and designer Wesley France, as well as founder of The Centre for the Less Good Idea William Kentridge over the years, Phala began working as a lighting technician for Kentridge’s own studio before being brought on with France as a lighting technician for The Centre.

For Phala, the opportunity to work in a non-commercial space such as The Centre affords him a great deal of freedom with his craft, and allows him to foster his own creative processes alongside its many collaborators. He is interested in the ways in which lighting can help to set the time, pace, and mood of a staged performance, and views his practice as an intuitive one, constantly in dialogue with the artist on stage in order to convince, engage, and enthral the audience member.

PHOTOGRAPHER | Zivanai Matangi