Andy Hayles
Managing Partner
Andy leads the partnership coordinating strategic planning and providing consultancy in all aspects of venue design.
email hidden; JavaScript is required
Following a number of leading technical roles at major theatres including three years as Chief Electrician/Lighting Designer at the Theatre Royal in Richmond and a Directorship at Theatre Projects, Andy co-founded Charcoalblue in 2004.
Andy has lectured at Yale, Cambridge. LIPA and Canterbury Universities and has written extensively on the subject of performance space design for ABTT and ITEAC. He was the first (and only) theatre consultant to date to be featured in The Stage’s ‘Power 100’ and received the LIPA Companionship from Sir Paul McCartney.
Andy’s consultancy work includes ART in Cambridge, MA; The Yard at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, The Orange Tree Theatre in London and Royal Shakespeare Theatre redevelopment in Stratford-Upon-Avon.
Andy speaking at the RSC's Courtyard Theatre.
Andy accepting the LIPA Companionship Award from Sir Paul McCartney in 2013.
Andy speaking at Pro Light Sound, Frankfurt, 2016.
Andy addresses the team at the monthly company meeting.
Andy, a trained piano player and trombonist, performs with his children.
What's the greatest lesson you've learnt as a Theatre Consultant?
That there is no such thing as 'the right way' of doing something. There is so much talent and ingenuity in the theatre that keeping an open mind to innovation and the new is not only essential – it’s also the way to excel.
What first sparked your love of theatre or performing arts?
Singing on the Festival Hall stage aged 12 at a John Rutter festival. Giving my Dandy Dan in Bugsy Malone aged 15. Playing percussion and piano in jazz combo Chicos Mios in Sheffield in my late teens... drama and music have always been central to my life. But follow-spotting Ken Dodd for 4 and a half hours nearly knocked it all out of me!
Related
Supporting the industry internationally since 2004
