Faheem Bardien

Faheem Bardien is a freelance Lighting Designer as well as current Head of Lighting at Artscape. Inspired by the works of prominent lighting designers such as J.T. Baker, Malcolm Hurrell and Denis Hutchinson, Faheem’s theatrical career began in 1995 and his first lighting design was for Basil Appollis’ Buckingham Palace in 2000. This was quickly followed by Swing Time at the Ballet; Giselle; Hamlet, Twelfth Night, Romeo and Juliet, Much Ado About Nothing and Othello; and theatre productions such as Women Beware, Women at the Little Theatre, Biko’s Quest, Ityala Lamawele and The Keeper of the Kumm. Introduced to the international theatre scene in 2001, he toured with Cats the Musical in South Africa, Beirut and Malaysia. His portfolio also includes work for the Gilbert and Sullivan Society: Annie Get Your Gun, The King and I, The Sound of Music, Fiddler on the Roof, Annie, Oklahoma and Wizard of Oz; for Cape Town Opera: Der Rosenkavalier, Carmen, Mandela Trilogy, The Cunning Little Vixen, L’incoronazione di Poppea, Mozart’s Requiem, The Tales of Hoffmann, Postcard from Morocco, La traviata and La Rondine. He has lit operas for The Wagner Society such as La Scala di Seta, Viva la Mamma, The Flying Dutchman and recently was the South African Associate Lighting Designer for the Broadway hit musical Dirty Dancing. Faheem has been nominated twelve times for a Fleur du Cap award for Best Lighting Design. In 2011 he walked away with the Naledi award for best lighting design for his work on Cape Town Opera’s Mandela Trilogy. Faheem is a firm believer in sharing his knowledge with the future generation. He enjoys training interns and was lighting lecturer for the Artscape Technical Training Programme.