NIALL MCKEEVER

Director: Cameron Menzies

Choreographer: Jennifer Rooney

Set and Costume Designer: Niall McKeever  

Lighting Designer: Kevin Treacy

Milky White created by William Todd-Jones and Philippa O'Brien

★★★★1/2 LIMELIGHT MAGAZINE

This WA Opera production of Northern Ireland Opera’s 2022 staging, with original director Cameron Menzies on board, is a total triumph. The ingenious work of set and costume designer Niall McKeever, lighting designer Kevin Treacy and sound effects designer Russell Goldsmith is key to its success, creating a world that is as psychologically nuanced as it is magical.

★★★★1/2 XPRESSMAG

'Menzies has brought the same creative team that worked on the NI Opera production to Perth, with the work of set and costume designer Niall McKeever a particular standout. McKeever's costuming is stylistically modern while the stage’s centrepiece is a 30ft high wreath of felled timber in concentric circles that, through its size and Celtic design, carries an imposing otherworldliness, perfectly embodying the dark and foreboding world of the woods.'

★★★★1/2 SYDNEY MORNING HERALD

'The mind-boggling rich symbolism of Sondheim and Lapine’s creation is beautifully enhanced by Northern Ireland Opera’s justly celebrated production of Into the Woods, which has been imported intact, right down to Niall McKeever’s breathtaking abstracted primitivist set, a huge crown of felled trees with a hole in the middle for the moon to poke through.'

THE WEST AUSTRALIAN

'Its setting by Niall McKeever is surreal yet effective, facilitating scene changes from Game of Thrones-gothic to forest canopy, palace, beanstalk, even a horse carriage, via lighting effects by Kevin Tracy'

SEEWESAWMAG

'Niall McKeever’s set is a work of art itself. As we wait for the show to start, the curtain is open, revealing a large and spiky circular spiral encasing a long staircase, which is frequently used to represent the ominous woods, the castle throne room, and various characters’ houses. Teamed with Kevin Treacy’s highly effective lighting design, the set comes alive as sinister or welcoming environments...McKeever is also behind the design of the jaw-dropping costumes; Cinderella’s dresses a particular highlight'