I'm a multimedia artist from the UK working across theatre, performance and installation in digital and physical realms.
My work explores aesthetics of site-specificity, pop culture, glitch, queerness and camp.
I’m passionate about work that is political, accessible, diverse, and challenging, and in particular, the way that technology can speak to, and help realize, these ideals.
I enjoy playing with, or exploding form. In particular, I like projects that push the boundaries of traditional notions of "theatre" - especially performances that include elements of interactivity, lecture, and staged rehearsal.
I believe that the best work doesn’t accept half-measures - it leans all the way into every choice it makes. It should have clarity of intent - and above all else, be entertaining.
Much of my work focuses on the way that technology can open up access and novel storytelling opportunities, in ways that run the gamut of visibility and scale.
I believe that the melding of digital and physical realms on stage is not only a reflection of society’s increasing existence on the digital plane, but is also an essential component of theatrical accessibility, future-oriented audience-performer relationships, and interactive world-building.
I am also interested in the way the use of technology can democratize and disrupt the hegemonies and siloing present in "traditional" design processes, and strive to be a designer that fulfills a responsive, adaptable and vital role in the rehearsal rooms of digitally-engaged work.
PRESS:
“Timothy Kelly’s extraordinary lights prove to be pitch perfect throughout”
The Arts Review - for ELECTROLYTE
Khalil’s production, supported by Timothy Kelly’s lighting and Katy Hustwick’s sound design, beautifully balances innocent naivety and violence
British Theatre Guide for THIS BEAUTIFUL FUTURE
“Kelly’s lighting is similarly emotionally calculating and playful, amping up the drama.”
Spy In the Stalls for ANTIGONE
Timothy Kelly’s nuanced lighting manages to capture the dreamlike brilliance of the gig, elsewhere suggests a sense of confused claustrophobia, and at times slams us back to reality.
Urbane Fox - for ELECTROLYTE
“So too the lighting – again without spoiling anything, it is integral to the atmosphere of the play, and is executed expertly.”
Mind The Blog - for THE NOISES
“These moments and many others are beautifully highlighted by Tim Kelly’s atmospheric and gorgeous lighting”
LoveLondonLoveCulture - for THE TRENCH
"outstanding light-displays"
"some of the best light since God did The Big Sun"
my mate Isaac for ELECTROLYTE
"Timothy Kelly’s projections are a delight, both facilitating access for D/deaf and hard of hearing audience members and supporting the narrative in clever and amusing ways."
Fringe Review - for SIRENS
“A highlight of the piece [is the] projection of a social media timeline, with the actor’s forensic treatment of it as a timeline of criminal events, as if on a detective mission.”
“This gaming connection is gorgeously brought to life by the screen on stage, which not only brings us Kelly’s words in real time but also the characters, rendered perfectly, and with changing backdrops (an affordance not otherwise possible in this black box studio), in 90s dot matrix-game style.”
Another such touch comes in the form of Smerdyakov telling his own life story to the audience towards the end. The character wheels on an old school overhead projector, and projects slides depicting grotesque cartoons of his upbringing onto one of the screens. It offers up a fine example of the unique visual aesthetic and forms of storytelling you can only find in theatre.
A Younger Theatre - for DELIRIUM
CURRENT / RECENT PROJECTS:
