In John le Carré’s 1963 name-making novel The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, searchlight beams sweeping the border of cold war Berlin are called “theatrical”. And, like a stage lighting designer, the writer frequently specifies an illumination source – sun, moon, desk lamp, ceiling fixture, torch.
Movie-makers soon took the hint from these lightbulb moments, with Martin Ritt’s 1965 version of the story, starring Richard Burton as Alec Leamas, the MI6 agent who has lost his self beneath too many cover stories. But it is only six decades after the book’s publication – and almost four years since the writer’s death – that this story becomes the first staged le Carré. It’s been adapted by David Eldridge, directed by Jeremy Herrin and Azusa Ono visualises the lighting states laid down in the book.
