Steven May Productions

05/07/2026

Stoked on behalf of Polytoxic with Dangerous Goods and their NZ premiere in Auckland this week! Pretty cool to see a mix of the original lighting design with some new elements, held together honestly mostly by Cat Neufeld so endlessly thankful there as well as Leah Shelton and Lisa Fa'alafi for the trust as always.
📷ollie crawford

26/06/2026

So Icon Burlesque Awards QLD was a great time, as well! It was really lovely even to just have the recognition of my co-workers and peers with being nominated at all but winning was really all the better (even though I was working the event as well so a few hats to wear). What I wanted to say onstage but I suck at being onstage so...
Steven May Productions started with burlesque from the get go, it's always been a massive focus and where the creativity is for me. The first gig I ever designed lights for was the original Pink Edition of The Red Room R***e and from there working with Glasseater 🥀 and burlesque • sideshow • drag • performance art • music • kink , Lila Luxx and Bombshell Burlesque , Joel Devereux and Rumble! as well as Lillian Lace and Vanguard Burlesque was the foundation to everything with have going on now, with international touring with BIG Live and Swamplesque - The Burlesque Parody to the national shows with world class performers we do with Evana De Lune and EDL Studios , along with so so many others. It's really because of QLD burlesque that pretty much all of it happened. Most responsible for where I've been able to put this work to now is Fortuna Maxima of course, being so supportive.
So thankful and so keen for what's to come!
Footage/Photos by Cam Attree Cam Attree for Icon Burlesque Queensland 2026 Icon Burlesque Awards QLD produced by Bombshell Burlesque Bombshell Burlesque

24/06/2026

burlesque • sideshow • drag • performance art • music • kink Festival went well! I always have a hard time judging my small part of the thing until seeing bits and pieces afterwards, think it's worked out. We do cultivate a vibe after all (the vibe is bee eyes, statistically). I was very crunchy, fresh off 36 hours of travel from London back for this show, so I'm very glad I was able to do the thing. Very thankful to the Cult family for being so understanding about my eepiness hahaha

17/06/2026

I'm bad at taking photos, fortunately there were people much better at it than I am at burlesque • sideshow • drag • performance art • music • kink Festival we just had. Man I felt rusty on the busking but we had a good time I think 🖤

14/06/2026

I've been really lucky recently to put some lighting together for an adaptation of Dracula with BIG Live into some pretty amazing venues the last couple of weeks, The London Palladium and then Sadler's Wells , with it pushing on into Capital Theatres - Festival Theatre, King's Theatre & The Studio this week with Locky Young covering for me in my absence ❤️ I'm really happy with how it turned out ultimately, the more static style of moody thing is newer to me but I do think that my distinct style (read: those gobos be gobo-ing) made its way in, in it's own way. We're taking this to a couple of other international destinations before this hits Australian shores again so I'm very keen for those moments! Also very stoked with these photos taken by 📷 🎭Andre , really incredible work.

20/03/2026

Pleasantly surprised with how well my lighting design translated to film, obviously with a lot of help with the expertise of but it's still nice to see. The film grain does make me think burlesque cryptids which is pretty cool too. Been nice to take the limiters off and have the level of creative freedom that allows!

14/03/2026

Our run of Burlesque with has been lovely so far! Been great catching up with and making new friends with .bliss and .roxie_ !

It's been a crazy run of a wide variety of projects over the past several months so there's something so nice about coming back home to variety-style burlesque lighting, it's really so centring to me in a way that I hadn't really realised until this week. So much love to 📷 and for the trust to let me bring my unique style to their show in an unfiltered way that I only get to do occasionally, it's really so refreshing.

02/01/2026

I'm late to this new year's thing, mostly because I didn't stop (flew back home from the last 2025 gig at 9pm on the 31st). I say this with love but last year was the best kind of fu***ng exhausting, truly. The seeds sown for touring work from 23/24 started sprouting and then even more touring work popped up from , the classics with and .toxic and trying to maintain the local classics with and and plenty of design things, so thankful. Never mind working with a huge swath of the top burlesque performers in the world for , I couldn't be more thankful. I really felt like I came into my own this last year creatively, with a stronger voice, less compromising on the things that I find valuable about the arts and my place as a technically-bent artist working with new and old friends. Not remotely possible without the support and direct help from keeping the logistics afloat freeing me up to do the cool blinky thing all the more. This year somehow looks more hectic with the national and international touring so all I can say is thankyou and bear with me and my long lead times, and so stoked to have so many freelance techs I can trust ❤️

23/12/2025

23/12/2025

Not a hot take by any means, but genuinely is one of the most amazing burlesque performers I've ever had the privilege to work with, and such a brilliant person to work with and travel with, you'll make me an extrovert traveller yet ;) the interplay between the lighting and the choreography hitting every little bit in this track was such a joy to watch every night (and again I'm sure!)
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📷
💡mee