Following its acclaimed run on Broadway in 2016, Heisenberg: The Uncertainty Principle made its West End premiere last week. Opening at the Wyndham’s Theatre, the show marks the inaugural production for Elliot and Harper Productions. It is written by Tony and Olivier-Award winning playwright Simon Stephens and stars Kenneth Cranham and Anne-Marie Duff. White Light has been called upon the supply the lighting equipment.
Heisenberg: The Uncertainty Principle tells the story of two strangers who meet by chance at a crowded London train station and whose lives are changed forever. The show is lit by the award-winning Paule Constable. She comments: “I read the play and was immediately fascinated by what it had to say about relationships and people in general. The director Marianne Elliot and the Designer Bunny Christie developed a visual concept that drew parallels to the uncertainty principle. What they created was something not at all naturalistic but almost reflecting an arts installation/science experiment”.
Once the set design was established, Paule created a lighting design that would work alongside this as well as tell the play’s story. Paule explains: “It’s a very stripped back show and feels very exposed. Sometimes this can be quite risky but it worked extremely well for this production. As it’s only two actors on stage throughout, my role was to ensure that their actions resonated and that we used the lighting to pinpoint certain moments”.
Bunny Christie’s set means that the action is played against what is a huge backlight at the back of stage. Paule comments: “To achieve this effect, I drew on EvenLED panels. Despite it being released almost a decade ago, I don’t think there’s another product out there that can achieve the looks of an EvenLED. For a backdrop of this size, if we didn’t have the EvenLED, then we would have had to build hundreds of LED light bulbs which is obviously not very practical!”.
The unique set design also meant that Paule had very limited positions in which to hang the lighting. She comments: “There are essentially only four places within the theatre in which you can position fixtures. As a result, I have to draw on a range of moving lights. These include ETC Revolutions, Martin MAC Aura XBs, Martin MAC Vipers, Vari*Lite VL1000 and ETC Source 4 Series 2 Lustrs”.
Paule also drew on the GLP Impression X4 Bar 20s and the show was programmed on an ETC Gio Console.
Heisenberg: The Uncertainty Principle has now opened in the West End and will run until January 2018.
Paule states: “This is a very unique show and a brilliant production to be a part of. I’m proud of what we’ve managed to achieve with such a unique set, especially through the use of EvenLED, and I’m grateful to WL for their support throughout”.
Photos courtesy of Brinkhoff-Moegenburg.