As part of its Third Year BA Musical Theatre Students Showcase, ArtsEd recently produced a brand-new production of Priscilla Queen of the Desert. Taking place in the Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation Theatre, the show tells the story of drag queens Tick and Adam, and trans woman, Bernadette, as they embark on a road trip through the Australian outback. The show was lit by Nic Farman and White Light provided the lighting equipment.
Priscilla Queen of the Desert is based on the 1994 film The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, and won an Olivier on its West End debut. Nic comments: “I had never seen Priscilla before which I think worked in my favour as I was able to approach it with a fresh pair of eyes”. Priscilla is renowned for being a glitzy and loud show; something Nic was asked to embrace for his design. He explains: “My brief was to be as bright and colourful as possible! Something I really had to consider was the use of projection in the show. PJ McEvoy, the set and projection designer, had created this large bus to sit centre stage which he then transformed with video. Making that projection have a visual impact was very important and this required close collaboration between the two of us to ensure the video and lighting created a cohesive stage picture”.
In order to achieve this, Nic approached WL and worked closely with WL’s Business Development Manager Jonathan Haynes and WL’s Hire and Sales Coordinator Jim Dewhirst to select his exacting fixtures. He comments: “The show called for plenty of colour and texture from the lighting. I spec’d a number of Martin MAC 700 Profiles and Washes. The Profiles provided good beams in the air and gobo work on the show floor, whereas the Washes allowed me to wash the stage with saturated colour.
He adds: “Overhead, we had the VL1100AS which I chose for their shuttering. It was important to control the light within the space so that I didn’t wash out the projection surfaces and the VL1100s gave me that ability. We also had a number of Pixel Line 1044s to light the cyc. With bold, saturated colours being so important, the 1044s had ample output for our relatively small cyc. Also key in my design were the ETC Lustrs which cross lit the space and allowed me to light the choreography with a rich colour palette”.
With the production being so reliant on the use of projection, this mean that Nic had to be very exact with how he lit certain scenes. He comments: “It was all about retaining that balance between projection and the action on stage. I ended up with a lot of cues which had subtle lifts and drops at opportune moments to keep the balance right. It was also a very big show to tech in a relatively short period of time so I was grateful to have such a brilliant team at ArtsEd who facilitated everything”.
The production ran from 2nd – 10th February and allowed the students the opportunity to perform in a large-scale show before graduating.
Nic states: “This was a great show to work on with a great bunch of creatives. I am also very grateful to WL for being so supportive and allowing me to achieve everything I wanted with the show”.
Jonathan adds: “We recently supported Nic with his West End debut, The Toxic Avenger, so it’s great he’s able to call upon our services for a completely different production. Ultimately, we want to ensure that we work closely with lighting designers on any project and provide them with the best service possible”.
Photos courtesy of Robert Workman.