Tag Archive: Ambassadors Theatre

1. It’s All or Nothing for White Light in West End

   22 February 2018 10:11 Comments Off on It’s All or Nothing for White Light in West End

   All or Nothing – The Mod Musical follows the rise and fall of the Small Faces; a band who encapsulated the mod era. The home-grown musical features a range of the band’s classic hits, including Itchycoo Park, Lazy Sunday and, of course, All or Nothing. Following its initial run at The Vaults in 2016, followed by a sell-out UK tour, the show opened last week at London’s Arts Theatre. Having supplied the show since its very first production, White Light has been called upon once again to provide the West End run.

   The Lighting Designer for All or Nothing is Peter Small, who has worked on the show since it first opened in 2016. He comments: “It’s fair to say the show has definitely grown and changed over time; so much so that it’s now a completely different production than the one seen at The Vaults. Every time we’ve remounted it for an extension or a new tour, we’ve always taken the opportunity to improve and refine our work; with the West End transfer being the biggest and loudest version yet”.

   As with every version of the show, Peter’s brief remained the same for the West End run: to be true to the music and the era in which it’s set. He explains: “This isn’t a rock show. Rather, it’s an equal balance between the ‘straight acting’ scenes alongside the music and dance sequences. For the acting scenes, we carefully choose the lighting depending on how we wanted each location to look (given the scenery doesn’t change). When we moved to a new location, we would either lead with a practical or an effect in order for the audience to identify with that location.

   He adds: “It’s the same for the music numbers. Each number has a very specific look that is not used again elsewhere. I also wanted to use the lighting to try and show the progression in the band’s career. For instance, in the early performances, there are some cheap-looking colour wheels. For the next phases, there is a mirror ball until it eventually leads to a full-blown concert. It’s about layering up the effects as we move through the tracks”.

   As the show entered the Arts Theatre, this obviously meant there had to be some additions to the previous rig. Peter explains: “Back in The Vaults, we had about 50 generics and very few moving lights. Today, we have a rig of 72 moving lights, 58 scrollers and over 114 generics – so it’s a slight increase! For a show like this, I looked to draw on equipment that I knew I could fully rely on. This included the GLP XBar 20s, ETC Revolution IM/SMs, VL1000TS, VL1100AS, VL3000Q, MAC 700, Robe Mini Me, Chroma-Q ColorForce 72 and, of course, a healthy dose of ETC Source Fours and Par Cans”.

   With the previous show closing at the Arts on the Saturday evening and All or Nothing opening the following Tuesday, this meant there was a very limited load-in time. Peter comments: “This wasn’t a straight remount of last year’s tour as we’d added additional effects and sequences, so the overall lighting plan needed completely updating. Although we had limited time in the space, I’d thankfully invested in the Capture software so was able to pre-viz a large majority of work ahead of time with my programmer Tom Davis; something that paid in dividends”.

   All or Nothing will run at the Arts Theatre until 11^th March. It was announced yesterday that it would continue its stay in the West End by transferring to the Ambassadors Theatre from 28^th March to 2^nd June.

   Having been nominated for two OffWestEnd Lighting Design Awards in the past month alone, All or Nothing marks Peter’s West End debut. He comments: “There is a certain level of expectation when you’re working in the West End for obvious reasons. Thankfully, I had a great team behind me which included Adam Squire, Tom Davis, Abbi Fearnley, Liam Cleary, Alex Gooding and Elliot Roberts who were nothing short of incredible throughout the entire production process. I always want to say thanks to Louise Hambley, Bryan Raven and everyone else at WL without whom this project wouldn’t have been possible”.

   Photos courtesy of Phil Weedon.

2. White Light Goes Back to Beginning in West End

   12 February 2018 10:44 Comments Off on White Light Goes Back to Beginning in West End

   Following a sell-out run at The National Theatre’s Dorfman, Beginning has recently transferred to London’s West End. Written by David Eldridge, the play is now running at the Ambassadors Theatre where it has once again received critical acclaim. It features a lighting design by Jack Knowles and White Light supplied the lighting equipment.

   Beginning tells the story of 40-somethings Danny and Laura, with Danny being the last straggler at Laura’s house party. Despite the flat being a mess and the pair being worse for wear, will he stay for one more drink…? The entire play is told in real time and set in one location. Jack comments: “Beginning was great fun but also a challenge lighting one specific space. The main brief was to be true to the naturalism of the piece. There was a high focus on practical light sources amongst the set, used to create the basis for the environment of the space.  That said, we wanted to keep the feel of a naturalistic world and make everything 100% believable.

   He adds: “As the show is set at night, there really is no progression of time passing from the exterior. Any change in state is brought on from the action of the characters, such as switching on a light in the kitchen, and this was all thoroughly investigated within the rehearsal process. There is no conveniently turning anything on or off as it is all done with an intention and a purpose; something I find brings a huge level of satisfaction and adds to the naturalism within the piece”.

   At the National, Jack’s design consisted of ETC Lustr 2s, used in low angles to mimic the lamps within the room as well as keep the focus low and balanced. This was complemented with the Dorfman’s general rig of MAC TW1s, VL1100TS and VL550s. However, as the show transferred into the West End, certain adjustments needed to be made.

   The transfer was mainly overseen by Jack’s Associate Lighting Designer Michael Harpur, who comments: “Prior to the transfer, Jack had redrawn his plan for the Ambassadors and we discussed the potential problems that may occur when trying to position existing fixtures into a new building. I worked closely with the venue’s Production Electricians and my Programmer Matt Somerville to try and recreate the Dorfman design in the Ambassadors”.

   The main changes for the transfer included the replacement of VL550s to Martin TW1s as well as a range of ETC Source Four Series 2 Lustrs which were changed to Source Four Tungsten 750ws. Michael explains: “When we were fitting the show, we had to make a lot of calls as to what could stay and what needed amending. For instance, due to the height of the Ambassadors, we needed to replace the VL1100s with more fixed Source Fours. Our main goal was to ensure that, whilst we adapted to the venue, we stayed true to the original design.

   Regarding the West End run, Michael adds: “The key on Beginning was to keep the warm intimacy of the play and blend it into the auditorium. We did this by keeping the house light level slightly dimmed and by keeping the levels of the lanterns lighting the stage at a low warm glow throughout. The show should have felt as though there were very few lighting cues by subtly pulling focus to the areas where Justine and Sam were performing; something we were able to achieve in both venues”.

   The show has now opened in the West End and will run until 24^th March.

   Jack adds: “It was fantastic to be working with a very supportive team at the Dorfman who fully bought into the show and the detail of it. It was also exceptionally useful being able to have Michael take the show into town as he not only knew what each fixture was doing but fully understood the aesthetic of the show”.

   Photos courtesy of Manuel Harlan.