Tag Archive: Andy Cullen

1. Paul Talbot – 24 Years at White Light

   6 January 2020 13:42 Leave a Comment

   

   At WL, one of our proudest assets is our staff. We pride ourselves on offering our clients a level of customer service they simply wouldn’t receive anywhere else. We’re fortunate that a lot of our employees have chosen to stay with the company for a long time; with one of these being our Quality Manager Paul Talbot. Paul has been with the company for 24 years now so we thought we’d take this opportunity to sit down and discuss his time at WL.

   When Paul first joined WL, it was December 1995 and he was fresh out of college. He recalls: “I’d completed a micro-electronics course at East Surrey College and really just wanted any sort of job. I’d seen there was a vacancy at WL and went down to meet the company’s Managing Director Bryan (Raven). We got on really well and I soon joined the Operations team which saw me loading vans, doing deliveries etc”. After a few months in Operations, Paul quickly found himself moving around the warehouse: “I soon joined Bench where I was known as the fixer! Basically, due to my background in electronics, I was always been given circuit boards to fix, along with the more difficult wiring. I actually really enjoyed the technical side of things though; so much so that I joined Control where I got to play with as many toys as I wanted!”.

   

   Paul soon found himself running the Control Department which brought with it a few challenges; although these were mainly due to WL’s location at the time. Paul explains: “This was while we were still in the old Filmer Road building in Fulham so every time the basement flooded (which happened more than it should) it was down to me to get a group of us together and sort it out! There was also the challenge of pushing consoles and flight cases down small corridors and over cobbled floors. It was certainly a character-building experience!”.

   Thankfully, WL was expanding at a rapid rate and would soon move to a much bigger home in nearby Wimbledon. Due to his role, Paul was in charge of overseeing the set-up of Control in SW19. Shortly after this, Paul would continue honing his managerial skills as he became Head of the Rigging and Followspot departments. Following this, he was then promoted to Warehouse Manager; overseeing everyone who worked in the vicinity. He comments: “My constant promotions within the company weren’t a quest for world domination! Instead they were a natural progression. This was during a time when I didn’t have a partner or any family so I was always the first one in at 7am and the last one out at 9pm. They were long, long days but I did genuinely enjoy them and the increased responsibility”.

   Once in Wimbledon, the company continued to grow, now employing five times the staff compared to when Paul first started. As such, he worked with his team of supervisors to help oversee the growing workforce. It was also during this time that Paul’s personal life dramatically changed and the long hours he used to embrace were no longer a possibility. He explains: “My son was born in 2006 with Quadriplegic Cerebral Palsy which meant he needed constant care. Funnily enough, I didn’t go part time straight away – I just had to finish on time! It was strange as finishing at 5pm for me was like doing a half day!”.

   

   Since then, Paul has continued working in managerial roles throughout the company and for the past couple of years has worked as WL’s Quality Manager. He explains: “My role is exactly how it sounds: ensuring that, as a company, we maintain ‘quality’ and that everything leaves our facilities as it should. I’ve also put in procedures and systems that are bespoke to WL. As someone who’s been here for quite a long time now, I’m in the fortunate position of knowing what works best for our customers and how we’re able to give them the best service possible”.

   As Paul has been at WL for almost a quarter of a century, it seems only right to ask what the biggest changes have been during this time. However, Paul wants to actually talk about what’s stayed consistent: “What I love about working at WL, and perhaps the biggest reason I’ve stayed, is the people. During my time here, we’ve gone from a company of 25 to 250 yet it’s still retained its family feel and everyone is so friendly and just wants to do the best job possible. Personally, I’ve also made some great friends here, including Andy Cullen, Neil Adamson, Andy Johnson and many more, and think of the company as my extended family – which not a lot of people can say about the place they work”.

   We’d like to take this opportunity to thank Paul for his service to WL and the integral role he’s played in the company’s growth. Here’s to the next 24 years!

2. White Light Hits the Right Notes for Falsettos

   8 October 2019 17:25 Leave a Comment

   

   White Light has supplied the lighting equipment for Falsettos which is currently running at London’s Other Palace Theatre.
   
   Originally performed on Broadway in 1992, Falsettos is a double Tony Award-winning musical which offers a poignant look at the life of one family as they live through the AIDS crisis. Despite other productions across the globe, this is the first time the show has been performed in its entirety in London. It features a lighting design by Nic Farman, who comments: “For Falsettos I knew I would be working closely with PJ McEvoy, the set, costume and projection designer, who I’ve worked with a number of times before. Our brief was to be bold with the colour and the stage pictures we were creating to aid telling the narrative of the story. Projection is used heavily throughout so I had to be very specific with how I was lighting scenes to avoid washing out the image and to build a cohesive stage picture. Together we worked on building a vivid colour palette, bold colours denoting each of the characters in the show track through as an element within the projection, costume and lighting”. 

   

   Whilst preparing for the show, Nic approached it as he would with any project: by responding to the script and music. He explains: “I was able to do a lot of work based on PJ’s initial storyboards of the projection content, alongside working with the director, Tara, to develop the concept. In rehearsals we started developing detailed blocking notes as we knew we didn’t have followspots on the show, but wanted to have the clarity of tightly spotting the cast which was to be achieved through the moving light rig alone. Once we were in to tech we had to work quickly and in broad brushstrokes initially to get a feel for the show as a whole. Falsettos is entirely sung through (39 songs in total), so there’s a lot of numbers to get through and we wanted to be detailed with the way we lit the show. Needless to say a lot of time was spent over previews finessing the design”.

   Having supplied several of Nic’s shows already this year, he approached WL to hire the equipment once again on this occasion. He explains: “Having a shuttering, moving profile was really important to give us flexibility from Front of House when it came to creating specific spot specials so I called upon the Martin MAC Viper Performances. We also developed a concept of building ‘rooms’ of light on stage which the characters inhabited and worked with the set’s checkerboard floor. An additional overhead grid of Viper Performances gave me a bright option for that role.

   

   He continues: “The rich colour palette we were aiming for meant I wanted a sidelight rig of LED profiles which came in the form of ETC Lustr 2s. It was also my first time using the Colorsource Cyc units which were brilliant, due to their brightness and colour depth. Finishing off the rig were Martin Mac Auras which gave me a flexible pipe end wash and GLP X4 Bar 20s as an impact backlight, which were used in pixel mode to add extra effects into some of the bigger show numbers”.

   Falsettos has now opened to rave reviews and will run until 23rd November.

   Nic concludes: “This is a very technical, ambitious show and one which I was proud to be a part of. I’d like to say thanks to my Production LX Anthony Hannah, LX technicians Dan Farr and Jordan Lightfoot and the team at The Other Palace and Selladoor. It was wonderful to work with WL as ever and a big thanks to Jonathan Haynes, Chris Delaney and Andy Cullen for the stellar service they provided”.

   

   Photos courtesy of The Standout Company

   Full Credits:
   Director & Choreography: Tara Overfield Wilkinson
   Musical Director: Richard John
   Musical Supervisor: Mark Crossland
   Set, Costume & Projection Design: PJ McEvoy
   Lighting Design: Nic Farman 
   Sound Design: Chris Whybrow
   Producer: Selladoor

3. White Light Spends its Apollo Nights at Eventim Apollo

   8 August 2019 10:58 Leave a Comment

   

   White Light recently provided the lighting equipment for the Apollo Nights season at the Eventim Apollo – a week of exclusive live performances from a range of legendary music artists.

   The inaugural Apollo Nights season at the Eventim Apollo in Hammersmith, London, brought together a premium VIP dining experience and a roster of headline artists for a week of shows at the landmark venue. Curated by Ollie Rosenblatt at Senbla, the season delivered a unique audience experience with the front stalls seating removed to create space for elegant VIP pre-show dining with live jazz piano before opening up the full auditorium for headline shows. The first performance was by Burt Bacharach and Joss Stone and was followed by George Benson and finally Marc Almond.

   The lighting designer for the season was Ben M Rogers, who WL has previously worked with on the award-winning HAIR musical. Ben comments: “I was tasked with creating a flexible ‘festival’ rig that would frame the action on stage and enhance the auditorium for the dining experience. Taking the artists touring riders as a starting point, and working closely with WL’s Customer Services Team Leader Andy Cullen, I had to assemble a rig capable of delivering everything, from big, classy show looks to intimate moments.”

   

   Alongside this, Ben also had to consider the building’s architecture when formulating his design. He explains: “The venue has exceptional sight lines with all seats able to see the full proscenium opening. I wanted to achieve layers of light to fill the large proscenium – so cascaded the fly bars and added a generous floor package to ensure we could deliver broad brush strokes of colour and shape to performances. Similarly, with the various set lists encompassing hits from over 50 years of music, I wanted to ensure the lighting design was versatile and could quickly evolve to match this.”

   As part of his rig, Ben drew on Martin Professional MAC Aura XB and TW1 fixtures in order to provide colour washes. He drew on the Quantum Profiles for gobo texture and Viper Performances for the dining and key light duties. Additional eye candy effects were delivered with iPix BB4’s, ROBE picklePATTs and the Portman P1 units. The lighting was controlled using the MA2 console. WL also supplied all of the rigging, power and logistics for the production.

   

   Ben comments: “In this busy season the team at White Light where fantastic in their ability to resource and support the show and their London base meant that last minute changes and evolutions to the design where easily accommodated.”

   WL’s Head of Customer Service Craig Bennett comments: “Apollo Nights was a truly unique and exciting project for us to work on. It also shows how, as a company, we are able to work with a lighting designer and not only bring their vision to life but do so both on time and on budget. We really enjoyed working with Ben once again and look forward to continue doing so in the future.”

   Photos courtesy of © Ben M Rogers/Senbla 2019.