Tag Archive: Chris Delaney

1. 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

2. White Light Brings Night of the Living Dead to Life

   3 May 2019 13:23 Leave a Comment

   

   White Light has supplied the lighting equipment for Night of the Living Dead LIVE! which is currently spooking audiences at The Pleasance Theatre, London.

   Based on the iconic George A. Romero film, Night of the Living Dead LIVE! tells the story of a group of strangers holed up in a farmhouse in rural Pennsylvania. With hoards of the undead approaching, will any of them make it out alive? The show is lit by Nic Farman, who comments: “I hadn’t actually seen the film version prior to working on the show but I allowed myself to watch the first 20 minutes. This was so I could get a feel for the style of the cinematography, but also not become fixated on recreating the film on stage from a lighting point of view”.

   Despite not wanting to be an imitation of the film, the production did remain true to the Romero classic. Nic explains: “The interesting thing about the show is that we’ve tried to recreate it as if it were a black and white film. The Designer Diego Pitarch has created a monochrome set of the interior of the farmhouse in which the action is set. The costumes are all black and white and the actors are in make up to appear greyscale. My brief was to buy into that concept and to keep us in a black and white world, which was quite daunting, especially as creating a rich colour palette is often part of my work.

   

   He continues: “The first act stays quite faithful to the film, but as the show moves forward, it becomes a number of ‘what if’ scenarios. As a result, towards the end I was able to start sneaking colour back in as the action on stage gets more frantic and ridiculous. It’s been interesting working out how to create certain parts of the show when colour has been stripped away. For example, there are a lot of fire effects through the show outside of the scenic windows so we spent a long time playing with intensity effects with pure white light to achieve those looks”.

   To achieve his design, Nic approached WL to draw on a range of suitable fixtures. He explains: “We have a number of Martin MAC Viper Performances on this show which are mainly used as a gobo wash in the wonderful pure white they produce. We also use their animation wheel capabilities each time the show ‘resets’ for the next scenario. Initially I thought the limited colour palette would be restricting but, as the show developed, it became really striking. It came down to trying a number of options, including introducing some blue key light in an attempt to sell the black and white. In the end we pulled all colour for the majority of the show and the quality of the white light output the Vipers have gave us the best results”.

   He adds: “The key light through the windows and doorways is a combination of Showline SL Bar 640s, Chroma-Q Colorforce 12s and GLP XBar 20s. A number of High End Dataflashes gave me the classic horror strobe which works to reveal a number of the ‘Ghouls’. The rig is completed by Martin Mac TW1s which allowed me to be flexible on specials with a nice soft edge. This was really important to give us control of what we were seeing on stage as we stripped back to near darkness in trying to create as scary an atmosphere as possible”.

   

   Night of the Living Dead LIVE! runs until 8^th June 2019. It has been extremely well received by audiences and has also been nominated for a host of OffWestEnd Awards, including Best Lighting Design.

   Nic concludes: “Thanks, as ever, goes to Jonathan Haynes and Chris Delaney at WL for their support throughout. Also thanks to Production Electrician Sam House, Nick Ward and the rest of the team at The Pleasance who worked hard to ensure the show developed as I hoped”.

   Photos courtesy of Clare Bilyard.