White Light Supports National Youth Theatre Season

Since its formation in 1956, the National Youth Theatre has gone on to establish itself as the world-leading youth arts organisation. Over the past 60 years, the organisation has nurtured the talent of hundreds of thousands of young people and provided them with countless opportunities to engage with theatre. Every year the organisation hosts a summer season which offers its members the chance to perform on stages all across London. This year, White Light is once again supplying the lighting for the season, including Zigger Zagger which recently ran at Wilton’s Music Hall.

Zigger Zagger was the National Youth Theatre’s first commissioned play in 1967 and is being revived this year to mark 50 years of the organisation commissioning new writing for young people. The revival took place at Wilton’s Music Hall from 6^th – 9^th September and the Lighting Designer was Richard Godin. He comments: “The priority when working with the NYT is to give their members the best experience possible. Our role as creatives is to ensure that every element of the show matches the standards of a professional production”.

Zigger Zagger tells a cautionary tale of football hooliganism during its meteoric rise in the late Sixties. Richard explains: “When reading the play, there was this overriding force of the chorus who play the football supporters, providing brute force and energy throughout. I wanted to show this to be exemplified through the lighting. The aim was to create a barrage of lighting that came from the direction of the chorus who are all positioned on a raised platform simulating the stands”.

To achieve this, Richard drew on WL’s extensive inventory. He comments: “Although Wilton’s is clearly a beautiful venue, due to its historic architecture, it has very limited lighting positions. As the play contains 39 scenes and numerous location changes, I needed flexible lighting sources that were power efficient, light and had a good zoom to enable tight specials. As a result, I drew on the GLP X4 LED Washes as their compact size meant they could be positioned close to the stage around the balconies and prosceniums, without being obtrusive. They also have great colour mixing and were able to blend well with the tungsten rig.

He continues: “I used two clusters of ETC Colour Source units with beam diverters to create a low level cross light that had minimal impact on sightline’s from upper balcony level. I also created a single staggered diamond of light using varying widths of Par Cans and Aero lamps, along with a little haze behind the performers during the football match moments”.

Zigger Zagger has now reached the end of its run, having sold out all of its performances. The National Youth Theatre will now begin their 2017 West End Rep Season which includes Jekyll and Hyde and Frantic Assembly’s Othello at the Ambassadors Theatre; both of which WL will be supplying.

Bryan Raven, WL’s Managing Director, comments: “We are delighted to be supplying this year’s National Youth Theatre season once again. It truly is a training ground for the next generation of artists and, for the majority taking part, offers their first experience of being part of a production. As a company, we are passionate about nurturing talent; something that is shared directly with the NYT”.

Richard adds: “I know I can always go to WL for guidance and exceptional service. They were extremely helpful on this particular project and I’m really proud to have played a part in this year’s National Youth Theatre Season”.

Photos courtesy of Nobby Clark.