Tag Archive: GLP Impression X4 Bar 20

1. White Light Conjures Lighting for Magic Goes Wrong

   23 January 2020 10:38 Leave a Comment

   

   White Light has supplied the lighting for Magic Goes Wrong, which recently opened at the Vaudeville Theatre in London’s West End.

   Created by the award-winning Mischief Theatre and magic legends Penn & Teller, Magic Goes Wrong focuses on a hapless gang of magicians trying to host a charity fundraiser – with hilarious results. It features a lighting design by David Howe, who is lighting several of Mischief Theatre’s other shows. He comments: “The basis of the show is that it’s very much a slick variety show where everything should technically run smooth. However, the magicians and acts who perform aren’t the most skilful which results in everything going wrong… As ever with Mischief, it’s a very slick and fast-paced show. Set Designer Will Bowen created a very ‘variety-looking’ stage, complete with glossy floor, big theatrical tabs and glitter-drapes. There is also a large video wall at the back of the space which is used to introduce the acts as well as add texture, with a brilliant video design by Duncan McLean.

   He continues: “Taking all of this into consideration, my design has three goals. The first was to support the ‘variety show’ feel, with strong washes of colour, lots of comedy face light yet still be suitable for camera work. The second was ensuring that the portals and flown drapes received lots of lighting in order to make them ‘zing’ and ensure we maintain that light entertainment feel we’re used to seeing on TV. Thirdly, there was the wider brief of lighting the various tricks and keeping them ‘magical’ whilst still allowing the comedy to shine”.

   

   Knowing the look and feel he had to achieve, David approached WL who is also supplying the Mischief Theatre tour of Comedy About a Bank Robbery. He explains: “I worked closely with WL’s Customer Service Team Leader Andy Cullen and Customer Service Account Handler Jade Johnson who were extremely helpful when it came to choosing the appropriate fixtures. Due to the theatre space being tight, I knew I needed a versatile rig. As such, I drew on the Martin MAC Encores, Martin Aura XBs, MAC Viper Washes, Clay Paky Sharpy Washes, Chroma-Q Colour Force 48 LED Battens, GLP Impression X4 Bar 20s, ETC ColorSource Spot LEDs and Source Fours. These worked perfectly for both the production and venue’s requirements. Whilst it is a loud show, at times, we need total silence in order for some of the brilliant jokes to work. With this rig, we can truly achieve that and help move both the action and comedy forward.

   He adds: “We programmed the lighting on an ETC Eos Ti Console and the show runs on a Gio. I knew the control aspect of the show was going to be important as so many different elements are all linked together. Lighting additionally triggers video content and switching for cameras and playback. This, in turn, at times is triggered from sound and keeps sync with time-code, Midi and even the old-fashioned Stage Manager calling cues. Lighting also, on occasion, triggers a wide range of set and prop items that move, swing, drop and add to the comedy, so it has to be a tight and secure network”. 

   

   Whilst the rig featured a range of fixtures that played equally important roles, there was one in particular that was pivotal: the followspot. David explains: “The humble followspot is obviously not the most innovative fixture but was an essential item for the style of this production. I wanted a central followspot position in the upper circle so we had to work closely with Nimax Theatres in creating a position which avoided losing precious seats and didn’t cause issues with the building and stringent listing issues. So we found the old followspot box that had been (some years ago) converted into a staff bathroom and repurposed it. The result, thankfully, looks incredible and I’m grateful to the theatre for being so accommodating!”. 

   Prior to its West End run, the show ran The Lowry theatre in Salford. David comments: “With a show like this, it’s forever evolving. The space in Manchester was quite similar to the West End in width so this acted as a good template. That said, the show was constantly changing in previews so the equipment set-up has to be such that we can re-light a scene or create something entirely new on the spot which allows the writers (who also are currently performing) to see how the show plays with those changes. It’s incredible how much the content of the show has changed since those initial previews in Salford; which of course has completely changed aspects of my design.”

   

   Following its recent opening, Magic Goes Wrong has just announced that it will extend its West End run until August 2020.

   David concludes: “As always, it’s brilliant working with the Mischief team and contributing to a show that creates two hours of non-stop laughter every night. It was also great working with WL once again and their ever-helpful Hire team; especially Andy and Jade”.

   Photos courtesy of Robert Day.

   Lighting Team Credits
   
   Lighting Designer – David Howe
   Programmer – Stuart Cross
   Lead Production Electrician – Ed Locke
   Prod Electricians – Nick Wooley, Theo Chadha, Barry Abbots, Joe Crossley, Alex Matthews.
   Assistant Lighting Designer – Alex Musgrave (Part of the ALD Lumiere Scheme for 2019)
   Followspot Operator – Virginie Serneels
   Production Manager – Tom Nixon 

2. White Light is a Certain Choice for Heisenberg

   16 October 2017 08:27 Comments Off on White Light is a Certain Choice for Heisenberg

   Following its acclaimed run on Broadway in 2016, Heisenberg: The Uncertainty Principle made its West End premiere last week. Opening at the Wyndham’s Theatre, the show marks the inaugural production for Elliot and Harper Productions. It is written by Tony and Olivier-Award winning playwright Simon Stephens and stars Kenneth Cranham and Anne-Marie Duff. White Light has been called upon the supply the lighting equipment.

   Heisenberg: The Uncertainty Principle tells the story of two strangers who meet by chance at a crowded London train station and whose lives are changed forever. The show is lit by the award-winning Paule Constable. She comments: “I read the play and was immediately fascinated by what it had to say about relationships and people in general. The director Marianne Elliot and the Designer Bunny Christie developed a visual concept that drew parallels to the uncertainty principle. What they created was something not at all naturalistic but almost reflecting an arts installation/science experiment”.

   Once the set design was established, Paule created a lighting design that would work alongside this as well as tell the play’s story. Paule explains: “It’s a very stripped back show and feels very exposed. Sometimes this can be quite risky but it worked extremely well for this production. As it’s only two actors on stage throughout, my role was to ensure that their actions resonated and that we used the lighting to pinpoint certain moments”.

   Bunny Christie’s set means that the action is played against what is a huge backlight at the back of stage. Paule comments: “To achieve this effect, I drew on EvenLED panels. Despite it being released almost a decade ago, I don’t think there’s another product out there that can achieve the looks of an EvenLED. For a backdrop of this size, if we didn’t have the EvenLED, then we would have had to build hundreds of LED light bulbs which is obviously not very practical!”.

   

   The unique set design also meant that Paule had very limited positions in which to hang the lighting. She comments: “There are essentially only four places within the theatre in which you can position fixtures. As a result, I have to draw on a range of moving lights. These include ETC Revolutions, Martin MAC Aura XBs, Martin MAC Vipers, Vari*Lite VL1000 and ETC Source 4 Series 2 Lustrs”.

   Paule also drew on the GLP Impression X4 Bar 20s and the show was programmed on an ETC Gio Console.

   Heisenberg: The Uncertainty Principle has now opened in the West End and will run until January 2018.

   Paule states: “This is a very unique show and a brilliant production to be a part of. I’m proud of what we’ve managed to achieve with such a unique set, especially through the use of EvenLED, and I’m grateful to WL for their support throughout”.

   Photos courtesy of Brinkhoff-Moegenburg.

3. White Light Returns to London Fashion Week 2017

   5 October 2017 13:26 Comments Off on White Light Returns to London Fashion Week 2017

   London Fashion Week made a triumphant return to the capital last month. Taking place between 15 – 19^th September, London Fashion Week showcases the very best in British design with catwalk shows, presentations, designer showrooms and a range of bespoke events. The Week was held in prestigious venues all across London and WL was called upon once again to provide the technical support on a range of events.

   WL has worked on London Fashion Week for more than ten years now. This year was one of the busiest yet, featuring more than 100 designers including Giorgio Armani, who was holding a catwalk event for the first time in London for more than ten years.

   WL worked on a variety of events across the week; all of which were overseen by Senior Account Manager Dominic Yates. He comments: “London Fashion Week is always a fantastic event to work on, due to the fact that it is so high-profile and the entire fashion world is watching. Working closely with WL’s Head of Production Stuart Crane and Senior Project Manager Martin Strods, we wanted to ensure that we provided the very best support possible and that each showcase achieved its potential.

   Dominic adds: “We worked with a range of lighting designers on a variety of shows; each of whom had a very particular feel that they were trying to achieve. Our role was to offer the equipment and technical advice both in the pre-rig stages and during the show’s themselves”.

   Some of the events that WL worked on included Joseph at Bloomsbury B1. The show was produced by OBO with a lighting design by Alexandre Lebrun. Alexandre drew on a large range of generic fixtures to achieve his design, including Selecon Fresnels and ETC Source 4 Profiles and Pars.

   Another includes the Simone Rocha showcase which took place at the historic Middle Temple Hall, where WL is an approved technical supplier. The iconic fashion label presented its new collection in a showcase produced by Karlo Otto and featuring a lighting design by Tupac Matir. Dominic adds: “With the Simone Rocha showcase, we supplied a combination of GLP Impression X4 RGBW LED, GLP Impression X4 Bar 20s and ETC Source Fours. We also supplied the audio for this show drawing on our range of EM Acoustics loud speakers, and a Yamaha QL1 for control.”

   Other events that WL worked on throughout London Fashion Week include Natasha Zinko at Somerset House, Alistair James at Fitzrovia Chapel, Gucci at 180 The Strand, DAKS at The Langham and the COS Party at the National Gallery.

   Dominic adds: “This year’s London Fashion Week was extremely busy and saw us working in multiple venues across the capital; a lot of the time simultaneously. That said, our extensive equipment inventory and technical staff ensured that every event we worked on ran extremely smooth and we look forward to returning once again next year”.

   It’s been an exciting few months for WL’s Production team, with the appointment of Caz Caddick as Crew Co-ordinator, Martin Strods as Senior Project Manager and Harry Greenfield and Steve Burnham as Account Managers. The team has also appointed Rachel Condon as a dedicated Account Handler to manage the department’s internal kit logistics. WL’s Head of Production Stuart Crane comments: “We’ve added five highly-skilled and passionate individuals to our already established team. We want to ensure our clients continue to receive the very best service possible and the growth of our Production team will ensure that this happens on every single project”.

   Photos courtesy of Martin Strods.

4. 42nd Street – Exclusive Interview with Peter Mumford

   27 April 2017 08:26 Comments Off on 42nd Street – Exclusive Interview with Peter Mumford

   Considered by many to be one of the biggest Broadway musicals of all time, 42^nd Street has now arrived in London where it has received rave reviews from audiences and critics alike. Starring Grammy Award winner Sheena Easton, this all singing, high-kicking spectacle is currently playing at Theatre Royal Drury Lane – London’s biggest stage.  The show tells the story of young Peggy Sawyer who is fresh off the bus from small-town America and just another face in the chorus line on Broadway’s newest show. Yet when the leading lady gets injured, Peggy might just have the shot at stardom which she’s always dreamed off… The lighting design is by Olivier Award winner Peter Mumford and White Light has supplied the equipment. We sat down with Peter who told us about his approach to the show and how he achieved his design:

   42^nd Street is obviously an iconic show. Have you lit it before? If not, how do you approach a show as renowned as this?

   No, I’ve not lit 42nd Street previously or indeed seen it. You’re right – it is an iconic show with a long history since the early eighties. In this instance, I’d say that not having seen it was probably an advantage as I didn’t have too many preconceptions. There are some images that date right back to the original Gower Champion concept that ‘travel’ with the show, such as the dressing room scene at the start of Act Two which are unchangeable so just there to be reconstructed rather that re-imagined. Having said that, that particular scene is quite brilliant so one wouldn’t want to change it but rather reproduce it as beautifully as possible. Those instances aside,  there are plenty of opportunities to reinvent the look of much of the rest of the piece and I relished that opportunity and hopefully was able to bring new looks to lots of the show.

    What was your brief when working on the production?

   As I said above, some parts are sacrosanct – Gower Champion died concurrent with the opening production on Broadway so these scenes remain as a tribute to his genius but much of the work has (in this production) been updated with more recent technology and there was plenty of space for invention as well. I’m pleased to say that Doug Schmidt, the designer, said that he’d never seen it sharper or more detailed in terms of both the lighting and the way his scenery looked. So, although the piece has a history which had to be respected, and I was working alongside much of the original creative team, it never felt too restricted creatively.

    How much preparation did you do? What did this entail?

   Obviously a good look at early pictures of the scenic designs which are quite complex – there’s a lot of scenery in this show. There is also a huge number of beautifully painted cloths and structures (all repainted brilliantly by Andrew Greenfield). These cloths are painted in a variety of ways and on different material surfaces, so some are painted to be back lit and some front whereas some could be lit from both front and back. It was important to understand this and also get a clear idea of the rapid fire order of scenes. Studying the ground plans was pretty crucial as the grid is absolutely packed. This also meant that onstage lighting positions were very much defined by the hanging and order of scenery. My spot bar one was forced to be further upstage than I would normally have liked; hung under the large dressing room structure because that was the only place it would fit!

   There are also around five thousand light bulbs built into the design which feature heavily in some of the numbers – here we kept to the original design but updated the technology of the realisation.It was important not to lose the period feel of the piece which, of course, is set in the 1930’s.

   I had quite a bit of pre-communication with set designer Doug Schmidt and the writer and director Mark Bramble. Pre-production meetings involved quite a lot of conference calls between London, New York and the West Coast. It was quite a relief when we finally all got on the same stage at Drury Lane.

    

   What kit did you draw on to achieve your design?

   In the end I went for a pretty much automated overhead rig comprised of Martin MAC Vipers, ETC Source 4 Lustr 2 Profiles and GLP Impression X4 Bar 20s. Out front, there were a lot of regular ETC Source Fours alogn with Philips Vari*Lite VL3500Qs  on the distant truss.

    Did any fixture prove particularly useful for this production?

   I was very impressed with the GLP Bars which we pixel mapped, meaning that each individual cell was available. I used complete bars of them on almost each onstage bar and they were very useful to both light cloths and, because of the tilt and flood facility, create a good punchy backlight wash too.

   The Vipers proved to be a versatile and constantly useful workhorse and created great flexibility in the many big numbers. It was a great combination.

    Where there any obstacles with the show?

   I suppose the trickiest thing was the downstage lighting bar being quite a bit further upstage than I would have chosen. This is because there is simply so much scenery downstage there wasn’t room. Using an advance truss downstage of the proscenium did prove to be a way around this and, in the end, it worked well. We had to make quite a busy ‘track’ for some of the side booms which have to be frequently moved out of place during the show to allow scenery to get on stage. As a result, I was quite often asking ‘is bay 2 in position?’ and looking for ways to light a scene if it wasn’t. Ultimately, we created quite a complex system of pathways for scenery and all was resolved, but all credit to the onstage LX crew for managing this so well.

    Any other comments?

   Generally speaking I’m not a huge user of follow spots but my team at Drury Lane are the best you could wish for. That also goes for the entire in-house crew under the leadership of Steve McAndrew – great support and work throughout the five weeks of production. Special thanks too to my team: Declan Randall, my Associate, John Tapster, Production LX and Vic Brennan, my Programmer – all of them are just brilliant!

   Photos courtesy of Brinkhoff/Moegenburg.

5. White Light Continues to Invest in GLP Products

   12 April 2017 08:01 Comments Off on White Light Continues to Invest in GLP Products

   

   The GLP Impression X4 Bar 20

   Since it was founded in 1971, White Light has established itself as a leading supplier of lighting equipment to the entertainment industry. Whether it’s theatre, broadcast, concert touring or installations, the company offers its services on a variety of projects, from Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, to ITV Sport’s coverage of EURO 2016 to Jessie J’s UK tour. To ensure that each client receives the very latest equipment, the company constantly invests in revolutionary products from leading manufacturers; with one of these being GLP (German Lighting Products).

   GLP was established in 1994 as a leading manufacturer of cutting-edge lighting technology.  Being at the forefront of LED technology within the entertainment lighting sector, the company is committed to providing designers with technology that allows them to expand their artistic expectations. The company’s award-winning X4 series has become a standard around the world, recognised for its versatile and packed feature set.

   

   La Cage Aux Folles

   WL’s Managing Director Bryan Raven comments: “Whenever GLP have announced a new product, it has always been one that has filled a gap in the market and offered clients something that previously wasn’t available. When the GLP X4 Bars were launched at PLASA a couple of years ago, we immediately invested in these as we recognised they would allow designers to create looks and feels that previously couldn’t be achieved”.

   With the X4 Bars in particular, WL stocks more than 200 in its inventory, along with a whole host of other GLP fixtures. Bryan adds: “Our ethos is simple: if it’s a great product and we know that it’s going to be used regularly and benefit our clients then we’ll invest in it. With the X4 Bar 20s, these are currently in use on the recently opened and critically-acclaimed 42nd Street, along with An Inspector Calls, La Cage Aux Folles and even the first ever lighting rig at Shakespeare’s Globe”.

   

   Simon Barrett and Bryan Raven at Prolight + Sound

   Alongside offering revolutionary technology, GLP has an expert team who helps create its products and relay back the needs of those working within the entertainment industry. Last week, they announced the appointment of Simon Barrett whose role at the company will be to work closely with premier lighting designers and specifiers. Simon comments: “I’m delighted to be joining GLP at what is a really exciting time for the company. My priority will be to get our state-of-the-art products in front of key people who will get the most out of it”.

   Simon’s role will also see him work closely with GLP’s users including WL. However this isn’t the first time that Simon has worked with the company. He adds: “I actually worked for WL many years ago back in 2004! Despite the company’s huge growth over the past decade, they have still retained their friendly, family-feel approach and I’m very excited to be working with them again in some capacity”.

   Simon was at Prolight + Sound last week in Frankfurt where he met and spoke with clients for the first time as a member of the GLP team.

   Bryan adds: “We’re delighted that Simon has joined the GLP team and look forward to working closely with him over the next few months as we further invest in GLP products; offering our clients the very latest technology”.

   Photos courtesy of GLP and Pamela Raith.