Tag Archive: Hire Theatre Lighting

1. White Light Goes into Overflow at Bush Theatre

   15 December 2020 13:58 Leave a Comment

   

   Ever since it was founded in 1972, the Bush Theatre has become renowned for staging ground-breaking work from some of the world’s most exciting artists. Located in West London, it recently re-opened  with the world premiere of  Overflow, written by Travis Alabanza, one of the UK’s most prominent trans voices. Performed in the venue’s main Holloway space, it features a lighting design by Jess Bernberg who approached  White Light to provide the lighting equipment.   

   Overflow  is a welcome return to live performance for the iconic Bush Theatre, as well as Jess herself. She explains:  “Safe to say, it has been a slightly surreal few months.  Back in March, I was one day away from opening  Gulliver’s Travels  at the Unicorn when we went into lockdown. In the meantime, I  kept  myself busy by learning French  and  German  on Zoom with other designers,  as well as pushing my work with the ALD and their sustainability measures. I had  taken a break from theatre when, early last month, I  spoke to Overflow’s director Debbie Hannan who asked  me to light the show.  Knowing how wonderful the venue, the team and the script was, I became incredibly excited”.   

   Overflow  is  a hilarious and devastating tour of women’s bathrooms,  told through the story of Rosie who is  played by transgender actress, writer, and poet  Reece Lyons. Jess comments:  ”From the early stages, Debbie and Max Johns, our designer, and I  knew  w e wanted to achieve a surreal vapourware aesthetic for our abstracted bathroom space. We were restricted to a thrust staging as this allowed the most capacity for a socially-distant audience. In terms of what I wanted to achieve artistically, Rosie is an extrovert who really pulls us through the story and this felt like the jumping off point for the lighting. We know Rosie would have no fear slamming us into a bright pink state, or the depths of a rave and so we wanted to make her memories vivid in colour. From there, I started with the muted colours of the set and we created a dramaturgy for Rosie’s colour world through tech – teal for childhood, acid green for the fear of the outside trying to get in, purple and acid yellow for her friend Zee and raves, bright pink for her friend Charlotte, orange for liberation and then back to neutral for the present day”.   

   

   As the show was being planned during a global pandemic, this meant that Jess’ normal preparation plans for a show had to adapt to the ever-changing circumstances. She explains: “As with so many shows being made during this period, there were many Zoom calls.  We had our first read through/meet and greet on Zoom, which was obviously quite a strange affair, but  great to hear the script out loud. We only had three weeks rehearsal and our wonderful Stage Manager Rike Berg needed 24 hours’ notice for those attending rehearsals to keep capacity down and enough distance. I made sure  I attended as many rehearsals as possible  (mask on, of course) and it was  fantastic . Just to be sat in a space creating a show, was such a privilege and one I didn’t take for granted”.    

   Once Jess had decided what her lighting design needed to look like, she approached the Hires team at WL who assisted her in supplementing the Bush’s existing in-house rig. She explains: “I used ColorSource Profiles and various LED pars which could fit within a relatively small rig yet still pack a punch with colour and intensity. I’m an active environmentalist so was conscious to make the rig have as low carbon footprint as possible, with the energy consumption data being analysed by Rob Halliday and his PowerTrack software. Days before fit up, the set design changed to incorporate a back wall feature, which, although feeling very right for the space, left me with a 7m x 3m white wall to light! I ended up using ETC ColorSource Cyc units, which were absolutely perfect as they colour-matched well with the rest of the rig, were incredibly bright even over the wide span, and created soft, diffused light that gave me a backwall canvas to play with in vapourware style acidic and pastel block colour”.   

   The show opened last week to rave reviews across the board and immediately announced an extension into January 2021. Although, with the government’s announcement of London entering Tier 3, this means that all theatres within the city must now close and any live performance is unable to go ahead.    

   Jess concludes: “It is, of course, incredibly disheartening to hear that tonight will be the last performance we  have for the foreseeable future. As difficult as this is, I  am  incredibly proud of what we managed to achieve and how we overcame all of the  obstacles to put on a show that champions a voice and story we don’t see enough of on stage. I’d like to say a massive thank  you  to the Bush team and all of the other creatives I was lucky enough to work with on this show. I’d also like to say a big thanks to the WL team for their fantastic support once again and for providing such a brilliant service during what is a surreal time for everyone in our industry”.  

   Photos courtesy of Sharron Wallace.

2. White Light is Part of the Family for Uncle Vanya

   19 February 2020 12:17 Leave a Comment

   

   White Light has supplied the lighting equipment for Uncle Vanya which has opened at the Harold Pinter Theatre in London’s West End.

   Written by Anton Checkov, Uncle Vanya is possibly one of theatre’s most iconic plays, with thousands of productions since its Moscow premiere in 1899. This latest production has been directed by Ian Rickson and features a lighting design by Bruno Poet. Bruno comments: “What’s great about this translation is that it doesn’t reinvent the original but actually gives it a modern edge, using contemporary and accessible language which makes it moving, clear and very funny. Whilst it is set in the 19^th century, the themes feel completely relevant to today”.

   Bruno’s brief on the show was to move the story forward and support the character’s emotional journeys. He explains: “The script calls for a sense of the time of day, and the weather. We start in summer sunshine, move to a hot, but stormy night, then enter an autumnal afternoon that slowly travels through sunset to dusk and night time. The production all happens in the same space, so the lighting needed to give each act a distinctive feel while belonging within Rae Smith’s elegant design.  Although we are guided by the script, Ian and I wanted the feel to be bold and expressionistic, sculpting the air and supporting the focus of the performers; with all the characters trapped in the misery of loneliness and unrequited love”.

   

   As such, Bruno started designing his rig and choosing the fixtures that would be most suitable. He comments: “I knew I wanted tungsten light through the big windows that make up most of the stage right wall. I needed the rich warms across the wooden floor, and the beautiful colour shift as the lights fade. I wanted the flexibility of a few moving lights to allow me to put specials wherever I needed to frame and focus the storytelling. Also, I had to have an incredibly quiet rig. Ian warned me that he is obsessed with eliminating even the smallest fan noise – and rightly so. The delicacy and intimacy of the spoken word, powerfully supported by Stephen Warbeck’s music and Ian Dickinson’s sound design, should not be destroyed by the background hum of fans”.

   Bruno approached the Hire Team at WL to acquire the fixtures he needed. He explains: “The main feel of the play is driven by 24 par cans with scrollers outside the SR window. These gave me the bold directional light source I wanted. These are balanced with an area cover of ETC Source 4 Series 2 Lustrs from Front of House. I had 4 Martin MAC TW1s overhead for specials and 4 Martin MAC Encore Performances front of house for the same. Offstage of the SR window, Rae designed a forest that slowly grows into the house. This was lit by 4 Ayrton Ghiblis, chosen for their punch and wide angle (and quietness). The Ghiblis gave me the ability to show single shadow moonlight through the windows, compared to the pars that were a softer more expressionist source. A bunch of candles, lit by the cast and some tungsten practicals delivered the contrast in the night-time scenes. More Ghiblis high in the USR and USL corners gave me cold directional light for the night-time scenes. A very light haze was provided by an MDG ATMOSPHERE  – just to give a sense of dust hanging in the air”.

   

   As always with shows like this, Bruno’s design had to alter slightly during the rehearsal and preview period. He explains: “Ensuring the rig stayed quiet was quite hard and we had to experiment with how low we could turn down the scroller fans before we melted the gel strings. Thankfully, we found a level where they could not be heard and where the gel survives. We also had to work out where to place the foliage outside the windows without it impeding the shots of the par cans. One morning the crew looked more like gardeners than technicians!”.

   Uncle Vanya has now opened to rave reviews, receiving five stars in The Guardian, WhatsOnStage and The I. It runs until 2^nd May 2020.

   Bruno comments: “I really enjoyed lighting such a delicate and nuanced play. Having recently worked on a lot of musicals, concerts and operas, this was a big (but welcomed!) contrast. There was a fantastic team on this show – everyone from the cast, creatives, stage management and the team at the Pinter – and so it was an absolute joy to work together and carefully build our version of Checkov’s story. I’d like to say particular thanks to Warren Letton, my Associate and Programmer for the show who was a huge support. Also, a big thanks to WL for supplying the equipment I needed”.

   Photos courtesy of Johan Persson.