Tag Archive: Jedd Hamilton

1. White Light Supplies Lighting for Holes UK Tour

   11 February 2020 09:59 Leave a Comment

   

   White Light has supplied the lighting equipment for Holes which is currently touring venues across the UK.  

   Presented by The Children’s Theatre Partnership, Holes is the creative new stage show based on the multi-award winning novel and Hollywood blockbuster. Adapted for the stage by the novel’s author Louis Sachar, the piece is set in a labour camp where a boy, Stanley, has to dig the same sized hole every day while a tyrannical warden looks on. The show features a lighting design by Prema Mehta and an associate lighting design by Guy Jones.

   Guy comments: “I have dual roles on this production as Associate Lighting Designer to Prema as well as Production Electrician, with my overall brief being to recreate the original lighting design in a touring format. Many of the tour moves are in and up in a day so one central aim has been to replicate the looks while ensuring the rig would be quick to install. Making a consistent standard achievable for every tour move was my main focus with regards to designing the rig itself. Another big consideration was that the entire show must tour in one trailer, so any toured LX had to occupy as little space as possible”.

   

   As the play is set in the Texan desert, this played a huge part in Prema’s design. Guy explains: “In terms of feel, Prema’s design uses strong colours on the cyc, with the heat of the desert being introduced with warm backlight. There are also many specials used for puppets and other specific whilst side light is also used a lot. I started with the kit list that Prema had used for the original Nottingham Playhouse production and worked closely with WL’s Senior Account Handler Jedd Hamilton to find fixtures that would be more suited to a touring production”.

   Vari-Lite VL1000/1100 AS and TS units featured strongly in the original rig and this was something that Guy chose to keep in the touring rig. He explains: “Whilst they are not the most modern units, I am personally very fond of the contrast between the AS and TS sources and they work to great effect in many moments of this production. For the cyc lighting, simple yet strong colours were required but I was also keen to keep weight and rigging time to a minimum. As such, Jedd suggested the Showline SL400 RGBW Battens which worked perfectly as they were very easy to rig and provided the exact colour palette needed.

   

   He continues: “For LED wash lights, we settled on a combination of ROBE 1200 and 800 LEDWash units. Once again, these are lightweight and provide all the colours required for the show, particularly strong blue hues working very well as well as being able to achieve the straw like colours and other lighter shades also required. Four ColourSource Units are used for gobo effects on the cyc and these work well, proving enough output and suitable colour rendering for the purpose. The sidelight is achieved with standard fixed angle Source Fours and the rest of the rig comes from venue stocks of Fresnels in the overheads and Profiles front of house. For spot effects and practicals, we have used birdies, Source Four Mini Profiles, LOOK Solutions Unique 2.1 Haze machines, along with a SHoW Baby 6 Wireless DMX system”.

   Holes has now opened and will tour venues across the UK until 30^th May 2020.

   Guy concludes: “I am extremely pleased with how the show looks and the touring rig is compact and effective. I always enjoy working with Jedd who’s extremely helpful in finding what fits the brief and budget from WL’s hire stock”. 

   Photos courtesy of Manuel Harlan.

2. White Light Keeps The American Clock Ticking at Old Vic

   21 February 2019 15:26 Leave a Comment

   

   White Light has provided the lighting equipment for Arthur Miller’s The American Clock which recently opened at the Old Vic Theatre, London.

   The American Clock portrays the devastation that American citizens experienced when the stock market crashed and the Great Depression began in 1929. The play uses an ensemble cast to explore the lives of several families across several cities. It is directed by the renowned Rachel Chavkin and features a lighting design by Olivier Award-winning Natasha Chivers. Natasha comments: “This is an epic play that manages to tell a huge story about an entire nation. Rachel wanted to create something quite extraordinary in which we put the audience right into this extraordinary time in American history. Part of this included having audience members on stage. What this means is that the Old Vic stage has now been turned so that it’s practically ‘in the round’. When I’ve lit shows here before it’s always been ‘end on’ so this was a new experience for me. My brief then became to ensure I adapted my design to the space and that the lighting was strong from both sides”.

   

   To achieve this, Natasha looked at a range of different lighting options. She comments: “Initially, we toyed with the idea of using a tracking moving light system as well as followspots due to the fact that we needed to stay with the characters as they moved round the revolving stage. We eventually decided to go for one large moving light rig which would light everything. What’s really interesting about this play is that it’s a combination of your traditional Arthur Miller play coupled with music pieces (although it’s very much not a musical). As a result, it meant the design I created needed a mix of tungsten, LED and discharge lighting”.

   Natasha would use the tungsten lighting for the play’s more traditional scenes whereas LED was used for the sparkly musical numbers and the discharge was used to create a glossy feel. She worked closely with WL’s Senior Account Handler Jedd Hamilton to draw on her ideal rig. This included Martin MAC Viper Performances, ETC Series 2 Lustrs, ROBE Robin DL7S Profiles, ETC Revolutions and Martin MAC TW1s.

   

   Natasha explains: “I was really impressed with the ROBE DL7s which offered that perfect cross between serious moments and musical numbers. The TW1s provided me with the tungsten feeling I needed as did the Revolutions. I then drew on the Vipers to fill in for the longer shots”.

   With the show being performed in the round, this meant that Natasha had to ensure the lighting worked from all angles. She explains: “During the technical set-up, the first thing we did was go to the circle section as we had to ensure we were lighting actors from both the standard auditorium (front) yet that these were also lit for the audience sitting on the seats upstage. When focussing the moving lights, this meant we could clearly see where the shadows were on the floor in order to then ensure we were on target”.

   The American Clock has now opened and will run until March 30^th 2019.

   Photos courtesy of Manual Harlan.

3. It’s Panto Season for White Light – Oh Yes it is!

   11 December 2017 10:44 Comments Off on It’s Panto Season for White Light – Oh Yes it is!

   As always at this time of year, the Pantomime season is well and truly underway with dames, beanstalks and magic lamps taking centre stage up and down the country. As one of the leading suppliers to West End and UK touring theatre, White Light is supplying the lighting equipment to a range of pantomimes all across the UK.

   WL’s Hire Manager Jedd Hamilton comments: “For a lot of theatres, pantomimes are their biggest shows of the year. They are often extremely loud, fun and flashy productions; meaning they require a range of lighting equipment to achieve this impact. As a company, it’s our role to ensure we supply designers with exactly what they need”.

   As usual, it’s a host of familiar titles that are gracing the stage this Christmas. WL is supplying productions of Jack and the Beanstalk at the Bournemouth Pavilion, Cambridge Arts Theatre and Salisbury Playhouse. The Lighting Designer at Salisbury is Nic Farman, who comments: “I fundamentally start designing a panto in the same way I design any show, setting out concepts for each location and scene and finding the narrative in the script and music. We’ve tried to find every bit of magic in every moment of Jack and built from there. James Button’s set design is sumptuous and beautiful so lighting it has been a joy.

   He adds: “The show is pretty epic with over 200 individual RGBW festoon bulbs and a lot of practical elements in the set. In terms of the larger rig, I’ve drawn on the Martin MAC 700 Profiles and Coemar Infinity M Spots for the overhead spot work. I’ve also added some extra Martin MAC Auras which give me a great full stage wash from front of house and overhead. Elation Six PARs light the proscenium arch and three portals on stage and there’s also eight GLP Impression X4 Bars which light the downstage cloths”.

   Another popular title is the iconic Snow White which WL is supplying at the Aylesbury Waterside Theatre and Bath Theatre Royal. The company is also supplying an adult-only version of the show at London’s Above the Stag Theatre which is renowned for its adult pantomimes. The lighting designer is Jamie Platt, who comments: “With panto, it’s the old adage of more is more. Every slight moment is a cue and a bold one at that. I don’t think you’d ever be able to get away with turning the stage green and strobing half the rig whenever the villain walks on stage in a play”.

   That said, working on a panto that The Stage lists in its ‘Top Ten Panto List’ does mean there is an element of expectation. Jamie explains: “I worked on the show last year that WL also supplied and each time we’re trying to make the show bigger and better. This year, the show is certainly bold and WL have been fantastic in helping us achieve this”.

   Alongside this, WL is also supplying equipment to Cinderella at the Epsom Playhouse, Greenwich Theatre and Malvern Theatre. Other productions include Sleeping Beauty at the Rhyl Pavilion and Worcester’s Swan Theatre, Peter Pan at the Blackpool Opera House and Aladdin at the Assembly Halls in Tunbridge Wells.

   Jedd adds: “The pantomime season concludes what has been an extremely busy year for WL. We continue to be the leading lighting supplier to the West End, supplying new productions of 42^nd Street, Young Frankenstein, Heisenberg and Venus in Fur, along with continuing our work on long-running shows such as Matilda, Les Misérables and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. We also supplied some of the UK’s biggest tours, as seen with The Band, Miss Saigon, Grease and Flashdance along with site-specific projects, fringe shows and school productions. We’re looking forward to 2018 where we will continue to work on a range of productions and offer designers the best service possible”.

   Photos courtesy of The Other Richard, PGBStudios and Robert Day

4. Miss Saigon Takes off on UK Tour with White Light

   16 August 2017 09:38 Comments Off on Miss Saigon Takes off on UK Tour with White Light

   Considered to be one of the greatest musicals of modern times, Miss Saigon tells the epic love story of young bar girl Kim who falls for American GI Chris during the fall of Saigon. Cameron Mackintosh’s acclaimed production of Boubil and Schonberg’s classic embarked on a record-breaking run in the West End and is now touring the UK. Having supplied the most recent revival, along with the original run thirty years ago, White Light has been called upon to provide the lighting equipment for this latest UK tour.

   The lighting designer for the tour is Olivier Award-winning Bruno Poet who also lit the West End revival. He comments: “When Cameron asked me to light the 2014 production for the West End,  it was daunting to start work on a production with so much history, yet thrilling to be asked to approach it with fresh ideas. I treated it as a completely new show. After the successful West End run, and revisiting the show for Broadway, the UK tour has been an opportunity to revisit my design and hone it for touring.

   He adds: “It’s a challenging show to light – extremely fast-paced, with many changes of mood and location, from the smoky sleaze of Dreamland, to the bleakness of the refugee camp, to the military formality of The Morning of the Dragon and the fantasy of the American Dream. At times it needs to be as epic as an opera, and at others as intimate as a play. A lot of my job would be as much directing the darkness as directing the light. Many moments of the show rely on hiding things with darkness and smoke”.

   In terms of feel, the touring production still remains very similar to the West End. Bruno comments: “The main difference with the rig is that the touring version uses far less conventional fixtures and a few more moving lights. We’ve also replaced all of the scrollers with ETC Source 4 Lustr 2 units which are great touring fixtures”.

   For the tour, Bruno once again approached WL to provide him with the exact fixtures needed for this ambitious show. He states: “We have 36 x Martin MAC Viper Performances on the rig which are fantastic for creating directional keylight and beams through the haze.  Working closely with Vicky Fairall at Goboplus, we created custom-made gobos which helped the lighting blend in with the set and projection. For instance, the set features scenic borders that have a bamboo criss-cross pattern. We created a gobo which reflected this so the shadows feel like a part of the set.  Similarly, during American Dream, we use custom Dollar Bill artwork to match the projection and the themes of the song. They also make a great air look”.

   Bruno also drew on 52 x Martin MAC Auras. He states: “I packed the Auras close together so that they worked parallel with one another, creating almost light curtains. These offer big backlight looks and proved ideal for the big numbers. I also used the Auras at the side of the stage for sidelight; due to the fact they are so compact and can be hidden within the scenery”. Bruno also used the GLP X4 Battens for the other big number sequences, in particular American Dream.

   Bruno’s lighting design worked alongside the award-winning set design by Totie Driver and Matt Kinley. He states: “At the back of the set is a skycloth made with layers of painted BP screen and gauze. I wanted to create many different looks in the sky so, to work with these layers, I chose EvenLED Panels.  They can be pixel mapped with detailed video content and are therefore extremely flexible. We also had very limited space – only 300mm between the BP and the back of the theatre in some venues.  It would never have been possible to light the cyc in a conventional way.”  Chroma Q ColourForce 12 LED Battens are also used to skim across the gauzes.

   Another significant fixture on the rig was the ETC Revolution. Bruno adds: “I still prefer the quality of tungsten light on faces. The Revolutions are used mainly in the warmer scenes and give a good contrast to the rest of the rig which is so LED and HMI heavy”. Bruno also utilised the Leader Light Stage Beam 6-06D Battens on the floor upstage during the This is the Hour sequence to backlight rows of soldiers. He explains: “Their super bright beam cuts well through the haze, and is so narrow that it can terminate on the circle fronts and avoid blinding the audience”. He also drew on Martin MAC Viper Washes and five followspots for punchier washlight effects; including three Robert Juliat Cyranos out front and Source 4 Lustr 2s positioned on the side towers.

   It’s not just lights that play a significant role in Bruno’s design. He adds: “This show has a lot of smoke machines in it. We have nine Look Solutions Unique Hazers positioned so that the haze can be pumped  through lines of holes drilled through the floor  There are four more Unique Hazers above the ground along with five Look Solution Viper 2.6 Smoke Machines.  We also have two MDG ATMe Haze Generators that WL invested in specifically for this production. These create the best fine haze which allow beams of light to be seen without obscuring the action of stage. For low lying fog we have two Cryofogs and real dry ice is built into the Cadillac which is featured in the show”.

   Miss Saigon is currently in Birmingham where it has achieved critical acclaim from critics and audience members alike. It will stay at the Hippodrome until 23^rd September before visiting venues in Dublin, Edinburgh, Manchester and finally concluding at Norwich Theatre Royal in August next year.

   Bruno states: “This is a stunning show and it’s great to take it on a UK tour for the first time in over a decade. I’m extremely proud of my design and playing a part in telling this now iconic story. I have been brilliantly supported by my associate Warren Letton and programmer Dave Totaro as well as the dedicated touring electricians Jim Bristow, Stuart Moorhouse and Leoni Withers. I am also grateful to Jedd Hamilton and everyone at WL for their support throughout”.

   Photographs by Johan Persson © Cameron Mackintosh Ltd