Tag Archive: Jonathan Haynes

1. 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.

2. White Light Takes a Trip Down Avenue Q for UK Tour

   1 February 2019 10:10 1 Comment

   

   White Light has supplied the lighting equipment on the Tony Award-winning musical Avenue Q which is currently embarking on a UK Tour.

   Avenue Q is a laugh-out-loud musical featuring puppets who tell the story of recent college graduate Princeton who moves into a shabby New York apartment on Avenue Q. Here, he meets a range of colourful characters who help him discover his true purpose in life. The production is produced by Selladoor Worldwide and features a lighting design by Charlie Morgan Jones. Charlie comments: “This is the fifth time I’ve lit the show, having worked on previous UK tours and even a Hong Kong run. Whereas this time the show remains just as hilarious, we have in fact completely revamped the lighting rig”.

   Prior to the show, Charlie sat down with Director Cressida Carre and Set Designer Richard Evans to talk about the look and feel of the show. Charlie comments: “Our brief was quite simple – it had to be bright, colourful and comic. Although the production has evolved over the last four years, we have kept the same ethos throughout – which is to provide every audience member with a side-splitting experience”.

   Part of this evolution includes the lighting rig itself, which has undergone a large revamp with this latest version of the show. Charlie explains: “Technology has moved forward a lot in the past few years and I wanted this to be reflected in the design. Now, for the first time, we have an entirely LED rig overhead”.

   

   For his ideal rig, Charlie approached WL and worked closely with Business Development Manager Jonathan Haynes and Senior Account Handler Dan Last. He comments: “We replaced the fresnels that we previously had with brand-new ETC Lustr 2s. These are used for the set dressing at front of house and backlighting for the whole stage. They also give us far more options than a standard fresnel would. For instance, in the song ‘If You Were Gay’, where we had only two colours before, we are now able to use every colour from the pride rainbow flag. Similarly, as the day gets longer, we’re able to move through the entire colours of the day, from sunrise to sunset and everything in between; with these fixtures giving us the scope to do that”.

   Charlie has also drawn heavily on the Vari*Lite 2600s which are a new fixture that WL recently invested in and were used for the first time on Charlie’s previous show, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Unmasked at The Other Palace. Charlie comments: “When I used the 2600s, I was simply blown away by them. They are a fantastic fixture that really allow me to achieve the crisp brightness and colour I’m constantly striving for. Once I’d used them for the first time, I literally redrew the lighting plans for Avenue Q to include them in the rig!”.

   Whilst Charlie has drawn on a range of new fixtures, the show still relies heavily on followspotting; something he had to incorporate during his design and the tech period. He comments: “The set design is nothing short of beautiful but it is only four meters up stage so is very present! However, there are times in the show when you want to lose the street setting and focus solely on the puppets. Therefore, I had to combat this through some very intricate positioning. The lighting also controls the automation of the set doors on this version so I’ve had to ensure all the different elements work in unison!

   

   He adds: “I am absolutely delighted with the rig we’ve put together for Avenue Q and know this will look the best it’s ever been. Fortunately, for all my recent shows I’ve had a brilliant team with me every step of the way, which includes Programmer Paul Walmsley, Production Electricians Toby Cartmell and Chris Gunnell, Chief LX Jack Ramplin, LX2 Dan Chalk and the original Avenue Q Associate LD George Smith”.

   The show marks an extremely busy few weeks for Charlie, who in the past two months has also worked on Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Unmasked (The Other Palace Theatre) and The Lady Vanishes (UK Tour). He is also preparing for his latest tour, The Shy Manifesto. For all of these productions, WL has supplied the lighting equipment.

   Charlie concludes: “I am extremely grateful with the brilliant service I have received once again from WL on all four shows I’ve recently lit. Nothing is ever too much and they are always on the end of the phone, eager to help in any situation. I look forward to continue working with them throughout the year”.

   Photos courtesy of Matt Martin.

3. Oh Yes It is Panto Season for White Light

   13 December 2018 11:36 Leave a Comment

   

   With the festive season now upon us, theatre stages up and down the country are being filled with dames, beanstalks, flying carpets and glass slippers. As a leading lighting supplier to West End and UK touring theatre, White Light is once again suppyling a range of pantomimes this Christmas.

   Pantomimes are many venue’s biggest production of the year, with these classic childhood stories often starring household names. An all-time favourite is Aladdin and, this year, WL is supplying several versions of the show, including one at Hackney Empire which is lit by David Howe. He comments: “Hackney Empire’s Aladdin evolved a lot in the rehearsal process, with a lot new music being written specifically for this production. My brief, as ever, was to enhance the whole look of the show and help the audience focus on each story-telling moment. When it comes to equipment, it’s not actually about the flashiest new kit or what’s just arrived on the shelf. Rather, it’s about drawing on fixtures that you know will be reliable and able to cope with 12 performances a week – something WL has in abundance”.

   WL is also supplying Aladdin in Cambridge, Crawley, Norwich, Yeovil and Swindon, with the Wyvern Theatre production starring EastEnders legend Adam Woodyatt. The Lighting Programmer for the show is Eden Thornton, who comments: “I’ve now worked on ten pantos over the last six years. They can often be hard work as you’re trying to create a big show in what’s not a great amount of time. That said, it’s very exhilarating. It’s also important to have a good team around you as well as the services of a reliable hire company; hence we try and use WL whenever we can”.

   Other popular titles that WL is supplying include Snow White in Bolton and Malvern, along with The Wizard of Oz at the Birmingham Rep and Bolton Octagon. Cinderella is going to the ball in Canterbury, Eastbourne, Guildford and Portsmouth whereas Jack and the Beanstalk is sprouting on stage in both Epsom and Watford. Peter Pan is also flying into Theatre Royal Portsmouth as well as the Park Theatre, London, where Nic Farman is the lighting designer. Nic comments: “I’ve worked on a couple of pantos now and, from my experience, you can really be bold and create beautiful, colourful stage pictures which captivate the audience’s imagination. Peter Pan at the Park Theatre is actually a more traditional version of the play and my role is to use light to create the locations that appear throughout the course of the show. We rely heavily on saturated colour and texture from gobo washes to help transform the relatively small stage for each part of the play. The team at WL have been great in providing me with the fixtures I need to take the audience to places such as Neverland, Mermaids Lagoon and Captain Hook’s Pirate Ship”.

   WL also supplied the lighting for Sinbad at the Beck Theatre for BACCES: the British Airways Cabin Crew Entertainment Society which puts on a yearly panto, and in its history has raised over £1M for worthy causes. The Lighting Designer was Jonathan Haynes, who states: “Compared to a traditional play, panto is generally very flashy and colourful, jam packed with fun where anything goes! Basically nothing is off limits, so long as it also helps to tell the story! With this show in particular, as the cast are full-time cabin crew for British Airways, there were only a limited number of rehearsals so I had to have a design that was flexible and could change. For instance, the first tech run was the first time I actually saw the characters’ lavish costumes and so I very quickly had to tune the colours to compliment these; hence it was vital I had equipment that offered versatility”.

   The busy panto season is a fitting conclusion to what’s been an extremely busy 2018 for WL, who have supplied the lighting on a range of theatre smashes including Company, The Band, Tina – The Musical, The Inheritance, The Pinter Season alongside long-running hits such as Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Aladdin, Matilda and Les Misérables.

   WL’s Managing Director Bryan Raven comments: “It’s been another great year in which we’ve continued working on shows of all sizes all across the country. We are now looking forward to 2019 where we will continue our investment in both the latest technology and expert staff in order to offer lighting professionals the level of service they’ve come to expect from us”.

4. White Light on The Deck at the National Theatre

   22 October 2018 11:48 Leave a Comment

   

   The National Theatre is one of the world’s most iconic theatres, with its various stages having hosted some of the biggest names in theatrical history. Alongside its numerous productions, the venue is also frequently used as an events space; due to both its fantastic location and unique spaces. One of these is the recently re-opened rooftop venue The Deck. The space offers uninterrupted panoramic views across the Thames, providing a stunning backdrop for any occasion. With a reputation for supplying the technical solutions in event spaces across the UK, White Light was called upon to provide the lighting equipment for The Deck.

   Prior to The Deck being opened, the National Theatre had a temporary events space venue that was initially planned to only be open for five years. Due to its overwhelming popularity, the National Theatre decided to make it a permanent fixture and appointed Lighting Resources Manager Paul Hornsby to oversee the lighting specifications. Speaking about the lighting requirements for the space, Paul comments: “My role was to specify all of the lighting infrastructure and equipment in order to meet the requirements of the range of the events that take place in The Deck; whether it’s a conference, a sit down dinner or a wedding disco”. To achieve this, Paul worked closely with his Lighting Resources Team and Lighting Control Team, led by Dan Murfin.

   Together they looked at a range of the latest lighting and control equipment currently available on the market and, reflecting the existing control systems that are already in place at the National Theatre, decided to keep with the ETC Paradigm controlling the whole system. Paul explains: “This system triggers 8 universes of ETC Mosaic of which there are various day, night and disco lighting timeline states already pre-programmed for use. That said, in regards to choosing the actual lighting fixtures for The Deck, this was a process of visiting a number of trade shows to find equipment that was compact, yet bright and quiet which would fulfil our needs in The Deck. Everything needed to be as multi functioning as possible with the ability to change colour quickly at the touch of a button in order to satisfy client needs in The Deck”.

   Once they had a list of equipment, the team came down to WL’s state-of-the-art Studio15 where WL had created a truss rigged at the same height of The Deck. The truss then allowed Paul and his team to evaluate what worked best on its own and together with other fixtures. Paul explains: “After the demonstration, we decided on a mixture of Martin MAC Aura XBs, Clay Paky Axcor Spot 300s, Ayrton MAGICDOT-SXs and Ayrton COSMOPIX-Rs. These all serve different purposes from colour washes to podium lighting and table highlights, depending on the event configuration. The main houselight fixture of the space is the Chroma Q Inspire which provides an even wash over the whole space from warm to cold whites, pastel shades and saturated colours. On the exterior of the building, we opted for the new Martin Quad Graze fitting to highlight the glass sides of the building in a stunning array of colour”.

   The technology supplied by WL will be used to elevate the existing space as well as have the ability to quickly change the look of The Deck with light levels and colour to suit any client’s needs. The high-tech system is controlled via a Paradigm touchscreen which is operated by the Hospitality and Events Team, allowing them to trigger pre-programmed states or take control of any fixture and change the live colour to suit the event.

   The Deck has now officially re-opened and has already facilitated a range of events. Paul concludes: “Ensuring the space was equipped with the correct lighting equipment was very much a collaborative affair; with myself, Dan, Huw, Clara, Chris from the NT along with Tom McGuire from ETC. We were also very grateful to WL, in particular Jonathan Haynes and Ally DeCourcy, for their support and guidance throughout”.

   Photos courtesy of James Bellorini.

5. White Light in the Picture for Canon Camera Launch

   18 October 2018 10:16 Leave a Comment

   

   Canon recently held the launch of its new camera the EOS R at Shoreditch Electric Light Station, London. The camera giants invited journalists along to take part in an experiential experience in which they were transported to a utopian land 400 years in the future. The experience was produced by award-winning theatre company Les Enfants Terribles, known for their work on Alice’s Adventures Underground. Having provided the lighting on a range of immersive projects, White Light was called upon to supply the equipment for this particular launch.

   The lighting designer for the event was Charlie Morgan Jones, who comments: “Canon wanted to launch their new camera yet do so in a way that was interactive and provided the journalists in attendance with an unforgettable experience. Les Enfants came up with the concept that a Canon ambassador was lost in the future and it was down to the invited journalists to ‘find her’. The set design team created a variety of spaces, including the Lab, Missing Persons Room, Museum of Curiosity, Worker’s Space and the Gym; each of which contained clues and potential pointers as to where the ambassador might be. The finale is that they find her in a space named Utopia and she does a beautiful aerial act which they photograph using the new Canon camera, thus allowing them to try out this latest model and all of its settings”.

   Charlie’s own brief was to create a lighting design that not only helped tell the story and add to the immersive experience but was also allow the camera to take the best photos possible. Charlie comments: “I’ve never done an event like this before where the lighting had to be so precise in terms of hitting certain lighting levels whilst at the same time retain my own aesthetic for the live audience. The team from Canon actually came round with a light meter to ensure we were hitting the exact levels and we often had to adjust our lighting brightness accordingly”.

   When Charlie first visited the site, it was a complete empty space. Using only the renderings and drawings he had, he approached the WL team and worked closely with Jonathan Haynes and Jim Dewhirst to obtain the exact fixtures he required. He explains: “This was a very unique project in the sense that it was very ‘theatrical’ yet wasn’t taking place in a theatre space as it were. After speaking with WL, I decided to draw on the ETC Source Four Minis which proved invaluable for the smaller spaces where we simply didn’t have the space for a large rig. A lot of the rooms required powerful lighting yet for this to be done discretely and I feel the Minis are the only fixture that are able to achieve this”.

   The largest space used in the experience was the Utopia area. It was here where the entire launch would culminate, with an aerial performance from the ambassador. Charlie explains: “The biggest feature in Utopia was the sun, which was a monster to create. It comprised of 19 par cans, 32 pin spots and a lot of LED tape (although I suspect my Chief LX Paul Walmsley and his masterful electrics team secretly loved making it!). The space also utilised 8 x MAC III Performance, 3 x MAC TW1s and a range of Robert Juliat DALIS”. Over the main acting space, 14 x ETC Lustr 2s provided general coverage, acting as a ‘big light’ to ensure the cast could be seen clearly by the camera.

   As with a lot of events taking place in bespoke environments, the set up time for the project was extremely tight. Charlie explains: “We had three days to set everything up and we were working alongside the construction team who were simultaneously building the set. Also, due to the fact that there was very little free space in the main areas, we actually had to position the lighting desk in another room, meaning all the programming was blind. That said, the Lighting Programmer, Shane Button, was fantastic and it often involved a lot of trial and error with me speaking down a radio to him, acting as his eyes. I was really lucky to be surrounded by a brilliant team, including my right hand man LX Paul Walmsley as well as Charlie Hayday, Gareth Clough, Clancy Flynn and Paul Salmon who were all equally fantastic!”.

   The launch was a huge success, attracting journalists from across the globe. It also marks yet another example of WL working with Charlie. Charlie comments: “This was a fantastic project to work on and unlike anything I’ve ever lit before. I want to say a huge thanks to all the WL team for being so accommodating and for offering guidance from the initial planning stages, all the way through to final delivery”.

   Photos courtesy of Charlie Morgan Jones and Canon Ambassadors.

6. White Light Flies Broken Wings into Theatre Royal Haymarket

   23 August 2018 09:35 Leave a Comment

   

   Broken Wings is a brand-new musical which recently premiered in the West End at the Theatre Royal Haymarket. Based on Lebanese-born poet Kahlil Gibran’s autobiographical tale of the same name, the show is written by Nadim Naaman (The Phantom of the Opera) and composer Dana Al Fardan. As a leading supplier to West End productions, White Light was called upon to supply the lighting equipment.

   The show was lit by Lighting Designer Nic Farman, whose previous West End credits include The Toxic Avenger and 3Women. He comments: “For this particular production, the director Bronagh Lagan and I decided that light would be extremely helpful in conveying a sense of both location and time. The show features the older Gibran reflecting back on his life so the narrative switches to the past frequently. I worked closely with Bronagh to develop the palette for the show. We based the older Gibran scenes around cold blues and CTB which contrasted with hot, rich oranges, yellows and reds for Beirut. As the sorrow of the story develops, the warmth in the lighting is stripped out; culminating in the funeral of Selma.”

   

   Nic adds: “When we were teching the production, it was important to work quickly so we created a number of looks which were refined during the dress rehearsal and first preview. Each location in the show is visually very striking: gardens, shady restaurants, a temple, the docks etc. As a result, we had a lot of fun developing a layered stage picture with the colour palette and texture from gobo washes”.

   Having known what he wanted to achieve from his design, Nic approached WL to draw on a range of fixtures. He comments: “I had a majority moving light rig overhead, with a number of Chauvet Maverick MK2 Profiles and Maverick MK1 Spots to provide specials and gobo washes. These were supplemented with Martin TW1s grouped together in pairs for back washlight. The sidelight came from Chauvet Ovation E930VWs and Ovation E910FC Profiles. The combination of the variable white and full colour units meant I had flexibility to do both variable colour temperature and saturated washes.

   He continues: “The cyc was lit from top and bottom with ETC ColorSource units with the cyc lens attachment. These gave me the rich tones I needed to create the Middle Eastern sky, as well as the punch to fight over the stage wash. Completing the rig were a number of ETC Source Fours positioned front of house as well as two Super Korrigan Followspots”.

   With the show being a limited run, this meant that Nic and his team had a limited period in which to get into the venue. He comments: “The show started going in on Monday morning and opened for first preview on the Wednesday evening. But I was able to design a rig that accommodated for this, with minimal overhead focussing needing to be done and side light at floor level so it could be focused without ladders. Then, when we got into tech, it became about working quickly and in broad brushstrokes that were refined over the dress rehearsal and first preview”.

   The production marks one of many that WL is currently supplying in the West End, with others including TINA – The Tina Turner Musical, 42^ndStreet, Young Frankenstein, Imperium, Pressure, Harry Potter and The Cursed Child, The Importance of Being Earnest, The Jungle, The King and I, The Lieutenant of Inishmore and Aladdin to name but a few.

   Nic comments: “I want to say a massive thanks to my Production Electrician Adam Mottley and his assistant Matt Harding, my follow spot operators Sam Hawkes and Rose Fraser, and all the team at Theatre Royal Haymarket for getting the show in and up in a very short space of time. Also a huge thank you to Jonathan Haynes and Jim Dewhirst at WL and Tom Wilkes at Chauvet for their continued support”.

   Photos courtesy of Marc Brenner.

   Full Credits:

   Broken Wings
   by Nadim Naaman & Dana Al Fardan

   Director: Bronagh Lagan
   Set Design: Claudio Rosa & Mira Abad
   Costume Design: Nik Corrall
   Lighting Design: Nic Farman
   Sound Design: Ed Borgnis & Simon Hendry
   Photos: Marc Brenner

7. White Light Goes Above The Stag with Lighting Installation

   31 July 2018 10:39 Leave a Comment

   

   Based in Vauxhall, Above The Stag Theatre is an award-winning theatre which focuses specifically on producing LGBT+ themed work, including new writing, musicals and revivals. The only full-time professional LGBT+ theatre in the UK, Above The Stag recently moved to a brand-new space in Vauxhall. Having supplied many of Above The Stag’s productions over the years, along with its reputation for providing state-of-the-art theatre installations, White Light was called upon to oversee the lighting installation within this new space.

   The new Above The Stag Theatre is located beneath the arches at Vauxhall Station. WL was initially approached by Lighting Designer Jack Weir, acting as lighting consultant on the project, who met with WL’s Business Development Manager Jonathan Haynes. Jonathan comments: “Above The Stag was moving from an intimate venue to a brand-new, much-larger space. It was exciting to hear Jack’s ambitious plans and to work alongside him to turn these into a reality. The arches under Vauxhall are a really unique space to work in, with a huge amount of potential. What I walked into at my first site meeting was essentially an empty shell which would eventually house a theatre and studio. The finished install needed to really tap into this, providing the latest technology to push boundaries and keep up with the creative demands of their productions.”

   

   Jack comments: “I’ve been part of Above The Stag Theatre for a few years now as one of the venue’s regular lighting designers. When the opportunity arose to get involved with the specification of the new theatre lighting installation, I was really keen to do so and ensure the venue’s new lighting resources would allow the production values of the shows to get even better”.

   Following this initial discussion along with various site meetings, WL was then assigned with providing the complete lighting installation. The included a custom floor standing Milos truss structure, ETC ThruPower racks for the theatre and studio as well as power and data distribution with a Wieland cord patch and fully networkable lighting system.

   Jonathan explains: “The first priority was to get a truss structure designed and installed. We then worked through some design ideas for the main bulk of the install. The key priority was maximum flexibility. On site power is limited and so we explored various options to work through the various challenges we were  coming up against. For this, I brought on board WL’s Systems Design Engineer Ian Davies who was able to take Jack’s brief and turn this into a fully workable system. During this initial period, Ian worked on site with the WL team to complete the installation”.

   Not only did WL oversee the entire lighting installation within both spaces, but also did so within a very limited time frame. Jonathan explains: “The opening season of the new venue had been announced so we had essentially a 6 week time frame from being awarded the contract to getting everything in place before the first show. That said, by working closely with our suppliers and manufacturers to manage lead times on kit, along with close collaboration between Jack and our team of expert site technicians, we were able to achieve this tight deadline”.

   Alongside the installation, WL also supplied a range of fixtures. These include ETC Color Source Spots, ETC Color Source Pars, Martin Rush Par 2 RGBW Zooms, Martin MAC Aura XBs, Chauvet Rogue R3 Spots and a cluster of conventional lanterns – all controlled from an ETC Ion XE20.

   Jack explains: “At the forefront of the vision for the new rig was flexibility. Having state-of-the-art LED lighting fixtures from ETC as part of the in-house stock means that we longer rely on the expense of hiring externally. Additionally, we’ve also been quite careful about how power and data is distributed throughout the theatre, ensuring there are few limitations when it comes to designing shows there. We also have Martin MAC Auras and the brand-new Chauvet Rogue R3 Spot as part of the in-house stock. Think of it as an Aladdin’s Cave of lighting!”.

   Jonathan adds: “Above The Stag wanted their lighting inventory to include the latest technology, as well as be industry standard; capable of holding up against the demands of even the most critical lighting designers. There needed to be a broad mix of tools which could support a wide variety of shows”.

   Above The Stag Theatre has now opened in its new home, with the inaugural production being Beautiful Thing which was lit by Jack.

   Jack comments: “I think it’s fair to say that opportunities like this don’t happen often i.e. where a venue you frequently design for allows you to lead on its new state-of-the-art theatre lighting. It’s also my first time providing consultancy on a project of this scale. That said, I’ve been in very safe hands with WL and I’m really pleased with the final outcome. It was a project that took months of planning, meetings and talks; not to mention the hours of hard labour. Thankfully, the end result is very special. I’ve just designed Grindr: The Opera which is running there throughout the summer. This show in particular takes a greater advantage of the new LED and tungsten fixtures, moving lights and flexible infrastructure that rivals anything else in the London OffWestEnd scene and I’m really pleased with what was achieved with the new rig.

   He adds: “It is a really exciting venue to design for because what we can achieve creatively with our in-house tools is so much greater than before. There’s been a significant leap from the old venue to the new premises on all levels, and I’m really excited to see the wealth of shows that are yet to come. It’s a fiercely impressive new venue for London theatre and I’m so pleased to be part of it”.

   Jonathan concludes: “The Above The Stag project was a great example of how we are able to use our years of experience working within theatres, alongside our expert teams, to provide a solution bespoke to their exact needs. It has been great working with Jack in a slightly different capacity than usual and help him realise his design ideas. I very much look forward to seeing how future productions and designs work and develop in Above The Stag’s new home”.

   Photos courtesy of Above The Stag Theatre.

8. White Light Offers Fantasia Lighting to Sounds and Sorcery

   23 July 2018 09:38 Leave a Comment

   

   Inspired by the classic 1940 Disney film, Sounds and Sorcery – Celebrating Disney Fantasia has recently opened at The Vaults. Coinciding with the year Mickey Mouse celebrates his 90^th anniversary, the show is a brand-new immersive experience which invites audience members to step beneath Waterloo Station and explore the worlds of prehistoric wastelands, enchanted forests and even the Sorcerer’s Lair. Having supplied many shows at the venue, along with the annual VAULT Festival, White Light was called upon to provide the lighting equipment for this ambitious production.

   The Lighting Designer for Sounds and Sorcery – Celebrating Disney Fantasia is Jake Wiltshire. He comments: “The show is a multi-sensory, immersive experience in which audience members wear headphones and roam freely around a collection of live performances, installations and video – all set to music. My brief was to ‘create music you could see and images you could hear’. With a production like this, there’s nowhere to hide. The audience are literally on the stage so you can’t ask them to ‘find their light’. Whatever you create has to be inclusive and work from every angle. As a result, I worked closely with the Designer Kitty Callister to create a very organic relationship between the themes of each room, the technology and the dramatic subtleness”.

   With the show taking audiences into the many worlds of Fantasia, this meant that Jake had to make his design bespoke for each individual section. He explains: “In The Rite of Spring, which is portrayed as a visual journey through the Earth’s creation, we use large three dimensional volcanoes to tell the narrative of the story. The volcanoes are all lit internally with a plethora of moving lights, LED par cans and LED pixel neons; all of which are timed with colour and movement in order to narrate the music. At the end of the room is a giant Sun created from 40 par cans of varying size. There’s something quite beautiful and contrasting against the organic  illuminating volcanoes of a warm tungsten industrial light fixture representing the dawn of a new age.

   He adds: “In The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, the room is lit only by DMX controlled candles, allowing the Sorcerer to magically manipulate the flames around the room. I wanted to find a way to mimic the original cartoon’s dream sequence where the apprentice plays with shooting stars, light beams and giant waves. This drew me to use the Ayrton Magic Dot for a choreographed light sequence where the performer controls three dimensional beams of light across the audience, raising it to a crescendo of chaos. In other rooms, we’ve concealed LED pixels inside mushrooms to create a choreographed mushroom dance alongside LED neons under a frozen pond for an ice skating fairy routine. There are also hundreds of handmade practicals including 80 birdies, over 100 pendant light bulbs and not forgetting the many, many  haze and smoke machines including 4 x Chauvet Geysers, 11 x Unique Hazers, 2 x Low Foggers and even a bubble machine”.

   With the production taking place within an underground space, this was another factor that Jake had to consider for his design. He comments: “As The Vaults space is underground, heat and humidity is a big issue. Therefore, as much of the rig as possible needed to be LED; primarily for heat but also for maintenance reasons. It’s no surprise then that we used over 100m of LED pixel neon and over 1km of RGBW LED tape. It was a very unique space of cavernous tunnels and it’s no mean feat moving a lighting console around a site that has gravel floors, a volcanic landscape and dense woodland!”.

   The show has now opened and will run until 30^th September in what is a limited Summer run.

   Jake comments: “The entire project was epically adventurous and I could not have achieved it without the calm professionalism of Sarah Readman, our amazing Production Electrician, not to mention my Programmer and Associate LD, Robert Price and Production Manager, Andy George. The team also included two fantastic WL apprentices, who were such valuable hands to have and a testament to how good the apprenticeship scheme at WL is”.

   WL’s Business Development Manager Jonathan Haynes comments: “This was a fantastic production for us to work on and we are delighted to have been involved. Sounds and Sorcery is unlike any other show running in London and it was great to support Jake and bring his very specific lighting vision to life”.

   Photos courtesy of Jake Wiltshire/Sounds and Sorcery.

9. White Light Enrols LED Technology into UCLan

   15 May 2018 10:25 Leave a Comment

   The University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) is one of the UK’s largest universities with a student and staff community approaching 38,000. It became the first UK modern Higher Education institution to appear in the QS World University Rankings and has over 400 undergraduate courses. The campus also has a range of state-of-the-facilities to accommodate its students learning. White Light recently sold UCLan a range of the latest lighting equipment for its numerous performing art spaces.

   WL worked closed with Stephen Cooke, who is the Technical Manager for UCLan’s four performance spaces, along with several dance, television, radio and recording studios. He explains: “The main driver behind the purchase was environmental sustainability and the need to replace ageing lighting stock. UCLan has implemented an Environmental Management System which ensures legal compliance with UK and European environmental legislation. Last July, we began a project to evaluate the feasibility of using LED lighting technology and our research we carried out revealed an impressive range of products which suited our needs and which gave a power demand saving of around 80% when compared with our existing lighting fixture stock. Cost savings associated with room cooling and ventilation caused by the thermal gain associated with conventional halogen theatre lanterns were also a factor”.

   It was during this time that Stephen first approached WL to assist with the purchasing of new equipment. He comments: “WL provided an invaluable service and Jonathan Haynes and the team were attentive and knowledgeable and went the extra mile to provide supplier visits from not only WL themselves but also ROBE, Aytron and Chauvet to us here in Preston. This element of our research provided us with essential hands on experience with equipment in the environment where it was going to be used and gave us confidence to make the right decisions when it came to making the purchase”.

   This first phase of purchases included equipment for UCLan’s TV Studio, a Dance Studio and their main theatre venue: St Peter’s Arts Centre, which is a converted church. Stephen explains: “The Greenbank TV Studio supports BA (Hons) Broadcast Journalism Students and provides a commercial standard TV News production environment to develop and hone their broadcast skills. This long standing, highly respected course has seen many student graduate and puruse successful careers with the major British broadcast companies. We drew on Arri and ETC fixtures to completely replace all existing halogen based lighting”.

   WL supplied the main Dance Studio with a range of ROBE and ETC products to populate the existing grid. Stephen explains: “The Dance Studio supports the  BA(Hons) course in Dance Performance and Teaching and an MA course in Somatic Dance so there is a strong need to create a specific ambience through light; something which these fixtures allow”.

   St Peter’s Arts Centre, UCLan’s main production venue, has also benefited from replacement LED moving light fixtures from Robe and Ayrton. Stephen states: “The Arts Centre is a highly versatile production venue capable of staging productions in a conventional proscenium style, in the round, or in a thrust stage format. It also hosts fashion shows and live music events so requires the versatile light stock that WL was able to supply”.

   With the installation now complete in the television studio, and almost complete in the other spaces, there has been an immediate notable difference. Stephen explains: “We have already noticed a difference in the quality of light output within the TV Studio and the ability to change the colour temperature of the fixtures is so advantageous when balancing LED screens in shot with skin tones on presenters. Safe to say our technical team are very happy!”.

   This project marks another example of WL supplying drama schools and universities across the UK with the very latest lighting technology, having recently provided Guildhall School of Music and Drama with a brand new rig of ETC Lustr Series 2 LED fixtures, Royal Northern College of Music with new VL1000LED and Chauvet Maverick moving lights, and new EOS family consoles to RADA.

   Jonathan comments: “As a company, we are able to work closely with educational institutions, listen to their needs and provide them with guidance and recommendation, with the added benefit of being able to supply all the latest technology from world renowned manufacturers in lighting, audio and video. The investment made at UCLan in this new kit will undoubtedly help the students over the course of their studies, opening their eyes to what they will expect to see once they go out into the wider world, as well as fulfil the university’s environmental aims”.

   Stephen adds: “I have worked with WL over a number of years now and have always found the service  professional, knowledgeable, prompt, obliging and friendly. Mix this with their competitive pricing of products and you have a company I would not hesitate to recommend to anyone needing a technical theatre solution”.

   Photos courtesy of UCLan.

10. White Lights Goes Into The Woods with UCL

    1 March 2018 16:28 Comments Off on White Lights Goes Into The Woods with UCL

    The UCL Musical Theatre Society offers top-quality performance, production, volunteering and social opportunities for the students of UCL. Every academic year the society puts on a variety of shows, including two large-scale productions. This year, one of these was Into the Woods which was performed at the Shaw Theatre as part of the Union’s Performance Season. With a strong history of supporting student productions, White Light was called upon to provide the lighting equipment.

    The lighting designer for the show was Alex Forey. He comments: “I became involved with the production as I am part of the UCL Stage Crew which is responsible for everything technical that happens on every UCL Show. The director’s vision for the show was for it to be set in a post-apocalyptic world. The set design was very industrial with lots of exposed aluminium and barbed wire so it was my job to support that vision with lighting, creating a magical environment”.

    Alex designed the rig for UCL’s whole four-week season at the Shaw. As a result, it had to be very versatile. He explains: “Due to the required versatility, the rig is very mover and LED heavy. I picked the VL1100TS for its versatility as a front-of-house workhorse; with the tungsten dimming curve and shutters being particularly important for Into the Woods. Similarly, the gobos and rich colour mixing was also helpful for the live music and dance. I also drew on MAC Quantum Washes for their zoom range, brightness and saturated colours, along with MAC Aura XBs to add some versatility in terms of focus positions and specials.

    He adds: “The ever-reliable Lustr was used for colour-changing face light whereas the newer ColourSource Spots with Fresnel adaptors were used for colour changing downlight. There were also 30 x Source Fours for general cover front of house along with 2 x LOOK Solutions Unique Hazers and a Viper NT”.

    As with a lot of student productions, one of the biggest challenges facing Alex was time. He states: “As these productions are obviously fitted around our own studies, we have to use time as efficiently as possible! We only had three days to get in, focus, plot and then tech what is a three hour musical. In order to save time when we were at the venue, I visited WL’s warehouse the week before to conduct some gear prep along with colour matching between the various fixture types”.

    The season runs until 10^th March. Alongside Into the Woods, the season includes Electra, a UCL Drama Society Show, and Exhibition, the Dance Society’s big annual showcase. The other shows are lit by a variety of UCL Stage Crew members, including Alex who has lit 4 of the 22 dance pieces.

    Alex comments: “It’s been fantastic to work on Into the Woods along with the whole season; especially in a venue such as The Shaw Theatre. Thanks also to WL, in particular Jim Dewhirst and Jonathan Haynes, for their support throughout”.

    WL’s Business Development Manager Jonathan Haynes comments: “We are delighted to have been able to work closely with Alex and all of the UCL Stage Crew team on this fantastic season. While we still remain the leading lighting supplier to West End theatre, we are also passionate about supporting student shows which often feature the next generation of lighting designers and theatre practitioners”.

    Photos courtesy of Alex Forey.