Tag Archive: lighting hire

1. White Light Goes [BLANK] at the Donmar Warehouse

   3 December 2019 16:55 Leave a Comment

   

   White Light has supplied the lighting equipment for [BLANK] which recently ran at the Donmar Warehouse.

   [BLANK] is a theatrical provocation which marks 40 years of Clean Break; a theatre company that works with women affected by the criminal justice system. Featuring over 100 unnamed scenes, [BLANK] sees the director Maria Aberg choose thirty of these in order to create a unique production. Featuring an all-female cast and creative team, the show has a lighting design by Jess Bernberg. Jess comments: “After attending meetings with Maria and Rosie Elnile (Set Designer), we came to the decision to keep the aesthetic quite open. Whilst part of Rosie’s inspiration for the set was mother and baby units in women’s prison, we didn’t want to create any literal space, instead choosing practical lights to break up the space and adding a sense of uniformity to the lighting design”.

   

   With the production being such a unique construct, the layout was a factor Jess had to consider with her design. She explains: “We felt strongly the piece shouldn’t have an interval, so that it would deliver one strong theatrical punch. Maria had carefully arranged the scenes to achieve subtle narrative arcs that can be inferred by an audience but aren’t necessarily concrete, leaving it up to the audience to decide and hinting at the universality of the situations.  We actually discovered that the scenes fell into blocks which had distinct feelings, rather than each scene having a ‘location’”.

   Jess adds: “The first nine scenes felt stark and closed in; almost non-theatrical. A large-scene change then brings us into a new world with the full company of women on stage. Following this is the longest scene in the play: a 45 minute, meticulously-choreographed satirical dinner party. This felt like it needed a completely new feel as we enter into a world of relative luxury, Labneh and flatbreads. All the women you had seen before were on stage, some portraying characters completely different from what we had seen before. Maria and I had talked about Caravaggio-esque warmth and sculpting, but felt, in the space, this became too dreamlike and needed a sense of grounding and harsh reality”.

   

   To achieve all of these very specific looks, Jess approached WL who have supplied a range of her shows this year, including Out of Water (Orange Tree), And the Rest of Me Floats (Bush Theatre) and The Crucible (The Yard). Jess explains: “Most of the rig was Ayrton Ghiblis and ETC Lustr 2s, as well as CP61 par cans forming a toplight grid. The Ghiblis are wonderful moving lights, super quiet in terms of ambient noise which is very important for a space like the Donmar where audiences are just metres away from the units and there were many quiet, delicate scenes that can’t be disturbed with rig hum. Their framing shutters can do a full swipe across the beam which came in very handy for an effect recreating an alarm beacon created by my wonderful programmer Elliot Smith”.

   

   Jess used the Lustrs as a six part pipe end stage wash, and versatile crosslight on the upper level of the set where a projection screen position needed to be taken into account.

   This was the first time that Jess has worked at the Donmar Warehouse. She explains: “The Donmar space acts as almost in the round due to the deep, wide thrust. This means crosslight in the space is quite a specific focus, and acting right up next to audience on a raised stage means facelight while playing upstage can be tough; especially when vomitorium sight-lines aren’t what they seem. The space is actually a lot smaller than it feels, meaning tungsten units can happily sit at 30% to adequately light a scene, or take heavy gel. The in house profiles in the space are unusually 575W lamps instead of 750W for this very reason”.

   

   [BLANK] opened to rave reviews and played to sell out audiences before its run came to an end last weekend.

   Jess concludes: “I’m extremely proud to have worked on such an important production with a theatre company that creates brilliant work and genuinely leaves a long-lasting impact with all of the women it works with. I’d like to thank the brilliant in-house team, all of the other creatives along with WL for once again supplying me with the fixtures I needed”.

   Photos courtesy of Helen Maybanks.  

   
   
   

2. West Side Story at Birmingham Hippodrome – A Lighting Designer’s Perspective

   15 October 2019 15:00 Leave a Comment

   

   A few weeks ago, Birmingham Hippodrome raised the curtain on its first ever home-grown youth production with a dynamic re-imagining of West Side Story. Opening to a sell-out audience, the show was the centrepiece of the venue’s 120^th birthday and featured forty local young performers. The show’s Lighting Designer David Howe takes us through his design for the show and the role it played within the overall production:

   I had a very clear design brief for West Side Story: to ensure the piece remained within the period it was written and stayed true to its Manhattan location. As this was both a big celebration and the first time the venue had produced a youth show in-house, we wanted to show off the entire stage house area to our audience as it was a side of the theatre they’d probably never seen. The stage was also kept as open as possible to allow for the 40 strong cast to inhabit the space for some of the big ensemble dance numbers. 

   

   I have worked with the Designer (and Production Manager) Al Parkinson before so it was nice to get the chance to revisit this working relationship. The set itself was a big gauze box into which trucks were moved around in order to create certain spaces. Those who have seen the show will know that it flows from small interior rooms to bigger spaces for some of the more famous songs and dance routines. One of the main roles of the lighting was to reflect the scale and fluidity of the music so I wanted big statements of light – shadows, shafts and colour.  Also, as we were celebrating the actual theatre, Al and I wanted to include its beautiful architecture as much as possible. As a result, with the last scene, we decided to open the space completely, tear down the masking and reveal the whole space which included the scene dock upstage and resulted in a very epic ending.  

   Working with the local cast was fantastic as they all had such raw talent and it was thrilling to see them make a real ensemble for the piece. It was also great to work with director and choreographer Matt Hawksworth. That said (as often is the nature of projects like this), we had a very short amount of time to bring the show together. We also knew there were several aspects of the show which would continue evolving right up until the final dress rehearsal.

   

   So how did all of this influence my lighting? Well due to the nature of the show and the rehearsal process, I made sure my lighting package was all about the ‘big statement’ looks. This largely consisted of 5kWs, GLP Bars and a rig of Aura Washes and Viper Profiles. The rig in particular gave me discharge white colours and we used 96 x Par 64 Aeros for brutal beams of light to reveal the theatre at the end of the show.  

   One of my favourite moments was at the end of Act One, which is set ‘under the underpass’ and features a massive musical ‘rumble’. I really wanted to create a sense of disorientation so I had dollies made of car headlights (Par Heads) and pointed them onto the stage as if the whole fight was lit solely by the six cars. This deliberately brutal/dazzling light really worked alongside the sheer energy of the fight. A brutal open white Viper added a cold top light in the middle of the space as the action turns ugly and two characters die as the curtain falls. Often, at the end of both acts, there would be complete silence from the audience and you could literally hear a pin drop; such was the emotion on stage.  

   

   The show was programmed by Ed Locke who I’ve worked with a lot. Ed’s short-hand expertise was essential as we had to make some big numbers work in very quick time. Additionally I was joined by Alex Musgrave who is this year’s ALD Lumière. The Lumière Scheme is a professional development programme that provides pathways into the industry for some of the most promising emerging designers by working as an assistant on larger scale shows. Alex watched rehearsals with me and we created a follow-spot plot together. He then liaised all this with the operators, freeing me up to concentrate on the looks and cueing.  

   

   I also worked closely with the in-house team at the Hippodrome. Usually they deal with  incoming touring shows which have very set agendas and are obviously not idiosyncratic to the venue. With West Side Story, we wanted to use as much of the Hippodrome space as possible; with the show celebrating the venue’s birthday. As such, it was great to work with the in-house team who know the building so well and were able to be creative with the facilities they use on a day-to-day basis.  

   Ultimately, it was a bold choice for the Hippodrome to stage a show like this but it certainly paid off. Using a group of local, young actors meant that the musical resonated with a new, much younger audience and it was a fantastic celebration of a brilliant venue.

   Photos courtesy of Simon Hadley

3. White Light Goes on Tour with The Lovely Bones

   26 September 2019 16:59 Leave a Comment

   

   White Light has recently supplied the lighting equipment for the UK tour of The Lovely Bones.

   Based on Alice Sebold’s novel, The Lovely Bones is a unique coming-of-age story about Susie Salmon who is observing her family from the afterlife as they try and deal with her death in different ways. Adapted by Bryony Lavery, the production is directed by Melly Still and features a lighting design by Matt Haskins. Matt comments: “Bryony Lavery’s adaptation is a mesmerising piece of theatre that, despite its often dark subject matter, proves uplifting and cathartic. The text actually expanded and changed heavily through the rehearsal process and what emerged was a very physical, and visually experimental way of storytelling”.

   As such, Matt soon realised that he needed to have a flexible rig to respond to the new ideas as they unfolded throughout the process. He continues: “The main brief for everyone was how to give a sense of heaven and earth. Set Designer, Ana Inés Jabares-Pita created a ‘stealth’ set that comprised of a giant two way mirror set at 45 degrees to the show floor edged with earth, and an upstage horizontal line of corn protruding from its base. Behind the mirror were two tiers of decking on which our actors could also appear. This arrangement proved to be a giant Pepper’s Ghost effect, relying on carefully positioned lighting that would then allow us to superimpose real and reflected images together; as the lines between heaven & earth become blurred”.

   

   Matt then approached the Hire Team at WL to provide him with the lighting equipment he required for such an intricate rig. He explains: “Moving light wise, I knew that a mix of tungsten and discharge would work well in juxtaposition of the play’s wintry landscape. As a result, I drew on MAC Encore Warms with a Heavy Frost option (every moving light focus is extremely visible in the mirror above, so Heavy Frost was a must) along with some TW1 80V Narrows. We actually visited WL’s HQ where my associate Teresa Nagel and I did some tungsten colour matching at intensity intervals to ensure that they look like conventional units at lower levels.

   He continues: “We also called on MAC Viper Performances with some custom gobo loads for the discharge sources. Nothing compares to the TW1s, so these were kept as their quality of light is important to the production. The booms consist of ETC Lustr 2s, Source Fours, Pars (for some tungsten heat) and Martin Rush Pars with custom Top Hats so they aren’t visible in the mirror. WL also supplied City Theatre Candle Kits which were placed in the set behind the mirror which allow us to superimpose them into the reflected cornfield at moments when the town hold memorials for Susie”.

   As with many touring productions, there were some obstacles that Matt had to contend with. He explains: “As the mirror takes up most of the overhead space, we could only use 3 LX bars (the upstage ones only have 5 units on between them). This means that the units on our LX1 are kept very busy during the show. We also rely heavily on side light which is loaded into touring towers with an extension pipe to get a slightly higher angle into the floor for the rush pars.  It’s interesting lighting for both a real and reflected image, and sometimes we chose to prioritise one or the other as the story requires. A lot of work goes into making sure the moving light presets look tidy in both planes – it can be hard work for the programmer as viewing two differing images of one shutter cut can be confusing!”.

   

   The Lovely Bones has now opened to rave reviews and is currently at the Theatre Royal Nottingham. It will then travel across the country to venues including The Lowry Salford, Rose Theatre Kingston, London’s Hackney Empire and Chichester Festival Theatre.

   Matt concludes: “I’d like to say thanks to my associate Teresa Nagel who has worked with me on the show since its inception, Jonathan Blunsdon who originally programmed the show and Production LX Mim Spencer who is taking the show out on tour this year – a great team! Also, thanks to WL for providing such a great service and the exact equipment I needed to achieve my design”. 

   Photos courtesy of Pamela Raith.

4. White Light is on trend again for London Fashion Week

   25 September 2019 15:33 Leave a Comment

   

   For the ninth consecutive year, White Light has worked closely with a range of agency clients to deliver the production solutions for multiple catwalk shows during September fashion week.

   The Spring/Summer 2020 collections for designers including Julien Macdonald, Simone Rocha, Preen, Roland Mouret and Zara Home were showcased across the capital, with WL providing lighting, audio and rigging support.  Venues ranging from The Mail Centre and National Centre for Circus Arts, to the Royal Academy of Arts and Southwark Cathedral were transformed for the shows.

   

   Dominic Yates, Senior Account Manager at WL, comments: “We always work on a diverse selection of events during London Fashion Week and this year was no exception. In conjunction with long-standing clients at My Beautiful City, Karla Otto, Pretty Bird and Gainsbury and Whiting, we delivered seven very different shows.”

   Kim Carbonari, Director of Event Production at Karla Otto, says: “Lighting is a crucially important element of successful catwalk shows and as we are working on behalf of internationally-acclaimed designers, this has to be executed seamlessly. We have worked with WL for many years now and always know that in their expert hands, we can achieve the perfect look to complement the designers’ creations.”

   Photos © alexei_bez and giampietrobaudo

5. White Light Launches HireWL

   11 September 2019 11:54 Leave a Comment

   

   Today White Light has launched HireWL – an online platform that allows customers to easily select and order from the company’s extensive hire inventory.

   As a company renowned for its customer service, alongside housing the very latest technology, HireWL is a natural progression for WL. Head of Customer Service Craig Bennett comments: “We’ve launched HireWL in order to give our customers visibility of the extensive range of lighting and AV tools we have available. It will be the first port of call for those wanting to browse our inventory and draw on products that are suited specifically to their needs. We carefully designed the site to ensure it’s extremely user-friendly and packed full of exciting, key features”.

   One of these features include a product filter which allows customers to select and compare items by highlighting their key components. Once a hire list is compiled, it will then be priced by WL’s expert Customer Service team. Craig comments: “We want HireWL to be an additional dimension to the personal service we have offered for almost fifty years. As always, our expert team will be on the end of the phone, helping customers select a package bespoke to their needs. The account handler will also take on board the context of the hire and be able to suggest alternatives to match budgetary or aesthetic requirements”.

   Alongside this, HireWL will feature an Inspiration page that helps customers with their equipment choice, through a range of exclusive articles, insights by industry professionals along with product reviews. Craig adds: “This inspiration page is there for all to use as a resource and will prove useful to those who are hiring their first piece of equipment all the way through to the seasoned industry veteran. The website is not simply a list of items but a place where people are able to be creative”.

   To ensure customers receive the very latest product offers and exclusive insights, a HireWL newsletter will be issued on a monthly basis. You can sign up to it here. WL is also looking to take on board any feedback from those using HireWL and would encourage them to get in touch via the ‘Contact Us’ page.

   To celebrate the launch of HireWL, WL is giving away an exclusive KeepCup for every hire list created on HireWL which is then confirmed as an order. This offer is only available for the month of September.

   Craig concludes: “Some of our customers will no doubt remember the WL Reference Guide and HireWL is essentially an updated, online version of this. It’s also another example of how, as a company, we are committed to giving the best service to our customers, whether they are local, national or international. We are really excited for users to visit the site and see the impact it makes on their hiring experience”. 

6. White Light Supplies Evita at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre

   9 September 2019 14:07 Leave a Comment

   

   White Light has once again supplied the lighting equipment for the entire Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre season, which recently culminated in a revival of Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s iconic musical Evita.

   Established in 1932, Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre is one of the largest theatres in London. Situated in the beautiful surroundings of a Royal Park, both its stage and auditorium are entirely uncovered and every year it hosts a season of bold and dynamic productions. This year was no exception, with productions of Our Town, Hansel and Gretel and A Midsummer Night’s Dream all achieving critical acclaim. The final show of the season was Evita which was directed by Jamie Lloyd, designed by Soutra Gilmour and lit by Oliver Award-winner Jon Clark.

   Jon explains: “Soutra and Jamie chose to set Evita on a dilapidated seating bleacher, which to all intents and purposes looks as though it may have been sat in Regent’s Park for the past eighty years! We wanted to make a direct connection between the outdoor environment and the production; one being informed by the other. The suggestion of a sports stadium echoes the environment of dictatorial political rallies of the past, which has a resonance with themes of Peronism highlighted in the production.

   

   He continues: “Jamie was keen that the production and lighting design harnessed the dynamism and energy of an outdoor music festival. We were particularly drawn to Beyonce’s iconic performance at Coachella last year. Contrasting with the music festival aesthetic is a starker, directional lighting language, more synonymous with contemporary European opera”.

   To achieve his design, Jon approached the WL Hires team, who have looked after the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre all season.

   The lighting in the show plays with the tension between open white tungsten Par Cans and colder LED and Arc sources. The set comprises of eight wide steps rising from the front of stage which is unapologetically rectangular in its form. The key lighting positions are informed by this and much of the functional light is delivered as uplight, travelling up the rake of steps. 

   Jon explains: “We utilised the new GLP Fusion Stick 10s as the cold uplight source, which provides an intense controllable light in a very discreet sized unit and contrasts with a line of Par 64s in the same position. Upstage, nestled into the roof of the band structure are more Par 64s, arranged into clusters, which run the width of the set. This time the Pars contrast with two continuous runs of GLP Impression X-BAR 20s which describe the architectural form of the set and provide a colder, more dynamic look. Built into the risers between each step are 56 2-Cell Molefays, which act as blinders and are intended as rock n’ roll inspired abstraction of the classic Broadway 42nd Street aesthetic. They’re also used to evoke the feel of Evita arriving in a big city for the first time in the Buenos Aires number and create energy at other times. Under the set, the tungsten Molefays contrast with two banks of Martin Atomic LED Strobes and SGM X5 LED Strobes, which are used as intense and constant flood sources.

   

   Jon continues: “From the outset, I wanted to create a much higher backlight position than is normally achievable at the Park. Adam Squires and Andy Beardmore at the Theatre did a fantastic job of sourcing two 14m high truss towers, which enabled us to create two key backlight positions upstage of the set, nestled amongst the trees. Each tower supports a solitary MAC Viper Wash DX, utilised at various moments as a pseudo backlight follow spot, to suggest the scale of a stadium and to heighten the dictatorial protagonists. These are all key to delivering the final image of Evita, extracted from all that has gone before”.

   The show has now opened to critical acclaim and marks yet another successful season at Regent’s Park. It also marks a very busy summer for Jon who is currently working on the Broadway transfers of Pinter’s Betrayal (also directed by Jamie Lloyd) and The Inheritance, on which WL has supplied some of the equipment.

   Jon concludes: “I’m really proud of what we achieved with Evita. I’d like to thank Head of Lighting Adam Squire, programmer Vic Brennan, Assistant LD Tamykha Patterson, Charlie Jones and the whole lighting team at Regent’s Park. As ever, the support from WL has been first class.

   – End –

   Photos courtesy of Marc Brenner.

7. White Light Spends its Apollo Nights at Eventim Apollo

   8 August 2019 10:58 Leave a Comment

   

   White Light recently provided the lighting equipment for the Apollo Nights season at the Eventim Apollo – a week of exclusive live performances from a range of legendary music artists.

   The inaugural Apollo Nights season at the Eventim Apollo in Hammersmith, London, brought together a premium VIP dining experience and a roster of headline artists for a week of shows at the landmark venue. Curated by Ollie Rosenblatt at Senbla, the season delivered a unique audience experience with the front stalls seating removed to create space for elegant VIP pre-show dining with live jazz piano before opening up the full auditorium for headline shows. The first performance was by Burt Bacharach and Joss Stone and was followed by George Benson and finally Marc Almond.

   The lighting designer for the season was Ben M Rogers, who WL has previously worked with on the award-winning HAIR musical. Ben comments: “I was tasked with creating a flexible ‘festival’ rig that would frame the action on stage and enhance the auditorium for the dining experience. Taking the artists touring riders as a starting point, and working closely with WL’s Customer Services Team Leader Andy Cullen, I had to assemble a rig capable of delivering everything, from big, classy show looks to intimate moments.”

   

   Alongside this, Ben also had to consider the building’s architecture when formulating his design. He explains: “The venue has exceptional sight lines with all seats able to see the full proscenium opening. I wanted to achieve layers of light to fill the large proscenium – so cascaded the fly bars and added a generous floor package to ensure we could deliver broad brush strokes of colour and shape to performances. Similarly, with the various set lists encompassing hits from over 50 years of music, I wanted to ensure the lighting design was versatile and could quickly evolve to match this.”

   As part of his rig, Ben drew on Martin Professional MAC Aura XB and TW1 fixtures in order to provide colour washes. He drew on the Quantum Profiles for gobo texture and Viper Performances for the dining and key light duties. Additional eye candy effects were delivered with iPix BB4’s, ROBE picklePATTs and the Portman P1 units. The lighting was controlled using the MA2 console. WL also supplied all of the rigging, power and logistics for the production.

   

   Ben comments: “In this busy season the team at White Light where fantastic in their ability to resource and support the show and their London base meant that last minute changes and evolutions to the design where easily accommodated.”

   WL’s Head of Customer Service Craig Bennett comments: “Apollo Nights was a truly unique and exciting project for us to work on. It also shows how, as a company, we are able to work with a lighting designer and not only bring their vision to life but do so both on time and on budget. We really enjoyed working with Ben once again and look forward to continue doing so in the future.”

   Photos courtesy of © Ben M Rogers/Senbla 2019.

8. White Light Supplies Captain Corelli’s Mandolin

   1 August 2019 13:52 Leave a Comment

   

   White Light has supplied the lighting equipment for the recent West End transfer of Captain Corelli’s Mandolin following its critically-acclaimed UK tour.

   Based on Louis de Bernières’ best-selling novel, Captain Corelli’s Mandolin is the world-famous story of romance in the face of the Second World War set on the idyllic Greek island of Cephallonia. The production marks the novel’s first major theatrical adaptation along with the 25^th anniversary since its original publication. For both the UK tour and West End run, the lighting design was by Malcolm Rippeth.

   Malcolm comments: “As a creative team, one of our main aims was to find the look and feel of Cephalonia and the other spaces featured across the story; the key one being the Italian soldiers fighting their way through the country. In that sense, it was creating a space of peace and beauty in pre-invasion Cephalonia, contrasting with a space imbued with the anticipation of violence. There were also the ‘psychological spaces’ that certain characters experienced during the clashes of warfare”.

   

   With Captain Corelli’s Mandolin being such an epic story, the creative team had to ensure they did this justice in only two and a half hours of stage time. Malcolm explains: “There are lots of jump-cuts and montages of years passing throughout the play, which are devices we’re used to in the cinema. That said, we were keen to make this show as theatrical as possible and embrace the medium. As a result, we stripped the aesthetic back which immediately allowed this. Given that the limited set never changes, lighting was actually key in giving the audience a clear sense of the different spaces and which world they were in at certain points of the piece”.

   Once Malcolm had created a design which brought the world of Cephalonia to life, he approached WL to provide the lighting for both the UK tour and the ultimate West End transfer. He explains: “We had a side light cover of ETC Source 4 Lustr 2s to give us immediate control of colour and temperature across wide ensemble scenes, whilst enhancing the movement and choreography. Overhead we had 12 Martin MAC Encore CLDs, which gave us maximum punch for the cold scenes and images of warfare, but which were then able to have a beautiful warm quality, at perfectly adequate intensities”.

   Malcolm also drew on Martin MAC Aura XBs, Unique 2.1 Haze Machines and an ETC Ion Console.

   

   The show initially opened at the Curve Theatre, Leicester before visiting Rose Theatre Kingston, Theatre Royal Bath, Birmingham Rep, Kings Theatre Edinburgh and the Glasgow Theatre Royal. Following critical acclaim and sell-out shows, the West End transfer was soon announced and will play at the Harold Pinter Theatre until 31^st August 2019.

   Malcolm concludes:  “This is a brilliant show and I’m glad to see audiences across the country and now in the West End responding so well to it. I’d like to thank Tom Mulliner for being fantastic in his role as relighter, production electrician and programmer and helping the show run smoothly every time we visited a new venue. I’d also like to say thanks to WL for their support once again on this production”.

   Photos courtesy of Marc Brenner.

    

9. #InspiringFutureTheatre Day

   4 July 2019 13:38 Leave a Comment

   

   Yesterday, theatres, arts organisations and industry professionals across the UK celebrated the wide range of offstage theatre careers available for young people. A joint initiative by Society of London Theatre (SOLT), UK Theatre and Education & Employers, #InspiringFutureTheatre encourages young people to explore job opportunities within a sustainable and representative theatre workforce. As an organisation which offers an award-winning Apprentice scheme, alongside supporting a range of educational organisations such as the National College of Creative Industries, we were involved in a series of events taking place throughout the day.

   Formed in response to SOLT and UK Theatre’s 2017 Workforce Reviews, Inspiring Future Theatre reaffirms the organisations’ commitment to opening up paths within theatre for young people, building a resilient workforce that’s representative of the UK’s diverse population. Workshops were held at nine theatres across all the major London theatre owners, from speed networking sessions to technical insights into staging a large-scale show. Theatre Royal Haymarket, the Cambridge Theatre, the Vaudeville Theatre, the Aldwych Theatre, the Piccadilly Theatre, the Prince of Wales Theatre, the Gillian Lynne Theatre, the Donmar Warehouse and the Royal Opera House all participated on the day.

   

   WL’s Health & Safety and Workforce Development Director Chris Nicholls attended the talk at the Vaudeville Theatre whereas WL’s Managing Director Bryan Raven was at the Kiln Theatre in North West London where he was helping to deliver a careers session (which included a CV workshop). WL has recently been working closely with the venue’s Creative Learning team as part of a venture to find a new generation of technicians. The Production Arts students in attendance, who are on a 10 week part time course to learn about the technical side of the industry, had visited WL last Saturday to get an overall picture of the potential of the industry from Bryan. The students will be visiting WL over the next two weekends to learn more about audio & lighting through a range of practical, hands-on demonstrations.

   Coinciding with #InspiringFutureTheatre, WL is now recruiting for its latest batch of apprentices. Following on from being crowned Employer of the Year at the CC Skills Awards earlier this year, the company is wanting to continue developing the next generation of industry talent. Find out more here.

10. White Light Supplies Custody UK Tour

    12 June 2019 16:23 Leave a Comment

    

    White Light has recently supplied the lighting equipment for the UK tour of Custody, a new-play looking at the issue of ‘stop and search’ within the BAME community.

    Custody was first created back in 2017 by theatre company Urban Wolf. The story focuses on what the mother, brother, sister and lover of a man that has been killed in police custody go through after his death. Due to its urgent issues, it’s been revived for a 2019 run. It features a lighting design by Will Burgher, who comments: “This is a highly emotional show which offers an honest portrayal of what people go through in this situation. During the rehearsal process, Urban actually brought in people who’d experienced what the characters had and were able to workshop these real experiences into the show. With that in mind, it’s been a really special, poignant production to work on”.

    Will collaborated closely with director Gbemisola Ikumeloand and designer Fran Horler to develop the look and feel needed for the show. He explains: “From the start, we wanted to use a lot of shadow and silhouette. As large portions of Fran’s set are white, it gave great scope to use deep saturated colours for different locations as well as stark white tones to give the sense that the play is happening in a police custody suite. There were also moments we needed to really suggest an exact location or time of day; something which was lighting-led on such an abstract canvas”.

    

    Having used WL on several other projects, Will approached the company again for Custody. “From a practicality point of view, I wanted to keep the lighting rig to around 40 lights or less given there was a very short fit up time in each venue. With this scale of touring, there isn’t an unlimited budget so we toured some profiles with scrollers as our side light and a couple of FOH units. Scrollers are becoming less and less common  so it was actually a great experience using them again!.

    He continues: “The shift of colour temperature as a tungsten lamp dims down is such useful tool. Alongside this, we used some Elation LED pars on one of our truck pieces as there are various moments within the show that require actors to stand within it and be lit. These also proved useful to create the various effects which took place around the play’s main action”.

    As the show visited several venues, this meant that Will had to develop a rig that would be suitable for the different specifications of each space. He comments: “Studio tours can often be somewhat challenging. For instance, the Studio theatre at the Crucible was in a very different format to the B2 in Coventry in terms of presenting an end on performance. As a result, I had to redraw some of the plans in order to ensure certain shots would work and that the audience would experience the same show in each city”.

    

    The play opened at the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry before touring to the Crucible in Sheffield, the Lawrence Batley in Huddersfield before arriving at the Ovalhouse in London. It has received critical acclaim for its approach to such a vital subject.

    Will concludes: “It’s been a privilege to be involved in such an important project and begin conversations around an issue that isn’t often discussed. I’d like to thank WL for being so supportive of this production and making the process of hiring my equipment such an easy one”.

    Photos courtesy of David Fawbert.