Tag Archive: Marianne Elliot

1. White Light in West End with Brilliant Company

   5 November 2018 12:13 1 Comment

   

   Directed by the Olivier Award-winning Marianne Elliot, Stephen Sodenheim and George Furth’s legendary musical Company has recently returned to the West End. Playing at the Gielgud Theatre, the show has opened to overwhelming critical acclaim and has already announced an extension to March 2019. As the leading lighting supplier to West End shows, White Light was called upon to supply the lighting.

   Company tells the story of Bobbie whose friends and family can’t understand why she isn’t married. At her 35^th birthday party, she questions the pressure to find the right person and finally settle down. The show is lit by Olivier and Tony Award-winning Neil Austin, who comments: “This is actually the second time I’ve lit Company, having worked on a version in Sheffield about eight years ago with Daniel Evans. It’s a show I love and was delighted to be asked to do it again. What’s brilliant about Marianne’s version is that she’s swapped the gender of the protagonist from male to female, from Bobby to Bobbie. As a result, it completely transforms the piece, giving it extraordinary currency and clarity”.

   

   To create his design, Neil worked closely with Set Designer Bunny Christie. He explains: “Bunny came up with several designs, but the one we settled on was a series of open-fronted cubes; the smallest of which is around 9 by 9 feet. A five-sided box is a lighting designer’s worst nightmare, and we’ve got nine of them!  I added LED light boxes to the front fascia of each box to be able to blend or contrast to the interior, as well as LED tape around the inside of the box to help light the actors. We then cut small lighting slots in the front and back of each box’s ceilings and utilised small hidden units to highlight and add backlight”.

   Neil approached WL to supply him with the exact lighting fixtures required for his intricate design. He explains: “I drew on my current favourite unit, the Martin MAC Encores, to light from the outside of the boxes, along with lots (and lots!) of GLP X4 Bars for both the interior box slots and exterior lighting. Other units included the ETC Source 4 Series 2 Lustrs as well as Viper NT Smoke Machines.

   Neil adds: “The entire rig for Company was LED. This was glorious as it was extremely quiet whilst remaining very versatile. Whilst Company is a big show with loud numbers from the 15-strong band, there are lots of quiet scenes and nuanced moments and you can hear every single word said on stage in silence without interruption from fans”.

   Company marks one of several shows that WL is currently supplying in the West End, including the recently opened Don Quixote, The Inheritance, Height of the Storm, Switzerland along with the upcoming True West. WL also continues to supply long-running smashes including Tina – The Musical, Matilda, Aladdin and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child which was also lit by Neil.

   Neil concludes: “I am very grateful to my brilliant team on this production, which includes Production Electrician Martin Chisnall and Programmer Daniel Haggerty. A big thanks also to WL for supplying me once again with the exact fixtures I required”.

   Photos courtesy of Brinkhoff-Moegenburg

2. White Light is a Certain Choice for Heisenberg

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

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

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

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

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

   

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

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

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

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

   Photos courtesy of Brinkhoff-Moegenburg.