Tag Archive: Martin MAC Auras

1. White Light Hits the Right Notes for Falsettos

   8 October 2019 17:25 Leave a Comment

   

   White Light has supplied the lighting equipment for Falsettos which is currently running at London’s Other Palace Theatre.
   
   Originally performed on Broadway in 1992, Falsettos is a double Tony Award-winning musical which offers a poignant look at the life of one family as they live through the AIDS crisis. Despite other productions across the globe, this is the first time the show has been performed in its entirety in London. It features a lighting design by Nic Farman, who comments: “For Falsettos I knew I would be working closely with PJ McEvoy, the set, costume and projection designer, who I’ve worked with a number of times before. Our brief was to be bold with the colour and the stage pictures we were creating to aid telling the narrative of the story. Projection is used heavily throughout so I had to be very specific with how I was lighting scenes to avoid washing out the image and to build a cohesive stage picture. Together we worked on building a vivid colour palette, bold colours denoting each of the characters in the show track through as an element within the projection, costume and lighting”. 

   

   Whilst preparing for the show, Nic approached it as he would with any project: by responding to the script and music. He explains: “I was able to do a lot of work based on PJ’s initial storyboards of the projection content, alongside working with the director, Tara, to develop the concept. In rehearsals we started developing detailed blocking notes as we knew we didn’t have followspots on the show, but wanted to have the clarity of tightly spotting the cast which was to be achieved through the moving light rig alone. Once we were in to tech we had to work quickly and in broad brushstrokes initially to get a feel for the show as a whole. Falsettos is entirely sung through (39 songs in total), so there’s a lot of numbers to get through and we wanted to be detailed with the way we lit the show. Needless to say a lot of time was spent over previews finessing the design”.

   Having supplied several of Nic’s shows already this year, he approached WL to hire the equipment once again on this occasion. He explains: “Having a shuttering, moving profile was really important to give us flexibility from Front of House when it came to creating specific spot specials so I called upon the Martin MAC Viper Performances. We also developed a concept of building ‘rooms’ of light on stage which the characters inhabited and worked with the set’s checkerboard floor. An additional overhead grid of Viper Performances gave me a bright option for that role.

   

   He continues: “The rich colour palette we were aiming for meant I wanted a sidelight rig of LED profiles which came in the form of ETC Lustr 2s. It was also my first time using the Colorsource Cyc units which were brilliant, due to their brightness and colour depth. Finishing off the rig were Martin Mac Auras which gave me a flexible pipe end wash and GLP X4 Bar 20s as an impact backlight, which were used in pixel mode to add extra effects into some of the bigger show numbers”.

   Falsettos has now opened to rave reviews and will run until 23rd November.

   Nic concludes: “This is a very technical, ambitious show and one which I was proud to be a part of. I’d like to say thanks to my Production LX Anthony Hannah, LX technicians Dan Farr and Jordan Lightfoot and the team at The Other Palace and Selladoor. It was wonderful to work with WL as ever and a big thanks to Jonathan Haynes, Chris Delaney and Andy Cullen for the stellar service they provided”.

   

   Photos courtesy of The Standout Company

   Full Credits:
   Director & Choreography: Tara Overfield Wilkinson
   Musical Director: Richard John
   Musical Supervisor: Mark Crossland
   Set, Costume & Projection Design: PJ McEvoy
   Lighting Design: Nic Farman 
   Sound Design: Chris Whybrow
   Producer: Selladoor

2. White Light Works Its Magic on Derren Brown: Underground

   12 June 2018 09:49 Leave a Comment

   

   

   Derren Brown, the multi-award winning master of mind control and psychological illusion, wowed audiences in London last year with his mesmerising show Underground. The show originally ran at the Charing Cross Theatre and then the Playhouse Theatre in the West End. The show has recently returned for a nationwide tour of the UK and Ireland. Having supplied the original London production, White Light was called upon to provide the lighting for this latest tour.

   Derren Brown: Underground is directed by Andrew O’Connor and Andy Nyman and features a lighting design by Charlie Morgan Jones. Charlie comments: “When I was first approached to light Underground, we talked a lot about bold looks. I’m a huge fan of the Great British Backlight so was determined to throw in some epic scenes from the up stage position. The Set Designer Will Bowen had created some beautiful Victorian drapes which I wanted to light in different colours; dependent on the various sections of the show. It was also really important to maintain the focus on Derren so I was conscious of drawing on kit that was able to close in on different sections of the stage with precision and subtly. I was also keen to light it very theatrically, giving the performance an extra texture”.

   To achieve this look, Charlie approached WL to supply him with his ideal rig. He explains: “For the show, I’ve drawn on a range of Martin MAC Auras, which are great units because of their size. A lot of the stages on tour are fairly shallow and the LX bars needed to fly in fairly low without seeing any noses. The show also uses ETC ColourSource Sports and a plethora of ETC Source Four Minis”.

   Whereas a lot of West End shows have to significantly change when embarking on a tour, this wasn’t the case for Derren Brown: Underground. Charlie explains: “The West End version of the show was actually the largest revamp that Underground when through in terms of lighting. We kept the Martin MAC Auras from the previous UK tour but added in ETC ColourSource Spots along with some clam shell footlights. We’ve then gone on to keep all of this for the 2018 tour, which means that audiences across the UK are seeing a carbon copy of the West End version”.

   That said, as with any touring production visiting different venues on a weekly basis, Charlie had to adapt his design slightly for each theatre. He explains: “The main thing that’s different in every venue is the followspots and their operators. They have such an important job as they provide all of Derrren’s key lighting. That said, we’ve been very lucky on the tour as we’ve only encountered really great people”.

   The show opened in Liverpool back in April and has visited Eastbourne, Hull, Nottingham, Cardiff and Dublin to name but a few. It is currently in Bournemouth at the Pavilion Theatre.

   Charlie concludes: “I’ve loved every minute of working on Derren Brown: Underground. It’s not only a fantastic show but I’m surrounded by a brilliant team including Paul Walmsley, my amazing Programmer, and Andy Murrell, the Chief LX and Touring Relighter. Without them the show wouldn’t happen. I also want to thank the WL team for their support on every stage of this production”.

   Photos courtesy of Mark Douet.

3. 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

4. White Light Over the Rainbow at Yvonne Arnaud

   13 July 2017 14:07 Comments Off on White Light Over the Rainbow at Yvonne Arnaud

   The Yvonne Arnaud Youth Theatre is the largest in Surrey. It offers classes and workshops in order to inspire and develop creative minds within the region. Throughout the year, the group produces a range of plays and musical which are performed in The Mill, which is Yvonne Arnaud’s studio space. Once a year, the company produces a large-scale musical in its main theatre with a cast of 50 Youth Theatre members. The show this year was The Wizard of Oz and White Light was asked to provide the lighting equipment.
   The lighting designer for the show was Sarah Sage. She comments: “This is the second year I have lit the summer production for the Youth Theatre, having previously worked on Oliver. It was the first time I’d lit The Wizard of Oz and, having not seen any stage adaptations, I was able to approach in with a fresh pair of eyes”.

   As part of her preparation for the show, Sarah attended all of the initial design meetings where she was able to get an insight into the show’s themes and overall concept. She states: “Being part of the early discussions gave me and Set Designer Dan Gent enough time to design the big front portal that would be used in Oz. I was asked to light Kansas in sepia colours and really go wild with the colours in Oz; which is when the cync and portal became very useful to me”.
   Having a set-up which would allow such a change in tone was an important aspect of Sarah’s rig. She comments: “I drew on the ETC Colour Source Spots as my front and side light. Their colour mixing is fantastic and gave me versatile face light. To counter this, I drew on the Martin MAC Auras to provide colourful backlight, as these would match my portal and help create the magic of Oz. In terms of the effects, SFX Wheels were positioned on the circle front in order to cover the whole stage with moving storm clouds. I also drew on the Martin MAC 700 Profiles which we used as overhead units to offer enough options for all the effects and specials during the course of the show”.

   Following on from her initial talks with Dan, Sarah also approached WL to help create her version of Oz. She states: “For the big front portal which was supplied by Junction Inc, we used 40m of LED tape which was controlled across six LED drivers. This wouldn’t have previously been possible on other Youth Theatre productions but thankfully WL provided a solution that was achievable and within budget”.

   An integral part of any production of The Wizard of Oz is the iconic yellow brick road. One of Sarah’s tasks as lighting designer was to create this. She states: “I knew that a generic gobo wash wouldn’t give me the versatility I needed. Therefore I called WL and spoke to Simon Arnold to discuss other options. I knew that the best chance on creating this would be through moving lights. Therefore, drawing on the Martin MAC 700s, Simon helped me find 12 matching gobos which could resemble the brick texture. When it came to plotting, I was able to put each moving light in the correct position with the young cast and build up the opening sequence for the Yellow Brick Road opening number. It took a lot of programming work but the final result looked fantastic!”.

   The show recently closed after a week’s worth of performances.

   Sarah adds: “I was really proud of this show. I had a fantastic team surrounding me, from the programmer Jon Stacey to the Deputy Stage Manager Vicky Jules to the amazing cast who were able to showcase their brilliant talents to friends and family alike. I am also very grateful to Simon and the rest of the WL team for their guidance throughout”.

   Photos courtesy of Yvonne Arnaud Youth Theatre.

5. White Light ExCeLs at Google Cloud Event

   7 June 2017 08:12 Comments Off on White Light ExCeLs at Google Cloud Event

   Google Cloud NEXT, the internet giant’s largest European Cloud conference, recently took place at the ExCeL Centre in East London. Designed and fulfilled by independent events agency WONDER London, Google Cloud NEXT invited tech leaders, developers and IT decision-makers to explore the latest innovations in cloud technology, while experiencing what it feels like to be part of the Google community. WONDER London were tasked to design a free, interactive conference experience with a flexible agenda, allowing delegates to personalise content to meet their specific needs, and approached White Light to provide the lighting and rigging services.

   Google Cloud NEXT took place on 3rd – 4th May. The event space featured an interactive playground with demo pods from 25 key brand partners, including Accenture, Fastly and Intel, with opportunities to trial Google products such as Jamboard, Pixel, Spanner and Tiltbrush. WL’s Senior Account Manager Dominic Yates comments: “This was a large conference with over 5000 delegates in attendance over two days so we needed to provide a set up that would be able to accommodate the scale of the event, along with get the most out of the various sessions”.

   WL was approached by the production team at WONDER London to provide the lighting and rigging across five of the halls in ExCeL along with the rigging for the main keynote presentation, which featured speeches by Google Cloud Senior Vice President Diane Greene and Vice President EMEA Sébastien Marotte. Dominic adds: “We were working across several vast halls within ExCeL; all of which were extremely busy. As a result, we had to ensure that we planned our technical setup intricately”.
   The lighting design for the event was created by Cy Dodimead and Leigh Porter who worked with Dominic, Project Manager Martin Strods and the WONDER London team to recreate Google’s vision within the ExCeL space. Dominic adds: “We had a team of 22 technicians on site for the installation in what was a three-day build”.
   For Google Cloud Next, WL utilised more than 150 moving lights, including VL3500 Spots, Martin MAC Auras and ROBE Robin 1200s. There were more than 300 ETC Source Fours and Fresnels, along with 130 LED fixtures which included Chroma Q Colour Forces. Alongside this were more than 200 motors and over 1100m of Prolyte truss.
   
   Dominic adds: “As the event was focused heavily on technology, this needed to be reflected in the aesthetics, hence the reason we drew so heavily on both moving lights and LED fixtures. Similarly, as the conference had such a wide variety of events, including demo zones, key note speakers and even networking sessions, we needed to ensure each one could achieve a different feel”.

   The conference was a huge success, following on from the previous Cloud event that was held in San Francisco back in March. WONDER London will now deliver a unique Google experience across 5 more European cities over several months.

   Dominic comments: “When you’re working in a venue such as ExCeL on a high profile event like this, you want to ensure you create as memorable an event as possible. Drawing on our state-of-the-art equipment, along with our expert in-house staff and the WONDER London team, we were able to achieve this”.

   – End –

   Photos courtesy of BNB and WONDER.

6. White Light Supplies Macbeth at Caerphilly Castle

   15 March 2017 08:02 Comments Off on White Light Supplies Macbeth at Caerphilly Castle

   Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru recently staged a Welsh-language version of Macbeth at Caerphilly Castle. This brand new, site-specific production ran last month and was the company’s first show to be performed in this historic ruin. Following its work on several other site-specific projects, White Light was asked to provide the lighting equipment on this production.

   Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru was formed in 2003 with the aim of offering a variety of productions that enrich Wales’ theatre culture in all its form, especially through the medium of Welsh. The lighting designer on Macbeth was Joe Fletcher and the Production and Lighting Assistant was Joshua Kroon; both of whom are members of the ALD. Joshua comments: “I worked closely alongside Joe to help create the systems and structure that would facilitate his design. This was an extremely ambitious production and key planning at every single stage was vital”.

   Macbeth was a promenade piece which took place in three internal spaces throughout the castle as well as transitioning through one external space. This meant that each space required rigs that needed to be connected to one another as they were each sharing various elements. Alongside this, the production was being broadcast live to 12 cinemas across Wales, meaning the lighting had to be suitable for recording.

   Joshua comments: “During the fit-up, accessibility was a particular challenge. One of the dimmer rooms was actually located up three sets of spiral staircases! Similarly, this was a site-specific show, in Wales, during the Winter. This meant we had to contend with the various outpours of rain and extremely low temperatures”.

   After several discussions with the WL team, Joe and Joshua drew up their ideal kit list for the production. Joshua states: “We used the SGM P5s for a variety of internal and external washes. They offer great punch along with a decent colour range. The SGM G-Spots were ideal as these were waterproof, meaning they could sit on the castle battlements as they provided lighting through the windows. We also used Martin MAC Auras for the wash along with Chauvet COLORado for downlight”.

   To run such an extensive range of fixtures in such a unique location, Joe and Joshua drew on the Avolite Art2000 T4 due its reliability. The Luminex Ethernet-DMX Mk2 Arnet was used for distribution whereas the ETC Ion and ETCnomad was used for control.

   The show has now finished its run at Caerphilly Castle where it received critical acclaim.

   Joshua comments: “This is the first time anything like that has been attempted in Wales and it was a fantastic project to be a part of. Staging Macbeth at Caerphilly Castle really added an extra dimension to the story; as did the lighting equipment which helped illuminate the story. We are extremely grateful to WL for their superb service throughout as we really couldn’t have done it without them”.

   Photos courtesy of Joshua Kroon and Mark Douet.