Tag Archive: Martin MAC Encores

1. White Light Hits the Right Notes at Garsington Opera

   30 September 2020 11:25 Leave a Comment

   

   Founded in 1989, Garsington Opera is one of the UK’s largest summer opera festivals, annually held in Wormsley Park, Buckinghamshire. Like so many other productions and festivals this year, the outbreak of Covid-19 saw its entire season cancelled, with the Festival being postponed until 2021. However, as some restrictions slowly lifted, this meant Garsington was able to present semi-staged performances of Beethoven’s Fidelio last month to a socially-distanced audience. For the run, White Light was asked to provide the lighting equipment.   

   Fidelio features direction, lighting and video design by Peter Mumford, who first created the piece very much in the style of his iconic Opera North Ring cycle performances. He explains: “The original Paris production was a co-production between Garsington Opera and Orchestre Chambre de Paris, conducted by Douglas Boyd who is Artistic Director of both companies. He and Laura Canning, Garsington’s Director of Artistic Administration, asked me to repeat the concept for a concert performance of Fidelio at Garsington, replacing the originally scheduled production that had been cancelled because of the pandemic. The original Paris concert production was very much constructed to emphasise the individual characters and much of the Fidelio opera concentrates on the thoughts and ambitions of those characters as much as the action and dramatic interplay.  In that production, although not strictly separated by regulations, the singers were much of the time both emotionally and, to some extent, physically distanced. It therefore seemed very possible to adapt that version to suit these extraordinary circumstances without actually compromising the concept or style. In both versions, the performance are backed by a continuous video which supports and illustrates the narrative”. 

   

   Prior to Fidelio, Peter had been working at the Vienna State Opera lighting Madama Butterfly, which was a restaging of the original ENO production. He explains: “It was great to be working out in Vienna in what was a very well organised set-up. The entire theatre staff were regularly tested, temperature checks taken at the stage door and a well-observed mask regime in corridors, offices and the canteen. This enabled us to rehearse and work in the theatre itself quite normally; all funded by the Austrian Government who were determined to see the Opera House reopened.  It almost felt like we had returned to normality for a couple of weeks!”.  

   Unfortunately while he was en-route to Vienna, Austria was put on to the quarantine list by Gov UK so the plan to fly direct to the UK following the premiere to start work at Garsington had to be abandoned. So, in tandem with Garsington, and in particular Technical Director Steve Hawkins, a plan was developed to make it possible to direct and light the show remotely via Zoom.  

   

   Having arrived back to his home in Greece, Peter created a set up in his studio in which he had two monitors: one showing Garsington’s main auditorium and another to communicate with the production desk. At Garsington itself, a large monitor was rigged in the auditorium so that the performers could see and hear Peter during rehearsals. He explains: “It was a very surreal way of working but the only choice we had. As I was wearing two different hats, I would be directing during the day and holding tech sessions in the evening. When working in these conditions, you have to have a great team on the ground and thankfully I did. I was able to communicate with Steve Parkinson, my brilliant Lighting and Video Programmer, who was effectively my eyes as I couldn’t always judge the light levels on stage through my monitor. Similarly, Will Reynolds, the Video Associate, did an equally great job in achieving the look and feel I wanted whilst, on stage, Sam Floyd led a great lighting team.”  

   The entire show was focussed, lit and cued up on Zoom, with Peter drawing up a clear plan and focus notes before sending these across. He comments: “The show features an ensemble of 14 players so it was an opportunity to light them individually in a way that you wouldn’t light a full orchestra. Of course they were very much a part of the overall stage picture and it was great to be able to achieve both a visual and musical blending between singers and players in a way that you can’t always do with a ‘fully’ staged opera. The lighting rig itself wasn’t actually that complex – a mixture of Lustr Profiles and MAC Encores which gave me a nice flexibility in terms of colour and also in achieving a fast focus”. 

   

   Fidelio recently finished its run, for which it both sold out and received fantastic reviews. It proved to be a great opportunity for Peter to not only revisit a previous production but also work during a time when live performance has become a rarity. He comments: “It really was a brilliant experience to work at Garsington. I’ll be honest and say this is obviously not the way I would want to collaborate or work in the future but in this instance it was the only way we could make it happen. Thankfully, we had a brilliant team, both on and off stage, who created something quite special and unique in these perpetually trying times”. 

   Photos courtesy of Johan Persson and Peter Mumford.

2. White Light All Aboard Strangers On a Train

   11 January 2018 15:45 Comments Off on White Light All Aboard Strangers On a Train

   Based on the world renowned 1950 novel by Patricia Highsmith, Strangers On A Train is a spine-chilling tale that tells the story of a fateful encounter between two men in the dining carriage of a train crossing America. Originally seen in the West End, the production is now being revived and is touring across the UK. Starring television favourites Christopher Harper, John Middleton and Hannah Tointon, it is adapted by Craig Warner and directed by Anthony Banks. As a leading supplier to touring productions, White Light is providing the lighting equipment.

   Strangers On A Train sees the creative team from last year’s production of Gaslight reunite, which WL also supplied. The Lighting Designer for both is Howard Hudson, who comments: “The set for Strangers On A Train is built on two levels and relies on a lot of projection to suggest the setting. The vast majority of my job was to light the small spaces revealed for each scene. This involved having to be quite precise in not interfering with the projected surfaces but lighting each scene in such a way as to make the projected image believable in context”.

   

   For preparation, Howard attended rehearsals and began to formulate his design. When it came to choosing the exact fixtures, it was actually a demonstration at WL that helped influence his decision. He comments: “Having attended the WL demo of the Martin MAC Encore, I was very impressed with what this light could offer; particularly the warm version and its emulation of a tungsten source which was the feel we were after for this production. Similarly, its very low noise level was appealing with the units on the proscenium often so close to the audience. As you have such minimal positions overhead and the difficulty of access for maintenance, these were the perfect option for the show”.

   The overhead rig consisted of 5 x warm Encores and 3 x VL1100 AS, with the booms and proscenium being comprised of ETC Colour Source Profiles, 4 x additional Encores and a number of conventional Source Fours positioned front of house. Howard explains: “Touring a show which has to be set up in a day means it’s not possible to have too much focus time. What does need focusing, I try to keep in easy-to-access positions. As a result, the rig had to have that level of flexibility that you might not require for a show that was playing in just one venue. I wanted to ensure each position had as much flexibility as possible, hence the Colour Source and Encore route.

   

   He adds: “One of the biggest obstacles to overcome was finding the best shots into the very specific small spaces each scene was played in surrounded by video – which is a bit of a nightmare for a show that has to tour to a variety of different theatres where the same positions aren’t always guaranteed! So we were very aware that when we opened the tour in Brighton, where some shots and angles would have been possible and great to use, we had to be strict and not use these – knowing we wouldn’t be able to do so when we moved onto another venue. Another aspect is that the show is full of practicals, many of which are plugged up during the show itself due to the way the set works. This required a lot of careful planning and precision – much of which was done by Sonic Harrison who did a very efficient (and patient!) job as Production Electrician”.

   The show is currently playing at the Theatre Royal Brighton and will visit venues in Sheffield, Glasgow, Birmingham, Manchester, York, Cambridge and many more.

   Howard adds: “This is a really suspenseful show that will have audiences up and down the country on the edge of their seats as the drama unfolds. It’s been a great production to work on, reuniting with a great team, and I am grateful to WL for their support once again”.

   Photos courtesy of Helen Maybanks.