Tag Archive: Outdoor Theatre Lighting

1. White Light Supplies The Warren’s Outdoor Season

   27 August 2020 09:13 Leave a Comment

   

   Taking place on a purpose-built site on the beach next to Brighton Pier, The Warren Outdoor Season opened earlier this month, offering a range of live comedy, theatre, cabaret and family shows. Having supported the Brighton Fringe at The Warren for over five years, White Light was called upon to supply the lighting, rigging and power equipment for this brand-new season, which is one of the first to open following the outbreak of Covid-19. 

   The Warren is a pop-up, multi-purpose site which consists of four venue spaces and four bar areas. Annually, it hosts the Brighton Fringe which is one of the largest fringe festivals in the world. Unfortunately, as with so many other live performances, the outbreak of Covid-19 saw the cancellation of this year’s festival. As such, Otherplace Productions, the team who run The Warren, decided to look for an alternative, safe way to put on live entertainment. Joshua Carr, Technical Director at Otherplace Productions, comments: “We were all incredibly disappointed when we had to cancel the festival back in March. Not only was it a blow for the city in terms of culture but also the economy, as it employed over 250 people. That said, we knew that it was in the public’s interest and we had to abide with government guidelines. It soon dawned on us though that social distancing wasn’t going away anytime soon and, as such, decided to look at ways in which performances could happen with this in place. We knew this would need to be outside and, after speaking to the local authority, put together an outdoor concept which would be situated next to our main permanent venue”.  

   The design Joshua and his team put together is a completely safe, socially-distant performance space. The concept is an open-air theatre space, with picnic benches spaced out which adhere to government regulations. The space is used for the various performances, who are either solo acts or in shows with people from the same household, and cover a range of disciplines. On arrival, audience members are shown to their spots and will be able to remotely order drinks and snacks, which will be brought to their table in order to minimise contact. Each table will be deep-cleaned between sessions to keep everyone safe.  

   

   Joshua was once again in charge of the technical design yet, unlike the usual Fringe, had to work within the extremely restricted physical, budgetary and technical limitations. He explains: “Once the plans were approved, we literally had seven days from load in to opening the season. So safe to say it’s been a case of all hands on deck! In terms of the technical set-up, I knew that the lighting rig would need to be flexible, simple-to-use and easily installed. I immediately contacted WL and worked with their Customer Service team who were just brilliant in helping me source exactly what I needed in terms of lighting fixtures, power distribution and scaffolding. Their experience was pivotal in helping us bring the entire set-up to life and they fully embraced our attitude of the show must go on”. 

   Alongside fulfilling the need for live performance, the season is also serving an equally important purpose within the local community. Visiting companies are being allowed to programme their shows inside the space, taking all of the box office sales. Similarly, the majority of staff are those who would normally have been working at the Fringes in Edinburgh and Adelaide; both of which were cancelled.  

   Joshua comments: “This is a recovery project. It’s a way of us trying to get back to some semblance of normality and returning to what we all love doing. We wanted to put something on this year, not just for the performers but the wider supply chain who rely on seasons like this to survive. The response so far has been amazing and we’re really looking forward to the next eight weeks”.  

   The Warren’s Outdoor Season is now open and will run until 27^th September 2020. For more information about the festival and the programme of work, please click here.  

   Joshua concludes: “Ultimately, we wanted to recreate the atmosphere that makes The Warren a perennial Fringe favourite in a new, Covid-safe outdoor site. In the midst of an incredibly tough time for the arts industry, we are delighted to be able to offer an alternative platform for the city’s renowned live performance community. We are also grateful to the team at WL for their hard work and efforts in helping us make this a reality”. 

   Photos courtesy of The Warren.

2. White Light Goes Gothic for Der Vampyr

   20 November 2019 14:20 Leave a Comment

   

   White Light has supplied the lighting equipment for Der Vampyr which was performed on site at The Old Church in Stoke Newington.
   
   Der Vampyr is the first production for the newly formed Gothic Opera; a company that curates mysterious performances of rarely-seen operas in uncanny, atmospheric spaces.  The story was first composed in 1828 by Heinrich Marschner at the height of the Gothic craze. The lighting designer for this inaugural production was Will Alder who comments: “Der Vampyr is a Gothic Opera that starts off as you would expect a traditional opera to, before slowly descending into this wonderful farce. It’s a great piece, with music that you leave humming away to yourself. The imagination that this company have in doing this production at Halloween in some ‘spooky’ locations was what really attracted me to the show initially”.
   
   As part of his role, Will worked closely with Director Julia Mintzer to discuss the aesthetic and feel of the show. He explains: “We were all keen on using a lot of haze, and playing with the architecture of The Old Church. I’m a big believer that when you’re in a space that is architecturally interesting and that feeds into the piece you are staging, you should never shy away from using that environment as part of your lighting design. The team had chosen this venue for its look and the way it ties into a Vampire opera at Halloween – the last thing we wanted was for the audience not to be able to see it!

   

   He continues: “We were keen on big bold colours and using red to uplight in the box pews with clouds of fog to help the ‘demons’ arrive from hell itself. The production was on a small budget, meaning the set was minimal, and lighting became even more crucial to create the feel and look that we were craving for the piece”.

   Working with both his budgetary and lighting requirements, he reached out to the WL Hires Team to see what could be achieved. He comments: “I was very keen to use two wash movers and two profile movers so that I could have the flexibility of tight pools of light in particular places on the set, and break-up gobos and rotating patterns to create visual interest. The WL Account Handler Chloe Hardwick suggested a few units that we could use, and I took her advice, having done some research into them to make sure they’d suit my needs”.
   
   Will also had to ensure that the footprint of any equipment on the ground was minimal in order to not take out the audience seats. He explains: “I decided to use boom bases up against each of the pillars to make sure the audience could pass underneath and the lighting and projection for surtitles were safely overhead. Cable runs were also exceptionally fun, as you either had to use lots of gaffer to keep a neat run on the ground or put them in full view overhead – I decided that floor runs were the way to go”.

   

   As the show was taking place in a non-traditional theatre space, this obviously meant there were certain barriers that Will had to overcome: the main one being power. He comments: “We had to run everything off 13amps, and there simply wasn’t the budget for an entirely LED rig. I drew from my own stock of lanterns for our generic rig, which brought the total count up to 18 units, and then proportionally patched each generic lantern so that we couldn’t possibly draw too much and blow the system! The Old Church’s technical specifications didn’t list any amount of large mains power available, or where each ring main began and ended, so the job was a constant balancing act to ensure that the total power being drawn across the whole building couldn’t be more than 32amps. This meant a total ban on any phones being charged, kettle’s being boiled and heaters being plugged in – I don’t think I made friends in the company for that rule but we got through the shows safely!”.
   
   The show was performed over the Halloween period and finished its run on November 3rd. Will comments: “This production was an all-round feat of determination. This small team worked incredibly hard to achieve something incredible which ended with an Offie nomination, and it’s a real testament to how hard we worked to achieve something so good with a limited schedule and budget. I’d also like to thank the brilliant team at WL for supporting lighting designers such as myself and helping me achieve the exact design this show needed; both in terms of budgetary and technical requirements”.
   
   Photos courtesy of Robert Workman.

3. White Light Opens a Little Shop of Horrors at Regent’s Park

   17 August 2018 09:31 Leave a Comment

   

   First performed Off-Broadway in 1982, Little Shop of Horrors has gone on to become one of the most performed musicals of all time. Composed by Alan Menken and written by Howard Ashman, it tells the story of Seymour, a hapless florist shop worker who raises a plant that feeds on humans. Following numerous West End and Broadway runs, the musical is now the final show in the current Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre Season; a season for which White Light has supplied the entire lighting equipment.

   The Lighting Designer for this production is Howard Hudson, who also lit last season’s On the Town. He comments: “I’ve never seen Little Shop before but have absolutely loved the now iconic soundtrack for years. Having not seen any of the many previous versions meant that I was able to approach the show with a completely fresh perspective. In the build up to the show, we went to visit the Ben Kelly exhibition ‘Ruin’ at 180 The Strand which was a great source of visual ideas. I also watched quite a few B movies from the 50s and 60s which were helpful as another visual key into the world in which the musical is set”.

   Part of Howard’s brief was to work closely with Designer Tom Scutt’s set. Howard comments: “The set is very monochromatic, with most of its surfaces being a black and white print of New York buildings jumbled together at all different scales. So this was our ‘base’ world referencing a more monochromatic filmic visual language. As the plant starts to grow and take over the story and the space, the world gets more and more green – ultimately arriving at a highly saturated, more angular, green environment (a little like pouring a can of green paint over everything). The cinema billboard at the back was hugely useful to introduce a block of colour as a background for particular moments acting like a cyc. And, of course, the trees which surround the stage were also useful as a backdrop to suggest ‘Somewhere That’s Green’ which Audrey yearns for and sings about”.

   Howard liaised with WL to draw on the fixtures needed for his design. The rig consisted of VL3500 Washes, Martin MAC Viper Performances, Clay Paky Mythos 2s, Martin MAC IIIs and a range of LED tape. Howard comments: “The actual little shop itself has a mini lighting rig in its roof, complete with DJ-style LED spinning balls, smoke, fans, lots of LED fixtures and LED tape. This took some lengthy planning as it is required to track up and downstage, revolve as well as be stood on top of and house the plant. The show also had a huge amount of LED tape for the set elements; all of which had to withstand the frequent torrential downpour(s)”.

   As the Open Air Theatre is a completely outdoor space, this meant that Howard’s approach to Little Shop of Horrors differed to how he’d traditionally light a show. He explains: “The most vital part I’ve found with working outside is having your cue structure worked out in as much detail as possible prior to tech. So even if you’re teching in incorrect day light conditions (as is most often the case), you can rough in cues to at least have some lights you hope pointing in the right place. And then the tech sessions themselves are often like putting a blindfold on: you concentrate more on working with the DSM who is calling imaginary cues that don’t do anything with lights that aren’t on! It’s only when you have the first dress rehearsal that you see all your guesswork for the first time in the right light – and you spend most of that praying the lights come up in the right places at the right time in the right colour and at the right level! After each tech and preview, we will work until 2:30am in order to take advantage of the darkness. So we also work live over the previews which is gold-dust in terms of lighting time”.

   The show has now opened to critical acclaim achieving five stars from the Financial Times, WhatsOnStage, The Times and the Daily Express, with other critics claiming ‘You’d be mad to miss this uplifting revival’ (The Independent) and ‘a triumphant production’ (The Evening Standard). It has also announced an extension until September 22nd.

   Howard concludes: “It’s been amazing returning to Regent’s Park and working with WL once again on what’s an incredibly loud and fun show. I also want to thank Adam Squire, Joe Kirk and their utterly brilliant team along with Vic Brennan who programmed expertly as ever”.

   Photos courtesy of Johan Persson.