Tag Archive: tom wilkes

1. White Light Flies Broken Wings into Theatre Royal Haymarket

   23 August 2018 09:35 Leave a Comment

   

   Broken Wings is a brand-new musical which recently premiered in the West End at the Theatre Royal Haymarket. Based on Lebanese-born poet Kahlil Gibran’s autobiographical tale of the same name, the show is written by Nadim Naaman (The Phantom of the Opera) and composer Dana Al Fardan. As a leading supplier to West End productions, White Light was called upon to supply the lighting equipment.

   The show was lit by Lighting Designer Nic Farman, whose previous West End credits include The Toxic Avenger and 3Women. He comments: “For this particular production, the director Bronagh Lagan and I decided that light would be extremely helpful in conveying a sense of both location and time. The show features the older Gibran reflecting back on his life so the narrative switches to the past frequently. I worked closely with Bronagh to develop the palette for the show. We based the older Gibran scenes around cold blues and CTB which contrasted with hot, rich oranges, yellows and reds for Beirut. As the sorrow of the story develops, the warmth in the lighting is stripped out; culminating in the funeral of Selma.”

   

   Nic adds: “When we were teching the production, it was important to work quickly so we created a number of looks which were refined during the dress rehearsal and first preview. Each location in the show is visually very striking: gardens, shady restaurants, a temple, the docks etc. As a result, we had a lot of fun developing a layered stage picture with the colour palette and texture from gobo washes”.

   Having known what he wanted to achieve from his design, Nic approached WL to draw on a range of fixtures. He comments: “I had a majority moving light rig overhead, with a number of Chauvet Maverick MK2 Profiles and Maverick MK1 Spots to provide specials and gobo washes. These were supplemented with Martin TW1s grouped together in pairs for back washlight. The sidelight came from Chauvet Ovation E930VWs and Ovation E910FC Profiles. The combination of the variable white and full colour units meant I had flexibility to do both variable colour temperature and saturated washes.

   He continues: “The cyc was lit from top and bottom with ETC ColorSource units with the cyc lens attachment. These gave me the rich tones I needed to create the Middle Eastern sky, as well as the punch to fight over the stage wash. Completing the rig were a number of ETC Source Fours positioned front of house as well as two Super Korrigan Followspots”.

   With the show being a limited run, this meant that Nic and his team had a limited period in which to get into the venue. He comments: “The show started going in on Monday morning and opened for first preview on the Wednesday evening. But I was able to design a rig that accommodated for this, with minimal overhead focussing needing to be done and side light at floor level so it could be focused without ladders. Then, when we got into tech, it became about working quickly and in broad brushstrokes that were refined over the dress rehearsal and first preview”.

   The production marks one of many that WL is currently supplying in the West End, with others including TINA – The Tina Turner Musical, 42^ndStreet, Young Frankenstein, Imperium, Pressure, Harry Potter and The Cursed Child, The Importance of Being Earnest, The Jungle, The King and I, The Lieutenant of Inishmore and Aladdin to name but a few.

   Nic comments: “I want to say a massive thanks to my Production Electrician Adam Mottley and his assistant Matt Harding, my follow spot operators Sam Hawkes and Rose Fraser, and all the team at Theatre Royal Haymarket for getting the show in and up in a very short space of time. Also a huge thank you to Jonathan Haynes and Jim Dewhirst at WL and Tom Wilkes at Chauvet for their continued support”.

   Photos courtesy of Marc Brenner.

   Full Credits:

   Broken Wings
   by Nadim Naaman & Dana Al Fardan

   Director: Bronagh Lagan
   Set Design: Claudio Rosa & Mira Abad
   Costume Design: Nik Corrall
   Lighting Design: Nic Farman
   Sound Design: Ed Borgnis & Simon Hendry
   Photos: Marc Brenner

2. White Light is Shown How to Succeed in Business at Wilton’s Music Hall

   2 May 2017 08:59 Comments Off on White Light is Shown How to Succeed in Business at Wilton’s Music Hall

   Following its opening on Broadway in 1961, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying is considered to be one of the most iconic musicals of all time. With music by the legendary Frank Loesser, the musical is a past recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama along with the Tony Award for Best Musical and Best Book. It was recently revived at London’s iconic Wilton’s Music Hall and White Light supplied the equipment.
   How to Succeed tells the story of J. Pierrepont Finch who rises from lowly window washer to high-powered executive. The show is directed by Benji Sperring with a lighting design by the award-winning Nic Farman. Nic comments: “What’s great about working with Benji is that he really allows me to make lighting become an integral part of the story telling. It was about creating caricature through the lighting and being brave with the design as we wanted to put our stamp on the show and make it appeal to a modern audience without losing the 60s era that the show is set in. Similarly, Mike Lees, the set and costume designer, created a beautiful perspective set and furnished the ‘office’ with brightly coloured props that connected to each character, so that gave me licence to use strong colours both in the scene work and songs”.
   This was the first time that Nic had worked at Wilton’s Music Hall. He states: “While the venue’s architecture is truly stunning, it does throw up a number of issues; namely the lack of overhead rigging on the forestage which is where the majority of our show was staged! I negated this by rigging all of the front of house from the circle front to get light onto the fore stage. This shallow angle front light worked well with the ‘comic book’ nature of the show and design”.
   Nic also had to contend with a very limited set-up time, with a load in Thursday morning that had to be ready for a Saturday matinee. He states: “It was important to keep the rig as streamlined as possible which meant keeping unit numbers low. As the concept was to use a lot of colour I decided early on to go down the LED route. The front of house wash used ETC Source Four Lustr 2s which were perfect as they were as good doing subtle colour correction as bold saturated colours and their output is also great.
   He adds: “Side and backlight was a combination of Elation SixPARs and Stairville LED Pars and we dressed the large building facade set piece with Chauvet COLORado 72 Tour battens. Having an infinite colour palette available from these few units allowed a huge number of looks to be created. Coemar Infinity M Spots were used from front of house positions and Martin MAC 700 Spots were used for backlight. I really liked being able to call on the animation wheel of the Mac 700’s to layer effects over the stage and it really added a lot to my overall design”.
   The show recently finished its run at Wilton’s, with this production marking more than fifty years since it was last performed in London.
   Nic adds: “This was an ambitious production with tight deadlines but I had a strong team behind me to make it work. The in-house technical team of Ryan and Jake were utterly fantastic and made putting the show in as smooth as possible. Similarly, the WL team, in particular Tom Wilkes and Emilie Cheshire, were extremely helpful”.
   CREDITS 
   Director – Benji Sperring
   Choreography – Lucie Pankhurst
   Set and Costume – Mike Lees
   Lighting  – Nic Farman
   Photos courtesy of Darren Bell.

3. Breaking Up is Hard to Do for White Light

   11 April 2017 08:16 Comments Off on Breaking Up is Hard to Do for White Light

   Currently playing at Upstairs at the Gatehouse, Breaking Up is Hard to Do is a musical comedy featuring eighteen songs by pop icon Neil Sedaka. Set during the 1960 Labour Day weekend in New York, it tells the story of Marge and Lois who visit Esther’s Paradise Resort Hotel hoping to find love and romance…The production marks the show’s London premiere. Following its work at fringe venues in both London and across the UK, White Light was called upon to provide the lighting equipment.

   The lighting design is by Jai Morjaria who was the recipient of last year’s Association of Lighting Designer’s ETC Award. He comments: “Prior to the show, I don’t think I’d even heard of Neil Sedaka. That said, during research, I listened to Sweet Sixteen and slowly realised that I knew quite a few of his songs. This was also the first time I’ve professionally lit a musical. There are over 300 lighting cues and a lot is going on in every scene so it’s been challenging yet worth it when you see the finished product”.

   Jai collaborated closely with the director, Jordan Murphy, and the set designer, Richard Cooper, to create a look that would be most suited for the show. Jai states: “Both Jordan and Richard had very bold ambitions artistically. My brief was fairly simple: make the songs look as glamorous as possible and make the holiday camp appear the exact opposite! This was a great starting point and something I was able to build on as we entered rehearsals”.

   Having worked with the company previously, Jai approached WL to supply him with the equipment needed for the show. He comments: “For Breaking Up, I decided the most important thing would be colour. I really wanted deep, saturated colours to complement the vibrancy of the set. To keep with the style of the piece, I didn’t want any of the LEDs to be visible to the audience – something that was slightly difficult given the show was in thrust! However, after speaking to WL about my specifications, we came across the Chauvet COLORado 1 Solo fixture which seemed to do exactly what I required.

   Jai adds: “I went down to WL’s base and organised a demonstration of the COLORado and realised they were perfect. Thankfully, due to WL’s close relationship with Chauvet, we managed to put together a rig which consisted of 8 x COLORado 1 Solos, 5 x Rogue 2 Spots and 6 x COLORado 2 Tours. This meant we also had to update our control equipment so I drew on an ETC Gio to control the rig”.

   The show has now opened and will run until the 23^rd April. Jai adds: “This really is a feel good show and it’s great to work on something like this. In regards to the technical elements, we really pushed what we could achieve in a space as intimate as the Gatehouse as we’re all really proud of the show”.

   Tom Wilkes, WL’s Business Development Manager, comments: “We were delighted to be able to work with Jai and ensure he had the equipment he needed for this show. While we may supply some of the biggest shows in the West End, we embrace working in a range of venues, regardless of their size or location, to ensure that all of our clients receive the exact same high standard of service”.

   Photos courtesy of Kevin Ralph and Joseph Hodges Entertainments.