Artiste Picasso auditions at Park Theatre
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Saggars required a flexible light that could both wash wide to cover the stage and isolate for dramatic specials and placed the units in overhead and side positions to achieve the desired result. “I was able to get massive coverage with the overhead units,” the designer states, “and then extremely specific specials from the sidelights that were able to perfectly isolate areas, people, even body parts.”
Distance, which played 5-29 September in the theatre’s intimate Park 90 space, is a powerful examination of the trials and tribulations of mental illness. Male suicide provides the context for the play, an intense dramatic experience played out on an express train and through a series of flashbacks.
With a snug setting and an audience in close proximity to the emotion being played out on stage, an important criterion was a muted lighting fixture. With the low sidelight units placed only about a meter in front of the audience, fan noise was a concern. “I sat as close as I could to a sidelight Picasso unit for one of the performances and was extremely impressed with how silent it was,” Saggars comments. “I was very pleased to be able to watch the sound designer put her ear right up against the unit in search of the source of loud fan noise, only to find it coming from the sole projector up in the rig.”
When laying down colour, Saggars says he was able to easily shift from the naturalistic tones of a train carriage to the murky, abstract colours that reflect the inside of the protagonist’s mind. He adds: “I loved all of the pastels I was able to create - something I really struggle to find with other units. Using the colour and the gobos together produced some gorgeous results with the colour sometimes being split over the gobo, creating a two tone look. I found it quite useful.”
With precision of illumination key to a clean look as well as elimination of excess back light, the Picasso’s four-blade framing shutter system allowed the designer to refine both beam shape and angle while creating some realistic effects.
Ultimately the flexibility of the Artiste Picasso meant that Saggars was able to deal with any situation that arose. He concludes: “They seemed to excel in every situation I threw at them which is exactly what I needed in this production and will need again in many other productions.”
(Jim Evans)
