White Light goes underground with Alice
- Details
Alice’s Adventures Underground allows audience members to meet some of Wonderland’s most famous and curious inhabitants, take tea at the biggest unbirthday party with the maddest of hatters and even join the underground movement to rise against the fearsome Queen of Hearts.
The lighting designer is Mike Gunning, who comments: “I have worked on shows similar in the past such as Punchdrunk’s The Drowned Man. My brief on this production was to create the correct aesthetic to tell the story”.
To achieve this, Mike worked closely alongside set designer Sam Wyer. Mike adds: “With this show, it is part theatrical and part installation.The audience experience it from every single angle which is something we needed to consider; along with the story flow. As the show is run on recurring loops with audience members being continuously taken around in groups, the design is actually ten running concurrently as opposed to a single one”.
Mike approached WL to provide him with a range of fixtures to achieve his design. This included Pulsar ChromaFlood 200 UV LEDs, Chroma-Q Colour Force, ETC ColourSource Spot LED, Philips SL PAR155 Zoom Wash, CORE Point30s, Birdie XLRs and Minuette Zooms. These were all controlled via an ETC Ion 2K Console. There was also a Unique 2.1 Haze Machine, a Viper 2.6 Smoke Machine and a Little Blizzard SP DMX Smoke Machine.
Mike adds: “For this production, I tried to draw on a predominantly LED rig. This was in order to keep the heat to a minimum within that underground space. The equipment I used not only allowed me to achieve this but also gave me the flexibility on colour that this production really needed.”
The show has now opened and, once again, achieved rave reviews with audiences and critics alike.
Mike conludes: “It’s a privilege to work on a show as innovative as this as it truly offers a unique theatrical experience for all ages. I am grateful to all of the team and WL for their support throughout.”
(Jim Evans)
