Robe lights lively Mamma Mia!
- Details
At the heart of the Musical Stage lighting rig are some of Robe LED luminaires including new T1 Profiles and T1 Fresnels, DL7S Profiles and LEDBeam 150s, part of an investment process in the brand that started in 2015.
It’s the first time that David has lit the foot-tapping musical written by British playwright Catherine Johnson, based on the songs of Abba and set on a Greek island.
He has enjoyed the challenge, working alongside a strong creative team including director Petr Gazdik, also one of the Czech Republic’s best-known actors, and set designer Emil Konecny.
“Petr had some very clear ideas about lighting right at the start of the creative discussions,” explained David, saying that while he communicated these very lucidly, Petr also values working collaboratively, “so I also had the space to come up with suggestions”.
The 14 DLS Profiles, featuring the seven-colour engine specifically designed for theatre - are split into two positions - a row on one of the upstage LX bars for rear lighting, specials, gobos and texturing onto the floor, and a row of seven on one of the front advanced bars just about the first rows of the audience.
The rear DL7S Profiles provide atmospheric lighting for some of the solos as well as picking out the principles in the big production numbers with all the cast onstage.
The 11 T1 Profiles feature a five colour mix which David observes harmonises “beautifully and seamlessly” with the seven-colour mix of the DL7S Profile. He appreciates the way you can insert one of the three T1 frost options at any stage of the zoom to produce a “perfect” spot. He thinks the fixture is “absolutely made for theatre”.
The two T1 Profiles are used for scenic gobo projections onto the set pieces which also have their own internal ‘practical’ light, and the two light sources combined helped create set a real 3D appearance. They are also used for a ‘disco ball’ moment in the finale.
The eight LEDBeam 150s in the show are rigged at the FOH boom positions - together with some conventionals.
The overall lighting goal was to recreate the diverse locations and many time references throughout the story in a way that the audience hardly notice the lighting, states David, who also programmed the grandMA console. The show has so many complex cues, this was the quickest and most efficient option, and he is also operating for the nights the show is playing in the theatre’s busy repertory programme.
(Jim Evans)
