UK - Lighting designer Peter Mumford has used ETC's latest generation of LED fixtures - the Source Four LED Lustr+ profile - to light Old Times at The Harold Pinter Theatre (formerly the Comedy Theatre) in London's West End.
Locked away in a secluded farmhouse, the three characters in Old Times reminisce about their early days together in London. But with conflicting memories and underlying sexual tensions, the past suddenly feels vividly present.
"Having 'road tested' individual fixture units previously," says Mumford, "I wanted to try them incorporated as a significant part of my rig design. This is the only real way that one can properly try them out in the context of a production. For Old Times, I particularly wanted to be able to change colour subtly within very long, slow changing cues.
"I used 24 units - in three banks of eight - focused to an overhead cross wash of the set, which was two identically shaped rooms. Since the lighting design was all about 'pulling focus' - changing mood and time in the most imperceptible way possible - the fantastic, smooth colour changing was the most useful aspect of this application. Cues running as long as five minutes with colour changing without the need of a cross fade gave me just the quality I wanted.
"Using these ETC units in combination with a small number of moving lights meant that I could take the lighting design on a considerable 'journey' without fading in and out and remaining pretty much imperceptible to an audience.
"Apart from in three very obvious places, I didn't want the audience to be aware of lighting changes - but I did want to create quite specific and 'painterly' images at certain points in the play. This meant working closely with the actors with regard to timing and positioning."
The smooth and silent changes that the Source Four LEDs offer were essential. "My crew were, I would say, unanimously impressed with the Source Four LED - as soon as we began focussing, everyone remarked on the very even 'field'."
Programmer Victoria Brennan used an ETC Ion control desk, which, like the luminaires, was hired through White Light. Says Mumford, "Not only was Vicky delighted with the fixtures, but I certainly enjoyed being able to use Ion's colour picker. I rarely use colour libraries with moving lights and always mix my own colour direct - all the possibilities with the ETC LED fixture make this even more versatile."
