Philips Selecon's lightweight, smooth colour changing PLCyc LED luminaires are facilitating fiercely felt mood and atmosphere for The Guildford Shakespeare Company's production of Macbeth.
Lighting designer Declan Randall is harnessing the diverse colour palette and rapid colour changing abilities of the PLCyc fixtures to dramatically enhance the shifting ambience during the production at Guildford's Holy Trinity Church.
"I'm treating the ceiling of church as the cyclorama, up-lighting the roof and using the PLCycs to throw shadows of scenic elements and the cast up onto the roof," says Randall. "The show varies from intense colour to more natural, gentle, skin tones and the PLCycs offer us speedy colour changes and an amazing palette to work with. What's great about the PLCyc LED luminaires is that they deliver both the natural and unnatural colours with equal effect. One fixture is solving a lot."
This production of Macbeth has the audience in the round, surrounding the centrally built stage, which means there is limited access to power and rigging positions.
"The PLCycs have a relatively small profile and are lightweight enough to put anywhere - and the light output is impressive for such a low wattage," says Randall. "My design required careful treatment, and the LED PLCycs were the logical step allowing me to get maximum 'bang for my buck'."
Randall has squeezed every degree of mood, atmosphere and effect from the fixtures. Combined with the rest of his primarily conventional tungsten lighting rig and some atmospheric haze the dark harsh and murderous world of Macbeth unfolds all the more effectively with it inevitable tragic and harrowing consequences.
