Giudizio Universale at PLASA 2018

Photographer: Antonello&Montesi

Rob will be talking about the spectacular show Giudizio Universale, which he lit with Bruno Poet earlier this year, at the 2018 PLASA Show.

Giudizio Universale combines lighting, projection and live performance to tell the story of Michelangelo and the work he created for the Sistine Chapel. The show, produced by Balich Worldwide Shows, is playing now at the Auditorium Conciliazone in Rome.

The PLASA Show runs from Sun 16th to Tues 18th September at Olympia in London; the talk takes place from 1-2pm on Monday 17th September. All are welcome; you can sign up for free tickets for the PLASA Show and then for the talk at the PLASA Show’s website.

PLASA Show 2018: [link]
Giudizio Universale: [link]

Tree of Codes: Hong Kong

Photographer: Joel Chester Fildes

Tree of Codes, the acclaimed dance show created with director/choreographer Wayne McGregor, visual artist Olafur Eliasson and composer Jamie xx, is back, this time playing in Hong Kong as part of the New Vision Arts Festival.

The show will be at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre from 19-21 October 2018. 

Tree of Codes Hong Kong: [link]

A Day In Batley...

Rob made a return visit to Batley in Yorkshire at the beginning of August, to run a workshop on lighting for the Batley & Spen Youth Theatre.

This is the remarkable group formed last year to present a unique production of Les Miserables as a memorial to the late Jo Cox MP. Rob visited the company last year to provide them with an introduction to stage lighting. This year it was lovely to see familiar faces who'd had an amazing time making that show, and new faces keen to be part of the company as they made a brand new show called Deeds Not Words.

With thanks to the efforts of Donna Munday, Abbey Wright and in particular Will Alder, and the help and support of White Light, a fun morning was had by all learning a bit about the history and possibilities of stage lighting, and then playing with some of the very latest LED lighting technology.

It was a pleasure to be asked to be involved. Best wishes to all involved for the show. And see you all next year?

Batley & Spen Youth Theatre: [link]

Three Days In Milan

Following the success of Giudizio Universale in Rome and of his talk about the show at this year’s Rimini trade show, Rob was asked back to Italy again to talk to the lighting students of the Politecnico di Milano.

Though the course is predominantly based on architectural lighting, the college attempts to provide them with introductions to the widest possible range of lighting opportunities. Rob was there to talk about show and performance lighting. Over three days, he talked about the history of performance lighting, his approach to designing shows, and the practicalities of both creating and then implementing lighting designs for productions - not just the technicalities of the lighting, but the process and politics of getting shows on. Rob provided practical examples from the many productions he has been involved with, spanning the fields of plays, musicals, opera and dance plus projects which crossover the worlds of performance and architectural lighting.

Politecnico di Milano: [link]

Summer at the Royal Academy of Music

Rob has just finished lighting the Royal Academy of Music's summer musicals, this year Working, directed by Kimberley Sykes, and Sweet Smell of Success, directed by Hannah Chissick.

Rob has been a regular at the Academy over the last nineteen years, lighting a remarkable range of shows including A Catered Affair, A Little Night Music, A... My Name Is Alice, Cabaret, A Chorus Line, City of Angels, Into The Woods, Jane Eyre, Oh What A Lovely War, Promises Promises, Sweeney Todd, Sweet Charity, Tommy and others.

However, this year was the opening year of the Academy's new Susie Sainsbury Theatre, built in the same space as the previous theatre and connected to the same (though enlarged) stage - giving the somewhat unusual experience of sitting in a completely new auditorium looking at a very familiar stage (and, in particular, a very familiar, very distinctive theatre back wall!).

Designer Basia Binkowksa took full advantage of the opportunities offered by the expanded stage, however, and the lighting made use of the latest technology purchased as part of the refurbishment, including ETC's Lustr2 LED spotlights and Martin's Mac Encore LED moving lights. 

Rob was supported by RAM's fantastic technical team of Michal 'Skip' Francis and Anthony Hannah, by the technical students from Rose Bruford (particularly production electricians Liam Rudd and Stephen 'Legs' Carter and programmers Jonny Myers and Josh Musgrave), and was delighted to be working once again alongside sound designer Mike Walker and his team, and with RAM's Musical Theatre Company Manager Katie Blumenblatt, Events Manager Gilly Schofield, and of course by the Head of Musical Theatre Daniel Bowling.

It was a pleasure to be back, and to be involved in two such fantastic productions.

Working
Royal Academy of Music, 2018
Director: Kimblerley Sykes
Choreographer: Aline David
Designer: Basia Binkowska
 

ITEAC 2018

Rob will be part of this year’s International Theatre Engineering & Architecture Conference (ITEAC), which takes place this week at IET: Savoy Place in London. 

Held every four years, this year’s event is sub-titled ‘Places for Performance: New Directions,’ and promises to explore the new ways in which performance spaces are developing, learning from the lessons of the previous four years and considering the challenges of the next, particularly in the context of what the creators of performance will require of the spaces in which they work, and to which they invite their audiences.

Rob is part of, and has helped organise, a panel called ‘Bursting the Bubble: LED, Regulation and the Future of Lighting’. This takes a look at what venue planners need to consider moving forward, as technology advances, and as control of the equipment used for stage lighting gets taken out of the control of its practitioners whether by legislation or just the decision by manufacturers to stop producing some of the devices we love, particularly tungsten light bulbs.

Alongside Rob will be a team of top theatre practitioners, including lighting designer Lucy Carter, the National Theatre’s head of lighting, Matt Drury, Simone Capeleto of ADB, and Steve Terry of ETC.

The session takes place this Tuesday, June 5th, at 11.30am.

ITEAC: [link]

RIMINI 2018: Making Giudizio Universale

Rob was delighted to be invited by Clay Paky to speak at this year’s Music Inside Rimini trade show at Rimini, Italy - a show he’s heard about since he first started working in lighting, but which, until now, he’s never visited.

Rob spoke about the making of the show Giudizio Universale, the Balich Worldiwde Shows production which is playing now in Rome and which uses a rig equipment from Clay Paky and sister company ADB, including fifty of ADB’s classic, but still remarkable, Svoboda fixtures.

However the talk wasn’t just about the technology involved, but about the challenges of designing shows such as this, and then making them work in challenging venues on tight schedules while still achieving the initial vision for the lighting - and having a good time doing so! Having a good selection of snacks (healthy and unhealthy) on the production desk is just one of the tips Rob shared.

The talk was well attended, and well received by all those who were there.

Giudizio Universale: [link]
Music Inside Rimini: [link]

Consent in the West End

Rob will be working once again with lighting designer Rick Fisher this month, helping him transfer the acclaimed play Consent from the National Theatre to London’s Pinter Theatre.

This continues a collaboration which stretches back almost two decades, and most recently has included productions of Billy Elliot in the US, Holland, Japan and touring the UK, and the new musical Mata Hari in Japan.

Rob will be serving as associate lighting designer and lighting programmer on the show as it is adapted by director Roger Michell, designer Hildegard Bechtler, lighting designer Rick Fisher and sound designer John Leonard from the traverse staging it enjoyed at the National’s Dorfman Theatre to the more traditional environs of the Pinter Theatre. The Pinter - and its previous incarnation, the Comedy, is also a theatre Rob has enjoyed a long association with, from A Glass Menagerie twenty years ago, to The Children’s Hour, The Browning Version/South Downs, Death and the Maiden, and Merrily We Roll Along. 

Consent, written by Nina Raine, is produced by Sonia Friedman Productions and the National Theatre; it opens at the Pinter on May 29th.

Consent: [link]