On Show In Prague: Giudizio Universale

Rob is delighted and proud to announce that he and his design collaborators on the spectacular show Giudizio Universale, have been selected as part of the British display at the Prague Quadrennial design exhibition.

Featured as part of the website that is an element of the Society of British Theatre Designer’s Staging Places display in Prague, the site showcases the work of Rob, co-lighting designer Bruno Poet, projection designer Luke Halls and scenic designers Stufish.

Giudizio Universale, which tells the story of Michelangelo’s work at the Sistine Chapel through live performance, lighting, sound and all-encompassing video projection, continues to play to great acclaim at the Auditorium Conciliazione in Rome.

Staging Places: [link]
Prague Quadrennial: [link]
Giudizio Universale: [link]

Playing Now: Amour

Amour, Charing Cross Theatre. Photographer: Scott Rylander

Amour, lit by Rob, opened at the Charing Cross Theatre in London last night.

A ‘musical fantasy’ with music by the multi award-winning Michel Legrand and English lyrics by Jeremy Sams from the original by Didier Van Cauwelaert, the show is adapted from the 1943 short story Le Passe-Muraille by Marcel Aymé. The show enjoyed a short run in New York in 2002; this is its first professional production in the UK.

Produced by Danielle Tarento, the production is directed by Hannah Chissick, choreographed by Matt Cole with design by Adrian Gee. The show continues follows on from Rob’s collaborations with Hannah on Sweet Smell of Success and Cry Baby over the last year; they will work together again next month on The Wild Party at the Royal Academy of Music.

Amour: [link]
Gallery: [link]

Writing For Glyndebourne

Sometimes the most fun jobs are the most unexpected. Case in point: Rob was surprised and delighted to receive a phone call from Glyndebourne early in the year, asking if he’d be interested in writing a piece for the 2019 season programme.

With the ‘new’ Glyndebourne Opera Hosue building turning 25, the Glyndebourne technical team are looking to how to upgrade their building to better handle the style and scales of shows it is now producing, and to provide safer and more efficient working conditions. A key part of this plan is to replace the traditional counterweight flying system with a new automated flying system. Since this would involve fund-raising from Glyndebourne’s supporters, they were looking for an article that could clearly explain the current system and why there was a need for a new system.

Karen Anderson, Glyndebourne’s Head of Content Production, had seen the piece about the refurbishment of the Sydney Opera House in the March 2018 issue of LSi magazine, and felt it provided the perfect model for the Glyndebourne piece.

For Rob researching the piece allowed for a fascinating lunch with Glyndebourne’s Technical Director, Eric Gautron, to discuss the project. It also allowed him to combine his love of new technology with his fascination with the old, including conversations with lighting designers including Paul Pyant and Mark Jonathan who worked at the ‘old’ Glyndebourne early in their careers, and a a good rummage through Glyndebourne’s archive to find pictures to illustrate the article.

The final article appeared in the gorgeous season brochure.

Glyndebourne Opera: [link]

Playing Now: Man Of La Mancha

Man of La Mancha - London Coliseum. Photographer: Manuel Harlan

Rob has been working with Rick Fisher once again, this time on the new production of the musical Man of La Mancha at the London Coliseum.

Produced by Michael Grade and Michael Linnit with English National Opera, the show follows on from the success of their earlier collaborations on Sweeney Todd, Sunset Boulevard and Chess. Rarely seen in the UK since its 1969 West End debut, this new production is directed by Lonny Price, choreographed by Rebecca Howell, designed by James Noone, with costume design by Fontini Dimou, sound design by Mick Potter and lighting by Rick Fisher. Kelsey Grammar plays the lead role, alongside opera star Danielle deNiese, Nicholas Lyndhurst and Peter Polycarpou.

La Mancha continues the collaboration between Rick and Rob that includes productions of Billy Elliot in the US, Holland, Japan and touring the UK, Mata Hari in Japan and Consent in London, with Rob acting as the associate lighting designer and lighting programmer.

Careful planning was required to work around James Noone’s complex set, and to combine elements of ENO’s lighting rig with additional elements, particularly a complex wrap-around cyclorama lit by a combination of Robert Juliat Dalis and ChromaQ ColorForce LED fixtures. The rig also made use of Vari-Lite VL3500 Spot, Martin TW1 and PRG Icon Stage lighting fixtures, as well as Clay Paky’s Axcor Beam300 ‘LED Sharpy’ used to dramatic effect in the show’s Knight of the Mirrors sequence. Lighting equipment for the show was supplied by White Light, PRG and TSL.

Rob worked alongside ENO lighting supervisor Ian Jackson-French and senior lighting technician Adrian Plaut and the ENO lighting team plus production electrician John Delaney and production manager Patrick Molony to deliver the show on a tight schedule.

Man of La Mancha runs until June 8th at the London Coliseum.

Man of La Mancha [link]

Playing Now: Shrek

Rob has just completed lighting Shrek at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre in Guildford, for GSA.

As GSA’s Mig Burgess has delighted in pointing out online, the production uses five (or more) shades of green - a colour not normally seen much out of panto season, but which becomes quite useful when the leading character has a green face!

The show’s lighting has been supported by Ambersphere, allowing students to experience the Robert Juliat Dalis cyc lights, and the Ayrton Ghibli and Clay Paky K20 and Axcor Beam 300 LED moving lights.

GSA and Ambersphere are holding an open day about this equipment and the latest advances in colour rending with LED sources - plus the chance to see the rig in action over extracts from the show - this Wednesday, March 25th, from 2-5pm; Rob will be there to talk about LEDs, lighting when the leading performer is green and anything else that comes up!

Shrek at the Yvonne Arnaud: [link]
GSA / Ambersphere Lighting Open Day: [link]

Adelphi, +21

Twenty-one years after working on the musical Chicago at London’s Adelphi Theatre with lighting designer Ken Billington, Rob is back at the Adelphi Theatre with lighting designer Ken Billington and the musical Waitress.

“Ken called and asked if I’d like to program the London production of Waitress,” Rob explains. “What else could I say other than - same theatre, twenty-one years later, why not? Ken of course immediately replied that we’d have no problem getting in to the theatre since we both look exactly the same now as we did then…”

With music and lyrics by the award-winning Sara Bareilles, book by screenwriter Jessie Melson and direction by Diane Paulus, the show has already enjoyed considerable success in New York and on tour in the USA.

The show’s design team also includes scenic designer Scott Pask, costume designer Suttirat Anne Larlab and sound designer Jonathan Deans.

Working with Billington are associate lighting designer Aaron Porter, assistant lighting designer Douglas Green, and production electrician Gerry Amies - another veteran of that original London production of Chicago.

Waitress is previewing now at the Adelphi Theatre.

Waitress London: [link]

Playing Now: Cry-Baby

Rob has just completed lighting the musical Cry-Baby for the ArtsEd School in London; the show opened tonight.

The show is directed by Hannah Chissick, for whom Rob lit Sweet Smell of Success at the Royal Academy last summer. It is choreographed by Chris Whittaker, designed by Philip Whitcomb, with musical direction by Tamara Saringer and sound design by Tom Marshall. It plays until Saturday January 26th.

Cry-Baby at Arts Ed: [link]

A Lovely Surprise

Rob was surprised, delighted, humbled, flattered, proud and incredibly grateful to be presented with Life Membership of the Association of Lighting Designers, along with lighting designers Robbie Butler and Paule Constable, at the annual Lighting Lunch on Monday.

This wonderful gift was presented by the ALD to recognise the work the three have carried out ‘in recognition of service to the development of the Association, with special reference to the Stage Stage Lighting Campaign during 2018.‘

Save Stage Lighting is the campaign that was brought rapidly to life at the start of the year in response to the threat that the European Union’s proposed new Ecodesign Lighting regulations to irrevocably damage performance lighting. Created by the ALD, the Campaign quickly attracted a great deal of attention with its weekend of projecting the #SaveStageLightng logo inside and outside many of the highest profile theatres and other performance events across Europe. Rob and the ALD also worked to ensure that the issue was clearly explained to anyone interested, in particular publishing an explanatory document alongside Focus magazine, and regular updates on the ALD’s website.

More importantly, the campaign marshalled the support of other organisations across Europe, including PLASA, the Society of London Theatre, many of the UK and Europe’s key theatres and commercial producers, VPLT in Germany, OETGH in Austria, the Association of Swedish Lighting Designers and many others including manufacturers and lighting suppliers, ultimately marshalled by the European producer’s league, Searle. Their collective work resulted in a meeting with the EU’s Energy team that opened a channel of discussion and led to a number of key exemptions being included in the next draft of the regulation. This still left a number of key issues unresolved, and the ALD’s SaveStageLighting team has been working to brief the UK and other governments since, in the run up to the final meeting to discuss further changes to the regulations. Ironically, that meeting took place in Brussels at the same time as the Lighting Lunch! Full details of the very final text of the regulation are not yet known, though it has been suggested that many of the outstanding issues relating to entertainment lighting have been resolved.

“Being surprised with this during the Lighting Lunch was slightly overwhelming,” Rob recalls, “and so while I tried to point out that this was about far more than the work I or Robbie or Paule had done and thanked a few people, I inevitably missed so many out. But all of the work on this during the year has really been a wonderful team effort, with the wider ALD #SSL team of Michael Hulls, Jim Laws, Mark Jonathan, Lucy Carter, Matt Drury, Ian Saunders and Jo Town, with PLASA, in particular Adam Bennette and Mike Wood, with Patrick Woodroffe and his ability to get on the radio and then speak so eloquently about what we do, with the other organisations across Europe, with all of the theatres that supported #SSL, in particular the National Theatre, with everyone at Pearle and the IALD in Brussels, with all of the MPs and MEPs who stood up and supported us, with the big theatre producers in the UK, with Russell Lucas who made sure we spoke to the smaller theatres as well and organised an opportunity to do so and, most importantly, with the 85,000+ people who signed the on-line petition in support of this. Never again do we get to say that no-one understands or appreciates what it is that we do. Thankyou to each and every one.”

#Save Stage Lighting at the Association of Lighting Designers: [link]