This vibrant and ambitious site specific work, directed by Cathie Boyd, celebrated Cryptic's 20th anniversary and was part of the arts programme accompanying the 2014 XX Commonwealth Games in the city, which culminated the same weekend.
dbn's Stephen Page was commissioned to design and develop a lighting scheme for the show, due to the company's extensive experience working on dynamic outdoor multi-faceted performances like this.
The performance encompassed several live artists and bands, aerialists, pyro effects, around 140 performers and no less than 14 ships which were part of a magical kinetic set, some moving around the dock during the performance.
The scale of the site was huge - from the top of the Science Centre roof, where the aerialists performed, to the boats maneuvering in the dock, reaching right along to Glasgow Tower at the end of the Science Centre, which became a striking end-stop to the action, with carefully choreographed pyro sequences fired in and around it.
It was the expansive and varied nature of this temporary theatre environment that was the biggest challenge for Page when lighting the show. The solution was to position lights in just about every conceivable position around the space.
At the top and bottom of the Science Centre roof were eight strategically deployed SGM P5s - 16 in total - with two Studio Due City Color LED also shooting up from the floor either side.
Either side, and to the front of the building were four Clay Paky Alpha Wash 700s and level with the middle of the audience positions, in front of the roof and to the sides, were two Alpha Wash QWO 800s each side.
The large dock basin and hub of the performance was directly in front of the Science Centre which had 16 x Alpha Beam 700s positioned around its perimeter, used for creating an eye-catching backdrop to the boats and performers. They also doubled up as reinforcement for illuminating the Science Centre roof.
The shape and makeup of the Science Centre roof was another galvanizing element with its distinctive titanium-clad crescent shaped structure acting as a backdrop to the event, so throwing sufficient light up there without it being reflected up into the night sky was extremely tricky.
Around the FOH position were another eight P5s shooting into the basin together with another two QWO 800s, four CP Sharpie Washes, four Martin Atomic strobes and two Robert Juliat Victor followspots.
The Glasgow Tower was lit with six Sharpie Beams and four Sharpie Washes. Page operated all the shore-based lighting from his trusty Jands Vista T2 console. Six vessels had lighting systems installed on them, to support performers playing on deck.
Page sums up, "It was a really exhilarating project to be involved in, brought to fruition by a lot of hard work and some touches of pure ingenuity to overcome many challenges and idiosyncratic scenarios - which is what we like. There was a great team spirit and vibe between everyone working on site, the shows were both fully attended (by around 4,000 people) and it was a great success."
(Jim Evans)
