The Stoppard trilogy also featured large-format projection, using slides custom-predistorted by Wyatt Enever and Steve Larkins of DHA. After such close collaboration on the plays, DHA is delighted that the production has been nominated for a clutch of awards - also Best New Play and Best Costume Design. The company's products and services also feature in other nominated shows. Trevor Nunn's production of Anything Goes, also lit by Hersey, has been nominated for Outstanding Musical Production.
The Coast of Utopia and Bombay Dreams, nominated for Best New Musical, used DHA's Digital Light Curtain (DLC). Created in 1991, the DLC is a motorized batten of six or eight low-voltage Par 56 lamps, complete with an integrated scroller which can hold up to 20 colours. The units provide an intense curtain of light, which can be positioned precisely on the stage under the control of either the DLC's own LightTalk protocol or DMX512 from any standard lighting console through DHA's DMX to LightTalk adaptor. The pitching version of the DLC, which adds side-to-side movement, was created in 1993 at the request of Richard Pilbrow for a production of Showboat in the US.
The curtains are also used in the smash-hit ABBA musical, Mamma Mia, which opens in Las Vegas on 3 February. The show, lit by Howard Harrison, used 11 eight-lamp DLCs which, according to Harrison were fantastic for creating a strong backlight with the clean, clear-look of Greek sunlight. Mamma Mia is touring around the world and a total of 136 DLCs are in use on the various productions.
(Lee Baldock)
