These were selected to be right at the centre of the lighting action for both shows, which required very different approaches and lighting treatments, showing off the versatility of the fixtures.
The DTS Nick 600 LED Wash and Jack Spot luminaires were chosen for their small size, brightness, low power and feature-packed capabilities.
On the Jack, Lambert comments, "This is extremely versatile as you can expand the iris and it becomes a wash," while on the Nick, he says, "It's a really powerful LED wash fixture, fast, with an excellent zoom and very light in weight - so it ticks a lot of boxes."
He adds that with just these two types of DTS fixtures - which he has recently started using in his work - he could easily cover the stages involved, so they are ideal for any size of show. A selection of generic fixtures was also utilised in both cases.
Shadowland is the tense and emotional tale of novelist and academic CS Lewis's relationship with American poet Joy Gresham which leads to him questioning his faith. It was produced by Unleashed Productions and was this year's annual production at Buckfast Abbey.
The dynamic stage set - designed by Roger Bloxham and Mark Cartier - was used to create several different locations - from hospital waiting rooms to university studies to Greek islands and London apartments. Generic lighting fixture positions - a total of 48 Chilli Pack dimmer channels - were provided by an overhead truss, while the two DTS Nicks and Jacks were downstage either side on stands, providing a combination of tight key lighting on the actor's faces, and general cross stage / set illumination.
Control included the new 8-port Ethernet node from Cooper Controls to distribute DMX between all the lightsources onstage and the Orb XF console. The desk was also from Cooper Controls and used to trigger an Arkaos media server running video elements of the production's visuals.
Shadowlands was directed by Jude Earnshaw. Lambert also designed the production video (created by Maximillien Spielbicher) with lighting and video assistant Matty Guarino.
A similar lighting rig was used by Lambert for the Miss Saigon show in Canterbury, which was produced by the Sandwich Technology School and directed by Josephine Buchan who recruited a professional production team including the principals who were former graduates of the college.
Once again the Orb XF was used for its speed of programming and capabilities with lighting and video control.
It was totally different in style, pace and presentation and once again the Nick and Jacks - rigged on an overhead truss - proved themselves to be extremely flexible, helping to create mood atmosphere, colour and drama.
Lambert concludes, "The DTS fixtures are great value and have all the advantages of being fast. Lightweight with good zoom, colour mixing and dimming features - great 'all rounders' and perfect for a number of different applications." DTS is distributed in the UK by Cooper Controls.
(Jim Evans)
