GLP X4 Bars back Laura Marling showcase
- Details
Marling’s long-term LD, Jon Barker, recently formed a collaboration with fellow designer and long-term colleague, Dom Smith, with the pair now operating under the name NeonBlack. Their mission: to tell the story of the artist through light.
Since this was also a low-production tour, they were able to achieve most of their objectives by deploying 16 of GLP’s impression X4 Bar 20 battens.
The rig needed to suit Academy-sized venues where the lighting needed to be nimble and designed around a floor-based package, but at the same time sufficiently able to perform a variety of functions on the larger stage of the 3,000-capacity Roundhouse. “There were logistical considerations, but in any case, a minimalist, floor-based, side-lit approach was what most suited the show,” says Smith. “This was not a big-budget tour, and what we designed was something beautiful yet practical.”
A continuous overhead strip of eight X4 Bar 20s - flown on a mid-stage truss, in conjunction with a sharkstooth-gauze kabuki system - provided the only element of flown lighting, with others on pipes as part of the floor package.
The set was split into three acts. For the first, called Curtains of Light’ is where the X4 Bar 20s came into their own. As Dom Smith explains: “This was the main focus. We were looking to create curtains - a linear output, with the midstage drape lit from the X4 Bars.
“When we need that look, the X4 Bar 20 is the one we go to - partly because it’s good, and secondly because it’s generally available.” In this instance Neg Earth were the vendors.
Jon Barker, who had earlier worked on Laura Marling’s side project, Lump, with Tuung’s Mike Lindsay, said that the artist herself had strong ideas about the looks she was after: “Every music artist has a story to tell and our job is to help do that; during the design process Laura provided us with some strong visual references as a fantastic starting point.”
Reflecting on the work, the two designers say: “Laura is an incredible talent and an absolute delight to work with. Since it’s a solo show, it could have been easy to overdo the production, so our aim was to create some complementary scenic and lighting elements and not take the focus away from Laura.”
