As Lighting Systems Manager at the Royal Opera House for the past 14 years, Paul Hornsby looks after the infrastructure of the building for performance lighting, including the maintenance, testing, and upgrading of the venue's lighting systems. "We run a continual refit program - a lot of the moving lights we have are 13 or 14 years old now, so we're gradually replacing them," he said. "The latest upgrade was made in summer 2013 when we brought in Martin's MAC Viper Performance moving lights to replace our MAC 2000 Performance fixtures. The Vipers are significantly faster, brighter, and more energy efficient than their predecessor [MAC 2000 Performance]."
The Royal Opera House has three main spaces - the main stage and the purpose-built Linbury Studio Theatre and Clore Studio - all of which are in continual use. "Most of our work happens on the main stage which has a new show every ten days," said Hornsby. "We have a main rig and additional show lighting bars which can be used when required. We love working with Martin Professional lights because they're durable fixtures that are easy to use and maintain."
As a general rule, visiting productions are encouraged to use the house rig. "Our house equipment fulfils what most lighting designers need," said Hornsby. "We try not to rent gear because a show here could live for up to 40 years. For example, Don Giovanni is a new production that could come back bi-annually for the next 10 years and the lighting design would remain the same during that time. If we had to rent equipment each time, that would be a substantial overhead."
In addition to the 20 MAC Vipers, which Hornsby says reduces rigging and change-over time, the venue has placed several MAC Aura LED wash lights at front-of-house. Hornsby chose the Aura's due to limited space in the Royal Opera House's auditorium where he needed a light that would not obstruct the audience's view. "When we discovered the MAC Aura it was absolutely fantastic," he said. "Nobody notices the fixtures are there because they are so discreet and quiet, but are still capable of producing the quality light we needed out front."
Low noise and reliability are essential in every new light Hornsby specifies for the Royal Opera House. "The entire Martin range is quiet," he said. "Although we have spares for every fixture in the rig, we rarely have a problem. Since August 2013 we've had just one light come down for a slight, easily fixed, issue. With a rig that must work 15 hours a day, seven days a week, that really does speak for itself."
(Lee Baldock)
