Mavericks on stage for Beauty and the Beast
- Details
To accent the twists and turns of the story, lighting designer Rory Beaton relied on the vivid colours and bright output of four Chauvet Professional Maverick MK2 Spot and four Maverick MK2 Wash fixtures.
“The Mavericks provided the subtle ‘theatrical’ element to the lighting whilst simultaneously supplying flashy, showbiz looks to make the big numbers feel like a large-scale musical,” said Beaton. “The colour mixing ability of the MK3 Washes was what allowed us to switch between the pastel world of the story and the bright, vivid saturated energy of the musical numbers. I was really impressed by their sheer punch - in fact, I’m not sure we ever had the washes at full output.”
Whereas the wash fixtures provided colour and atmosphere on stage, the 440W Maverick MK2 Spot fixtures offered Beaton the possibility to create numerous looks, thanks to the precision engineered optics, CMY + CTO colour mixing, two 6-position rotating slot and lock gobo wheels and 13º - 37º zoom range.
“The MK2 Spot’s diffusion, edge and frost effects meant I could do some very soft and subtle texture covering the floor and the set design,” continued Beaton. “And then as soon as we hit the big numbers, I was able to utilize the fixture’s powerful zoom and 5-facet prism to create a myriad of beams-in-haze and flash.
“It was a real pleasure to incorporate the Maverick fixtures into my lighting concept. I was happy from a performance point of view, and the in-house team agreed they were painless to maintain,” he concluded. “Over the course of the six weeks, we never had one error code or breakdown. It’s nice to walk away from a show knowing that it’s running smoothly and you don’t have to worry about your tools failing.”
(Jim Evans)
