The show's lighting designer is Howell Binkley, who last week won a Tony for his lighting of Jersey Boys. Lighting is an integral factor when it comes to the successful delivery of many of the jokes, and supplying the lighting as well as accessories such as smoke machines and mirror balls for this stunning show is PRG Europe.
Craig Bennett, project manager for PRG Europe says: "PRG has a strong relationship with Howell in the USA; it's certainly one of our strengths to be able to supply a 'home from home' service to designers on both sides of the Atlantic. Production electrician Pete Lambert has worked with us on a number of productions before and it's fantastic to have a production electrician of his calibre on the team."
Utilising numerous ETC Source Four Profiles combined with Altman Focusing floods, ETC Source Four Pars, Martin Mac 2000 Performances, Mac 2000 Profiles and Vari-Lite VL2000 Washes, Binkley builds each scene with layers of gobo and colour. He creates a sometimes surreal, sometimes naturalistic atmosphere, with plenty of key from the sides, top and back. He also manages to confer a huge amount of depth and height to the essentially small stage. This he achieves by emphasising light beams using an MDG Atmosphere hazer and three MDG Max 3000 smoke machines.
Ample layers of up, cross and side-light, plus Binkley's clever use of colour, give a real sense of place and time. Actors are brought out with subtle use of three Robert Juliat Super Korrigan kollowspots fitted with Robert Juliat push-pull colour changers. The colourful faces of the puppets are emphasised by means of stronger top and side light colour, without losing the clarity of the puppeteer's facial expressions - essential in delivering additional emotional emphasis to the action.
Interiors are produced - doll's house style - by opening up the front bay or sash windows of each house, to find miniature scenes of living rooms or bedrooms recreated in detail. Dry ice from two City Theatrical SS6000 machines helps to create a dream-sequence, while High End Colour Pro FX Units are used to great effect to transform not just the cyc but the entire set into a starlit night. Two mirrorballs are used in the auditorium, which suddenly brings the entire audience into the action.
Peter Lambert, production electrician for the show, says: "We got in just a week prior to the cast being on stage, with previews starting just 10 days later. Coincidentally, I had already seen the show in New York last year, so I had a pretty good idea of what I was letting myself in for. We spent a week at PRG Europe's Croydon unit prepping the show and sorting out a delivery schedule so as not to fill the venue on day one. PRG Europe's service has been great. Their ability to pull unusual equipment in from the States within a couple of days is especially useful when the entire creative team is American."
Control is via an MA Lighting grandMA Lite console, running a networked MA lighting replay unit as full tracking backup; for production, a full grandMA was programmed by Rob Halliday. Associate LD is Ryan O'Gara.
Howell Binkley concludes: "It's always a great privilege to come to the West End. The crew has been amazing. I worked with Pete Lambert on The Full Monty at the Prince of Wales Theatre in 2002. When production manager Nick Harris asked me if I had any preferences on production electrician, I immediately remembered Pete. I like to encourage a family atmosphere and the technical team on this show certainly provided that."
(Lee Baldock)
