Robe lights Scuttlers at RADA
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Directed by Hannah Eidinow, the production was lit by Declan Randall, a South African theatre lighting specialist living in the UK, who made use of a number of different Robe fixtures available at RADA.
Declan was asked to light this production by Matthew Leventhall, RADA’s head of production lighting, working alongside a team of RADA students.
The stark, raw industrial set – designed by Postgraduate Theatre Design (Set & Costume) student Christianna Mason – “was a real gem” for any lighting designer, he says. It provided a great starting point, offering many interesting angles and rigging points for lights and using different levels and numerous colours and textures, he re-created the edgy, dangerous and precarious world of the Scuttlers.
For general ambience, the call was to replicate the smog and grime of factories and mills shot through with impressions of gaslight and flames, the two most common lightsources of the time. They also needed enough latitude to use theatrical devices for some of the show’s more choreographed and stylised moments as well as presenting a few visual surprises! “In short, I needed a very versatile rig”, stated Declan.
He used a combination of Robe fixtures – LEDWash 600s and 800s, DL4F Washes, DL4S Profiles and CycFX 8s – which were distributed around the venue and above stage to give multiple options.
Two of the CycFX units were positioned on the floor and used to up-light the theatre’s brick wall backdrop. Two of the units were rigged overhead to be used as wash lights, but also to create intense shafts of light for some of the more stylised moments. The other two units were rigged vertically to cross light the areas on the bridge and under it.
Utilising the zoom, narrow bands of light could be created that just illuminated the wall behind specific pieces of action, while at other times, the whole back wall could be flooded with light similar to a cyc.
The LEDWash 600s were the key backlight source. Using just four units, Declan could cover the entire stage and again, the zoom gave scope for either narrowing down to highlight single moments or opening-up to restore the full scene. The DL4F Washes s were used for side lighting.
Third year student Teresa Nagel was Declan’s programmer and associate LD on Scuttlers, while her fellow third year student Daniel Smith, was the production LX. The DSM / show caller was Ana Carter. Robe assists in supporting RADA’s lighting training and productions through equipment supply.
(Jim Evans)
