UK - It was all guns blazing down at the Opera House, as manufacturers pitched their wares against each other in the tungsten wash shoot-out that the theatre world had long been waiting for. As the lights were fired up, the atmosphere on the battlefield was surprisingly relaxed as competitors called a truce for the test, paving the way for an open and frank discussion.
Hosted by lighting supplier White Light, and organised in conjunction with the Royal Opera House, a steady stream of invited lighting designers, production electricians and venue technicians passed through the ROH's Linbury Theatre to cast a critical eye, and ear to the proceedings.
So what was in the firing line? Well, in alphabetical order, Clay Paky's Alpha Wash Halo, Martin's Mac TW1, and Vari-Lite's VL500. The trusty (with a 't', not rusty) Strand Pirouette, used as a comparison, has been a luxury for many a designer over the years, until manufacturers finally caught on to this gaping hole in the market. Also rigged up as further comparison was the ROH's very own custom-built motorised yokes from Licht-Technik Vertriebs GmbH, c/w a 1.2kW PC, and similarly an Arri 5k with a motorised yoke. Complete with scrollers, these units offered fair comparison to specific gel colours, notably the Lee 200 series, amongst others.
Ably compèred by the National Theatre's Alex Murphy, and on a loop throughout the day, all functions of all units were put under the microscope: brightness, noise, reset noise, movement, focus, colour, strobing, dimming, beam-shaping etc. And if things got a little too critical, Murphy dialled in the workhorse Pirouette, as a benchmark of the tools available until now. Likened to a "noisy milk float", it did bring the sophistication of the three units sharply into focus.
But there's nothing like airing your dirty washing in public. L&SI did a fly-on-the-wall, so who came up smelling of roses?
David Howe, lighting designer: "For my money it's between the Alpha wash versus the TW1, and the differences are so small that it just gives you another option both in terms of which rental company you go to and which budget you are looking at."
Paul McLeish, chief lighting technician at the NT's Olivier Theatre:"The TW1 was very interesting, but not bright enough. It is a shame that it doesn't have any features like the Halo's beam-shaper; I thought that was very useful. The Halo's moving top hat was nice although difficult to see in here how much work it was doing, but the theory's good. Light output, colour mixing, all seemed to be good. LD Paul Pyant who I spoke to was using them and is very impressed."
Jo Town, head of lighting, Royal Court Theatre: "We are a very small theatre with a quiet auditorium so noise is absolutely crucial, and that is what was nice seeing the lights here. I was very pleased with the colour mixing on the TW - I thought it was great. When the Clay Paky was dimmed to 50% it really disappeared so that,I felt, let it down. I was impressed with the quietness of the Martin, though the focus change was, I felt, a little bit noisy, and you would hear that in my theatre."
Roger Hennigan, White Light's technical sales manager: "I think it was interesting to see the three units side by side. They all had their strengths, and they all seemed to be good units. I quite liked the colour mixing on the TW1 and the mechanical shutter. Having a mechanical shutter and allowing dimming without changing colour temperature is good."
Michael Scott, lighting systems manager, the ROH: "I think that with the zoom tungsten washes, then not having that flexibility on the Vari-Lite, and having to do it by changing lenses, starts to make them seem less obvious as a choice. In all three of them, noise wasn't an iss
