To supply lighting designer Paul Pyant's epic rig for this epic show, London-based White Light has teamed up with Q1 Production Technologies in Canada, who provided equipment for the original production. Together they are supplying a rig that includes over 300 ETC Source Fours and Source Four Pars, seventy conventional Par Cans, Arri 2.5K HMI fresnels and almost 150 Wybron scrollers.
The moving light rig includes 13 DHA Digital Light Curtains, 34 ETC Source Four Revolutions, 13 Vari-Lite VL3500Q Framing Spotlights, 77 VL3000Q Spotlights, 34 Clay Paky Alpha Wash Halos as well as 24 Martin Atomic Strobes and three Wildfire UV units. The show is also using three Robert Juliat Cyrano followspots and two R&V 1K beamlight followspots. White Light is also supplying the show with a comprehensive smoke and effects system designed by Gregory Meeh.
The entire rig is being controlled using MA Lighting grandMA consoles, with a system incorporating a full-size grandMA main console, a grandMA Light backup console, one tabletPC and two PDAs as remotes and an additional PC running grandMA 3D and grandMA onPC software. The effects system has a dedicated console for programming - an MA UltraLight.
"We are delighted to be involved with The Lord Of The Rings," comments White Light's managing director, Bryan Raven. "We have worked on many projects with the lighting designer Paul Pyant and his associate David Howe - and having heard such good things about the show and, in particular, the lighting from Toronto.
"We're also delighted that we've been able to work with Q1 on the show here. Since they'd already supplied the show once, they had much of the equipment available and already knew about the many 'specials' that the show requires. It's been a great collaboration between Dave Isherwood, Jedd Hamilton and everyone in the White Light Hire team and Marc Raymond and Rob Kennedy at Q1, and the process of getting the equipment here and into the theatre has been pretty seamless. We will now be looking after all of the ongoing support that a show of this scale and complexity always needs."
Premiered in Toronto, The Lord Of The Rings was produced there and is being produced in London by Kevin Wallace and Saul Zaentz. The show is directed by Matthew Warchus, choreographed by Peter Darling, designed by Rob Howell with lighting by Paul Pyant, sound by Simon Baker, moving images by The Gray Circle and special effects by Gregory Meeh. Working with Pyant's on the show are associate lighting designer David Howe, production electrician Gerry Amies and his team, Theatre Royal chief electrician Steve McAndrew and his staff, and moving light programmer Jonathan Rouse; the show's production mangers are Stewart Crosbie and Simon Marlowe.
The Canadian production of the show won seven categories at Canada's Dora Awards and the show's creative team were also honoured with the 2006 Live Design International Award at last year's LDI in Las Vegas.
The London production continues White Light's long association with the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, stretching back almost 20 years to the opening of the original Miss Saigon, and including the hit musicals The Witches of Eastwick, My Fair Lady, Anything Goes and The Producers. The show joins the many other productions in London using equipment from White Light, including Billy Elliot, Chicago, Dirty Dancing and Evita.
(Jim Evans)
