The awards ceremony was held this year at London's Royal Opera House, with the lighting designed once again by Ben Cracknell.
"It actually feels a bit like the perfect gig for us," comments White Light's managing director Bryan Raven. "It celebrates theatre, with which we have a long historic involvement - many of the shows nominated this year use lighting rigs supplied by us - and yet it's staged as a giant event, like the many other corporate and live event productions we are now involved with. It also uses the full range of equipment we offer - everything from LED moving lights to the good old-fashioned PAR can!"
White Light supplied the show itself, as well as the outdoor stage in the Covent Garden Piazza, the red carpet area in front of the theatre, the post-show party and the outside broadcast areas. All of the equipment was loaded in on a tight schedule, with the rig in the theatre pre-hung over two days before the event, (working around the Opera House's busy schedule), to be ready for rehearsals and then the show itself on Sunday 15 April. The other areas were set up on the day itself.
In the theatre, Ben Cracknell called on a wide range of equipment from White Light's extensive hire stock to allow him to light the award presentations themselves, the auditorium and the audience, plus the extracts from fourteen nominated shows performed during the evening - the aim during each of these being to give a taste of the original show lighting.
At the core of the rig were Martin MAC III Profiles, supported by MAC 700 Profiles and Washes, Vari-Lite VL3000Q Spots and Washes, and VL1000ASunits. Around the auditorium, LED fixtures were used to dress the house and the audience in a wide range of colours without excessive heat or power consumption: the rig included Vari-Lite VLX, JB Lighting VaryLED A7 Zooms, and Martin MAC Auras. The entire rig was controlled by a MAgrandMA2 Light console programmed by Alex Passmore, which also drove White Light Arri dimmer racks for the conventional rig and a Catalyst media serverrunning LED fittings built into the set and band riser.
"The Olivier Awards is a challenging show and requires a versatile lighting rig to serve it," explains Ben Cracknell. "The MAC IIIs were the workhorse of the show providing beams, texture and colour washes whilst the key lighting was provided from Vari-Lite VL000AS and VL3000s. The LED washlights allowed me to light the beautiful auditorium of the Royal Opera House while keeping the heat, power consumption and visual impact of the fixtures themselves as low as possible."
As well as supplying the lighting for the event, White Light also sponsored the Best Lighting Design award, won this year by designer Bruno Poet for his work on Frankenstein at the National Theatre.
(Jim Evans)
