GLP recently completed its most auspicious theatre installation at the hands of
experienced theatre lighting designer Rick Fisher.

In taking the Santa Fe Opera production of Madame Butterfly, which he first lit in
2010, to the much larger, 3000-plus capacity Dorothy Chandler Pavilion at LA
Opera, he found a dynamic role for GLP’s versatile impression X4 Bar 20, from
GLP’s range of battens.

“There were challenges in relocating this production from the relatively small stage
in Santa Fe that is also open to the elements upstage,’ he explains. “The night sky
is their back drop and that gives a depth that completes the stage picture and in
many ways allows for a simpler stage design than you might choose for a
traditional venue.’

To make this work in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion an impressionistically painted
scrim and rear projection screen were added by the designer. “We chose not to use
“sky’ projections, which would have been too “real’, but instead rely on a more
theatrical effect of light and colour to add the depth of field that we had in Santa
Fe,’ the designer continued. “This is where the X4 Bars came in and gave us
flexibility far in excess of the four-cell floods that form part of the Opera’s standard
rig.’

The X4 Bar 20 uses 20 high output RGBW LED’s, tightly packed in the 40-inch long
batten. It is characterised by high quality optics to ensure smooth, homogenized
output through a broad pallet of pastel and saturated colours, a 7:1 zoom range
from 7° to 50°, a motorized tilt, for fast refocusing and DMX control to offer full
pixel mapping capabilities.

The production also marked Fisher’s baptism into GLP technology. “I have admired
them at trade shows, but when I saw a demo of the X4 Bar I was very impressed.’
He was introduced at the White Light New Technology showcase, organized by the
ALD at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London.

All designers that come through the Dorothy Chandler can select fixtures from the
theatre’s inventory and additional equipment will be rented in to accommodate the
production. They are set up to interface with any incoming production requirement.
But in this instance Fisher chose to deploy GLP’s new generation technology in
addition to the house floods.

The 24 fixtures light the entire cyc and are set approximately 1m upstage of the
rear production screen to add to the horizon lighting.

“There are a couple of “unreal’ moments in the piece where we wanted to make a
statement and having infinite colour choice from the X4 Bars made this possible. At
one point the director said the back-cloth looked like a Rothko painting. That is
high praise indeed and the X4 Bars were an essential part of this,’ Fisher said.

“The colour was intense and we could do subtle shifts and were able to throw in a
few dramatic accents when required; I could not have justified this with only four
colours to mix with in the conventional house floods. Also, the required sunset and
dawn were much more seamless and beautiful due to these units.’

The fact that GLP was based in LA provided further reassurance. “I want to thank
them for their incredible support — I know the Bars have really impressed LA Opera
as well.’