Tasked with bringing the tale of Christmas to life at Blackpool’s 3,000-capacity Opera House – a venue which also boasts one of Europe’s largest stages – Arranpaul’s Up & Coming LD, Oliver Wilkinson opted to include a selection of six Rogue R1 Spots and 16 Q-Wash 560Z-LED moving wash fixtures from CHAUVET Professional, as well as CHAUVET DJ PiXPars into his lighting design.
“The fixture plot I created allowed me to light any area of the stage with Chauvet’s R1 Spots, PiXPars and 560Zs,” said Wilkinson, who also handled video and audio for the production. “This combination allowed me to create an extremely wide variety of looks without compromising the budget.”
Placed on advanced truss above the stage, the Rogue R1 spots allowed Wilkinson to weave powerful beams of light onto the stage to accent different scenic elements and demark performers from their immediate surroundings “The Rogue’s have a lovely CTO filter, which was a perfect temperature for creating indoor scenes. The iris is also a brilliant feature, which allowed me to pick up tight character specials, without the spill of light,” he elaborated. “There are certain scenes during the show that require a lot of specials, and the R1 Spots allowed me to achieve this quickly. Despite the lack of frost, the fixture’s focus system allowed me to lose that hard edge that typically comes from most spot units.”
Subtle mood changes in the production were enhanced by the colorful wash light of the Q-Wash 560Z-LED. Wilkinson flew these fixtures above the stage, changing colours to reflect the varying emotional tenor of the drama.
