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grandMA Plays at Johannesburg’s New Lyric Theatre
The New Lyric Theatre at the Gold Reef City Casino in Johannesburg, by Richard Loring, is the new home to a grandMA full-size and four MA NSPs. This striking venue recently opened its doors to the acclaimed production of ‘Hairspray’. One of South Africa’s most renowned lighting designers, Denis Hutchinson was nominated as both the consultant and the LD for the theatre. “The intention of being both consultant and LD was two-fold,” said Hutchinson and adds, “Firstly, I had to see to the completion of the theatre and be on hand for trouble-shooting. The second motive was purely selfish; I chose the new toys for the theatre and I wanted to be the first to play with them.”
Hutchinson spent a remarkable amount of time making sure that the equipment he finally chose would fulfil the strict brief. Quite deliberately he had to ignore what gear would work best for himself as LD or for the Hairspray production, and instead select options that would be versatile and right for the theatre. The Lyric Theatre as it stands contains equipment that is compatible to most shows, and should run any production without compromise. It uses 68 moving heads, which is more than any other theatre in the country.
Hairspray is set in 1962, and while as Hutchinson says it is a very busy little show, he couldn’t get too fancy with the lighting. “In 1962 there were no moving lights other than followspots and although certain things like colour wheels were technically possible, it was not till 1978 that Tharon Musser used 64 of them on Ballroom and dazzled everyone. I do cheat a little, but it would look odd if I did too many modern effects in what is actually a period piece.”
The proverbial saying, ‘many hands make light work’, couldn’t be more true and relevant to the Lyric Theatre. With Hutchinson being very particular about what equipment he wanted, he finally selected DWR Distribution, who supplied the automated lighting and control, and Prosound, T & A Lighting, Electrosonic and Iyeza to provide and install his kit of choice.
photos: Adam Houghton/John Hogg
3rd December 2007
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