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Martin Pro and Gone With the Wind
The classic novel; Gone with the Wind has been set to music and had a recent run in the West End. Adapted by renowned director Sir Trevor Nunn, the epic stage production was lit by Neil Austin who has worked extensively for the Donmar Warehouse, National Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Company, Almeida and in the West End.
"We approached it as a play with music rather than a musical." Said Neil. "The show is referenced from the book rather than the film - although we needed to acknowledge the film as well.
"I'm a tungsten addict. I prefer it as the main light source. I love the warmth of tungsten on faces and the true clarity of skin tone it gives. As the play is set in the southern states of the US, tungsten was essential to depict the hot southern heat as well."
So which tungsten source does a confessed addict use? "I had previously used the MAC TW1 at the National Theatre as a test unit and was very impressed. Then I specified 10 units on the RSC's King Lear, which travelled all around the world. At that point we needed a tungsten wash light with the ability to zoom and change colour, and they were just fantastic. They were incredibly reliable despite being thrown around on the tour. They're a beautifully bright unit - tight with the ability to flood. For Gone with the Wind I wanted to use them again as the basis of my design.
"The lights really needed to be flexible enough to do anything, and the TW1s gave us that. The show moves from a spectacular epic to a smaller, more personal and domestic play about Scarlett and her love life. On top of that, on the first day of rehearsals the script was still being formed, and we hadn't yet heard the music. Trevor Nunn demanded this sort of flexibility right up to the last day of previews.
"PRG supplied the lighting. Pete Marshall had been interested in purchasing some tungsten wash lights and we discussed the TW1s early on and Pete agreed to buy 31 of them."
Pete commented: "We were searching for some time for what we thought was the best tungsten wash light on the market. We researched a variety of lights for about nine months to a year and spoke with our customers and top LDs. In the end the Martin won hands down. Most LDs felt that the MAC TW1 was a better unit. It is quieter and has a better colour spectrum. They are the designer's preference in the West End."
Which is something Neil would agree with. "The TW1 offers perfect - absolutely perfect colour rendition." Said Neil. "Whatever is on the colour scroll, I can match on the TW1's. And that is all the way across the beam. Some lights offer you the Pepsi logo - a bit of pink on the top a little bit of blue at the bottom, but the TW1 has an absolutely even colour field, smooth from centre to edge.
"The noise from moving lights is also a major issue. It would be terribly unfair for the lighting department if a sound designer used top-of-the-line speakers which also happened to have 100W lightbulbs attached to them. The same can be said for noise coming from moving lights. The TW1s are completely quiet, so what more could you possible want?"
Matthew Eagland was the associate designer on the show, Steve Mulholland was the programmer and Fraser Hall was the production electrician.
24th June 2008
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