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Lighting the Dutchman's Path
Stage Electrics was requested to provide a solution for the Royal Opera House when they needed help to create a realistic lighthouse effect for their spectacular production of Wagner's The Flying Dutchman, directed by Tim Albery. Michael Levine's set design took a ship's hull and lay it on its side which created the backdrop of a northern fishing town dominated by the sea, its trawlers and the men who follow the hard life on board. In the background, sitting above the abstract landscape was placed a series of giant lighthouse lenses, with the request that they were able to pan and tilt and become an animated part of the piece.
Simon Bennison, lighting manager at The Royal Opera House comments: ‘"We needed a solution to hide the mechanics of the moving lens. An early thought was to resurrect Pirouettes as the simplest yoke unit with a decent light source of relatively small size. While enquiring about their availability from Stage Electrics, we learnt of the Apollo Right Arm yoke. As this was a new piece of equipment, we thought to try it!"
Following this, Stage Electrics supplied the venue with 15 Apollo Right Arms which resulted in the lighthouse effect they had desired at the start of the planning process. The advantages of using the Apollo Right Arm were clear from the outset and allowed the production designers to place any unit on the yoke. The lantern and Right Arm were then handed-over to The Royal Opera House's props department who fashioned the metal skeleton holding frame and counterweight for the lens. Simon Bennison has been delighted with this breakthrough purchase and continues: "The centre Right Arm was plotted with a repeated sweep sequence which recreated an exact lighthouse beam, with the channel intensity rising over a set amount of passes timed with the music."
Mark Burnett, business development manager at Stage Electrics, comments: "We are pleased that we were able to provide a solution to the initial problem and that the end effect surpassed the production team's expectations. It has been a great honour to work with The Royal Opera House and we are delighted to continue our ongoing relationship with them."
14th May 2009
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