Their plan was to move beyond the increasingly-standard use of automated lighting: as well as having the lights pointing themselves in different directions from fixed positions, they wanted the lights themselves to move! The tracking system for the lights was to be created by the RSC, with the drives and control provided by leading automation specialist Stage Technologies. However, Herbert and his team wanted to compare the various moving lights available today both to see which offered the light characteristics that would suit the RSC best, and to find which would be the most practical, and rugged, to install as part of the tracking system.
Dave Isherwood from The Moving Light Company was able to show the RSC the wide range of equipment held in MLCo's stock. Some of this equipment they were already familiar with - having used Martin Mac500s, City Theatrical AutoYokes and Strand Pirouettes in the recent production of The Secret Garden, now playing at the Aldwych Theatre in London - while some, including the versatile Amptown Washlight with its built-in shuttering system - were new to them. After careful examination, they opted for the popular High End StudioColor washlight, settling on a system of twelve StudioColor Ms with magnetic power supply, and six StudioColor Ss with electronic power supply and the position correction system, which proved invaluable when used in conjunction with the tracking. The StudioColors are arranged over both horizontal and vertical tracks, allowing the widest possible range of lighting angles from a relatively minimal rig. Controlled from the theatre's Strand 500-series control system, supplied and installed in 1998 by White Light and The Service Company, the new rig has already been put to use by a wide range of lighting designers including Peter Mumford, Pat Collins and Ben Ormerod.
Anyone interested in seeing the next development in the use of moving lights in action can catch a show at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre - or can visit the RSC lighting department's web site at www.rsclighting.com.
Pictures from the RSC's production of HAMLET, Royal Shakespeare Theatre, 2001. Directed by Steven Pimlott. Photographs by Manuel Harlan, pictures Copyright RSC 2001.