The Moving Light Company is supplying new automated lighting for the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon for the 2001 season. A redesign of the playing area meant that a completely new repertoire lighting rig was required.
When designing the rig, the RSC’s head of lighting Vince Herbert and lighting designer Peter Mumford saw the potential for new lighting opportunities, so they turned to The Moving Light Company. They planned to move beyond the standard use of automated lighting, and they wanted moving lights.
The tracking system for the lights was created by the RSC, with the drives and control provided by Stage Technologies. The RSC opted for the High End Systems Studio Color® washlight, settling on a system of 12 Studio Color Ms with magnetic power supply and six Studio Color Ss, with electronic power supply and the position correction system. The Studio Colors are arranged over both horizontal and vertical tracks and controlled from the theatre’s previously installed Strand 500-series control system.
In other Moving Light news, the firm has just added Vari-Lite Europe's VL2202 spot luminaire and VL2402 wash unit to its rental stock, and plans to add more of the units to its stock in August. LD David Hersey will be using 16 of the former and 24 of the latter on the forthcoming UK tour of Miss Saigon, where they will replace the VL2C spots and VL4 washes used for the original London production. All VLPS units are trademarked.