In an alternate reality, the annual ABTT Theatre Show would have been taking place today and tomorrow (June 10th and 11th).
In this reality, the show has moved on-line, with a series of Webinars covering a full range of backstage subjects.
Rob will be part of the Association of Lighting Designers panel on the Future of Lighting, looking at the changes and challenges involved in using LED technology, this morning, June 10th, from 10am.
See you there?
ABTT Panels: [link]
Rob, and the other writers for LSi magazine, produced a piece about the immediate effects of coronavirus, the lock-down and the shut-down of the entertainment industry for the current issue of the magazine. It includes the shut-down experiences of and thoughts from many leading industry figures from lighting, sound, video design and more.
“In these strange and unusual times, it was great to hear, and to be able to share what others in the industry, peers and colleagues and friends, were going through. Perhaps unsurprisingly, there was a real sense that the world will survive, and we will bounce back - but also a keen sense that perhaps this pause was a good moment for a spot of reflection on the things that are really important,” Rob comments.
The current issue of LSi is available online now. [link]
These are unprecedented times…
It feels like the world of entertainment has just, suddenly… stopped.
With nothing else to do, Rob has worked with the Association of Lighting Designers to prepare a “Financial Survival Guide” - a quick introduction to the help that those who now suddenly find themselves with no work can seek from the Government, whether they had a job, worked for themselves through a company, or were completely freelance.
The Guide is available now from the ALD Website: [link].
Given that things are changing rapidly, it will be updated regularly.
Be safe in these difficult times.
Congratulations to all involved in Amour, the highly acclaimed musical Rob lit last year at the Charing Cross Theatre: the show has been named Best New Musical at the 2020 Offies!
Covering all of the ‘off West End shows’ produced during the year, the awards also recognised the show’s designer, Adrian Gee, who won the Best Costume Design category.
Produced by Danielle Tarento, Amour was directed by Hannah Chissick, choreographed by Matthew Cole, designed by Adrian Gee, with lighting by Rob, sound design by Andrew Johnson and musical direction by Jordan Li-Smith.
Amour: [link]
Amour Gallery: [link]
Offices 2020: [link]
Photographer: Scott Rylander
Rob’s article about the hit Broadway musical Dear Evan Hansen, part of a new wave of original new musicals from Broadway, is out now in the new issue of LSi magazine.
In writing the piece, Rob was lucky enough to get to talk to the show’s lighting designer, Japhy Weideman, projection designer, Peter Nigrini, and sound designer, Nevin Steinberg, about their work on this remarkable show, the success of which it feels has rather taken everyone by surprise - but which is nonetheless entirely deserved. As ever, Rob was delighted to be able to talk to three professionals at the very top of their game, about a show they clearly adore.
Rob also has a second piece in the same issue, about the re-opening of the Fairfield Halls in Croydon after a protracted refurbishment process, as well as his regular Classic Gear and Tools from Beyond columns.
The February 2020 issue of LS is available now in print or online. [link]
Taking a break from the big secret project overseas, Rob has been back in the UK and has just lit the musical Betty Blue Eyes at Mountview’s new theatre in Peckham, south London.
The show is directed by Bruce Guthrie, for whom Rob lit City of Angels at the Royal Academy of Music last summer, and designed by Loren Elstein with costumes by Jennifer Gregory and sound design by Matt McKenzie.
This production also marks a very particular first: the first time Rob has lit a new production of a show where he was involved in the original production, having served as lighting programmer when the show premiered at the Novello Theatre in 2011.
Mountview’s production is smaller in scale, but arguably greater in charm.
Rob’s work was supported by a great lighting crew (production electrician Jess Pomeroy and her team of Kiri Baildson Smith, Ruth Endersby, Bill Traore, Sofie Mirza and Jahmal Swaby), great programmer (Imogen Clarke), plus Mountview’s team of production manager Davin Patrick, Alex Cann, Andie Dew and Robin Nash - and of course Mountview’s principal, Stephen Jameson, with whom Rob has worked all the way back to the play Groping For Trouts In Peculiar Rivers at the Battersea Arts Centre in 1993.
Betty Blue Eyes is playing now, and runs until Wednesday 12th February.
Sometimes a lack of news means a quiet period…
But other times lack of news means a really busy period on a really exciting new show…. that no-one is allowed to talk about yet!
This is one of those times.
More soon…
Last night saw the preview showing of Staging Places: UK Design for Performance at the V&A Museum in London; the exhibition opens to the public today, Wednesday 24th July.
Rob was there last night to celebrate the fact that Giudizio Universale, the immersive show telling the story of Michelangelo and his work at the Sistine Chapel, was selected by the Society of British Theatre Designers to be part of this exhibition, which shows the best of design by British theatre designers over the last four years.
Giudizio sits in good company at the exhibition, but where many of the shows are demonstrated through models and costumes, Giudizio, as is seems perfect for a show led by projection, tells its story through projection, on a wall at the very centre of the exhibition.
“It’s an honour to have the show be part of this display of remarkable work by remarkable people,” Rob comments, “and a great tribute to the remarkable work done by all of the people involved with the show, particularly my co-lighting-designer Bruno Poet, Ric Lipson, Alicia Tkacz and all at Stufish, Luke Halls and all of his team, plus of course our composer John Metclafe, sound designer Mirko Perri, costume designer Giovanna Buzzi, choreographer Fotis Nikolaou, our directors Lulu Hekbek and Marco Balich and everyone who was involved in the show.”
Having already been seen as part of the Prague Quadrennial, Staging Places now runs at the V&A in London until 29th March 2020.
Staging Places at the V&A: [link]
Staging Places website: [link]
Prague Quadrennial: [link]
