Queensland Theatre Company’s adaptation of The Taming of the Shrew takes us back in time to the golden age of film to experience some Shakespearean movie magic, dripping with glitz, romance and drama.
Damien Ryan directed this production with Sport for Jove quite a few times before bringing it to Queensland Theatre. The agreement with bringing this production to Queensland Theatre meant keeping the 1920s film concept of the show. Queensland Theatre brought together a new production team to realize the existing brief which included new set, costume, lighting and sound designs.
Although there were a few pictures and an archival video from the original production, lighting designer Jason Glenwright chose not to reference those as he did not want to fall into the trap of replicating someone else’s design and concept. Damien was also on the same page and they both agreed to approach this production with new eyes and fresh ideas.
The show is set in Hollywood at the end of the silent film era. The big blockbuster films painted pictures of reality more beautiful than they actually were with happy endings that included flying off into the sunset. The film studio has beautiful sets, but they are all just facades as what is behind the door of the house is really just the wall of the film studio! What is seen on film is not real.
“I used these thoughts when building a base state which is reminiscent of a 1920s film studio with hanging studio lights, plus lighting that could be manipulated by the cast and an atmosphere that was warm and inviting, but at the same time offered curiosity in the combinations of what is and isn’t lit,” explained Jason. “However, when the camera is rolling, the lighting is bolder, brighter and the sky turns into the most beautiful colourful sunset! The feel of the movie set is of warmth and tungsten whereas reality is expressed through shadows and broken fragments of light.”
In Damien’s production of Shrew, he set a portion of the show with Katharina and Petruchio on board a dank, small ship swaying from side to side in the dark of night. The challenge of this scene was to get this space looking very different to the warm sound stage they were used to seeing throughout act one.
“To light this scene I was influenced by the work of photographer Gregory Crewdson,” said Jason. “I love how he incorporates and considers light in his images especially through the use of certain base colour tones juxtaposed by another colour, tone or texture that seems completely different at that moment. I borrowed elements of that look by incorporating the warm light of a single tungsten hanging bulb, which gently and subtly flickered every time the ship swayed, against the backdrop of a very cold wash. It looked unusual, but also created a space that felt dark, and slightly unsafe whilst still allowing the audience to completely see the action.”
Jason reports that he had a blast collaborating with Adam Gardnir the set designer saying that he even has a text from Adam saying ‘A good looking set is almost always covered in set LX.’ Conversations started early in the design process on how best to incorporate film lights into the set design and what these units might be. In the end, they settled on using stock that the theatre company already had.
“Although not strictly from the period, we felt we could get away with using Strand Patten 123s, Patten 223s and two Pollux 5ks,” said Jason. “Out of these Strand fixtures, we also wanted some of these to be operated by cast members, either by attaching them to the set or having them scoot around on casters. For safety reasons, anything operated by the cast had to be 12V and the units scooting around on stage had to be wireless and controlled through the LX console. We ended up fitting out three of the Patten lamps with 12V 10-degree birdie bulbs in the space of the unit’s reflector, with the two wireless fixtures fitted with RC4s to enable control. One of these studio lights also had to be able to comically short circuit, so a bit of cold white LED table inside the Patt 123 made this work. We also had some remotely controlled Rosco flicker candles, birdies built into certain set elements for lighting under balconies or for actors standing on platforms.”
For a large show using the full stage space with lots of moving parts, it’s a very simple and small lighting rig that is a great mix of old and new fixtures. Queensland Theatre’s Bille Brown space has a limited number of lamps in stock, however, the lamps they do have offer great versatility and include a mix of ETC Lustr Profiles, Robe 300 Robins, Selecon Pacifics and 1.2k Fresnels. The rig contains 25 x ETC Lustr IIs, which do all the acting area face lighting and 18 x Robe Robins which do overhead backlighting and specials.
“We hired in three Martin MAC Encore CLD from Chameleon which were hung above the front edge of the stage for specials as well as various cloth and stage break up effects,” added Jason. “Ten Selecon Pacific’s did a lot of gobo break up specials across various set items plus entry shaft corridors. There were also 4 Kupo 4 way cycs to light our cloth in an old school tungsten way. We also hung some tungsten bulbs in gold cages over the audience as an addition to the houselights to blend the line of studio vs audience in the space.”
The show was programmed by the masterful Tim Gawne. Programming was made very simple because of the ETC Lustr II’s ability to fairly accurately recall colour from gel swatch numbers on the ETC ION.
There were filmed silent video sequences projected onto the show’s cloud cyc cloth plus images projected onto billboards mounted on the walls on either side of the playing space. The ending featured Katharina and Petruchio boarding a plane that flies off into the sunset. It looks absolutely beautiful projected upon the sky cloth painted with clouds.
“My favourite lighting moment in the production would have to be the opening filming sequence of the silent film,” revealed Jason. “At this moment the studio space is fully activated with cast members manipulating the Patten lights to follow the action as it moves around the space. All the studio Fresnels are in use, texturing the action as the movie scene plays out. It’s an energetic sequence with bold looks and sharp cueing that hopefully to the audience appears quite simple!”
Photos: Brett Boardman
