Kincoppal-Rose Bay School’s production of Matilda the Musical was performed on three nights last month at the Parade Theatre, NIDA.
Lighting designer Christopher Snape was first briefed by the director, Nigel Turner-Carroll, back in 2019 but the 2020 production was cancelled due to Covid-19.
“Once we were back up and running again in 2021, we touched base again and revisited all our initial ideas and adjusted things where we needed,” said Christopher. “I love working with Nigel, he knows what he wants but then at the same time will leave you to do what you do best.”
Due to the budget and time constraints, the lighting design needed to be simple and not overly complicated but at the same time be flexible enough to be able to cover all aspects of the show.
Christopher’s biggest challenge for this show was simply the ‘no time factor’ in all areas. Production only had only eight hours to get everything in; lighting, audio, set.
“I had to have all my overhead fixtures up focused and out of the way pretty much in three hours,” he added. “By the end of that first day, we were in a good place from a bump-in perspective. I had an awesome crew and without them, we certainly wouldn’t have had it up so efficiently.
“The next time issue was that we had cast on stage at 10 am the following day, for their induction into the theatre before we were to tech …. all this takes time. There really was no time allocated for plotting other than plot during the tech. However, this is where Chameleon came to the rescue for me. I was immensely grateful for them to allow me to have the Hog 4 a few days before we were in the venue. This allowed me to do a complete console setup as well as a 16-hour plotting session (with my amazing wife Carolina sitting programming for me) at home using Capture and videos from the rehearsals. What this meant for me was that by the time I was in the venue I was able to go in already having in the console all the base lighting cues a few layers deep for the show.”
The set was simple but very effective and lovely to light thanks to the great design by Megan Venhoek. Incorporated into the set was glow paint and various UV fluorescent colours that at various stages needed to be lit. Christopher had to incorporate into the design a number of UV fixtures to make this work effectively. Although he would have loved some nice, strong UV cannons etc, he was able to basically achieve the same result simply by using good old UV fluoro tubes.
There was a mixture of two lighting rigs. Basically, for time and budget constraints, the standard rig in the theatre was used untouched with minor colour changes and focus touch-ups. The standard rig consisted of: 46 x Selecon Pacific 23-50s, 57 x Pacific 12-28s, 25 x Pacific 5.5-13s, six Pacific 90s, 60 x 1.2k Fs, 14 x Hex Pars and six Robe Spiiders.
“I didn’t really get much time to really play with the Spiiders so they primarily lit the set,” added Christopher. “However the little bit I did use these, wow they are great! Fantastic zoom and I love the beam breakup ability. I can see the potential of having a good size rig of these.”
The heart of the rig however was supplied by Chameleon including a Hog 4 Roadhog Full Boar Console, ELC Nodes, 20 x UV Tubes (scattered all over the theatre to get as much out of them possible to charge the UV and glow paint on the set), four ACL Beacons, 15 x Martin MAC Vipers,
“I have to say that I did love the ACL beacons as they’re so big and chunky and really kick-ass,” commented Christopher. “These were used in a transition moment that had air raid sirens. I had three of the MAC Vipers out front from the Gallery position simply for big flat gobo wash moments along with really tight special moments. I also had 30 x MAC101s which are my favourite little wash mover. Although quite narrow in fixed beam angle, I just find these guys so versatile. Not only are they bright when they need to be, but they give you great air looks as well as good wash coverage when needed and when used in larger quantities. I used these FOH and overhead.”
There was only one instance of video, the moment of the chalk writing on the board and this was simply done by a small projector downstage on the floor.
“With this show, my favourite moment was every moment,” remarked Christopher. “This was simply because of how this finally came about. All the cast auditioned for the show back in Sept 2019. Then due to Covid-19, the dates were moved then finally postponed. It was from the persistence and perseverance of the producer Nicole James from Kincoppal-Rose Bay who kept the dreams of the entire cast alive. Just being a part of this show and seeing and hearing the gratitude of the kids, made every moment perfect for me.”
