The Perth Concert Hall magically transformed into a decadent palace of cabaret dreams at Perth Festival’s brand new Kabarett Haus with three provocative nights of sublime entertainment. Post-post-modern diva Meow Meow took the reins, curating Kabarett Haus’ debut season with a mini-series of concerts, which included her own spectacular night of music and mayhem, Pandemonium, as well as presenting music greats Rufus Wainwright and Amanda Palmer.
Meow Meow’s show goes from ridiculous, loud and offensive one moment to delicate and beautiful another so I needed the lighting to be flexible enough that I could go grand and impressive in a Berliner Ensemble meets rock aesthetic but be capable of carrying the intimate and soft moments without her feeling lost on the stage,” explained lighting designer Peter Rubie. “Myself and set designer Bruce McKinven played a lot with layers of height in this design which we felt was important in achieving that scalability particularly since there is so much height in the Perth Concert Hall which has an uninterrupted vertical space from floor to ceiling of about 17 meters.”
A gorgeous black silk 11m high cloud cloth curved around the upstage area to wrap the orchestra into the world and give a sense of grandness and playing to light and shade. Elements of beauty were added with a crystal chandelier and 307 bare festoon dropper globes hung and different heights over the entire stage and continuing out over the auditorium. According to Peter, Brad, Mel and the rest of the team at PCH did an incredible job at getting everything up in a tight timeframe.
“This was the first time I’ve used the Robe Megapointe on more than a quick gig, and I was particularly pleased with the variety of looks I was able to get from them,” said Peter. “I usually prefer to keep lighting trims low for maximum impact but the overhead Megapointes were chosen as I knew we would be trimming at about 10.5m and needed something that would really cut through the air and fill the huge vertical space we were playing with. The Perth Concert Hall has some convenient ledges in the choir stalls area just above head height which I lined with Martin MAC700 washes as I wanted a more traditional fresnel lens appearance. Halfway up in the air were two more trusses at angles following the ledges that were lined with more 10 more Megapointe and a large collection of TourPro 101 CT units to create those rock aesthetic moments. I added some (now very old) Studio Due CS4’s to the overhead rig as we wanted to the design to include some linear warm rows of ACL style beams.
Gearlist
15 x Robe Megapointe (5 overhead, 10 on side angled trusses)
8 x Martin Aura XB (Stage wash)
9 x High End Solaspot Pro 1500 (FOH wash + custom gobo)
6 x ShowPRO Collider FC Strobes (drape wash)
7 x StudioDue CS4 (overhead ray beams)
26 x ETC Source 4 Lustr 2
12 x Tourpro 101 RGB
16 x Tourpro 101 CT
10 x Martin Mac 700 Wash
8 x MR 16 LED Birdie
17 x Source 4 14 deg
6 x Selecon Pacific 5-13 Degree
2 x Robert Juliat Victor Followspot
1 x MA Lighting GrandMA2 light
1 x Look Solutions Unique 2.1 Hazer
Supply: CCP
Credits
Lighting Designer – Peter Rubie
Set Designer – Bruce Mckinven
Conductor – Iain Grandage
Performer – Meow Meow / West Australian Symphony Orchestra
See more of Peter’s work at https://www.facebook.com/prubielx/
