UK - Last week, Photograph 51 opened at the Noël Coward Theatre in the West End to rave reviews. Marking Nicole Kidman's first appearance on the London stage for more than 17 years, Photograph 51 tells the extraordinary story of Rosalind Franklin, the woman who cracked DNA and the sacrifices she made in the pursuit of her place within scientific history.

The play is being produced by the Michael Grandage Company and this current run marks its UK premiere. White Light was called upon to provide the lighting equipment for this much-anticipated production.

The show was lit by Tony and Olivier award-winning lighting designer Neil Austin, who has an extensive history of working with WL. He comments: "Photograph 51 is an interesting show as it is told as a posthumous memory by the other scientists around Rosalind. It flicks between character dialogue to di

UK - Orbital Sound reports that it has supplied Stevenage's 500-seat Gordon Craig Theatre with a new d&b audiotechnik auditorium system, comprising principally T-Series loudspeakers, with B4 Subs and E6 front fills.

The new system also features Yamaha CL5 and QL5 consoles, with Rio stage racks, together with an essential element of show control hardware in the form of a Nemesis Audio UMT-2D USB MIDI Trigger. The Gordon Craig's new system is configured with a hang of six d&b audiotechnik T-10s per side, a further four T-10s in a centre cluster, six E-6 speakers as front fills, plus four B4 Subs, with the system powered by d&b audiotechnik's new 10D and 30D install amps.

The theatre and Orbital Sound has had a close working relationship for more than a decade, as Dave Nott, chief technician at the Gordon Craig Theatre, explained, "We needed to upgrade, as much of our previo

USA - With appearances at the summer's biggest music festivals and sold out concerts around North America, Southern rock group Alabama Shakes is currently on tour promoting its latest album, Sound & Color.

FOH and production engineer Shane Haase searched for the most "natural-sounding" equipment, including a Solid State Logic Live L500 console.

Inspired by the blues and soul of their Southern roots and the rock sounds of their generation, the band opts for a raw sound on stage, selecting a variety of both modern and classic audio equipment. "We start with the microphones, which have been chosen to compliment the band's overall dynamic and to express their voices in the most natural way," says Haase, who has been touring professionally for the past decade.

"From the microphones, it's simple signal processing just like anything else: microphone

USA / Japan - This September, the EtherCAT Technology Group (ETG) conducted two Plug Fests: the 2015 Japanese EtherCAT Plug Fest in Yokohama, Japan, and the 2015 North American EtherCAT Plug Fest in Newark, New Jersey, USA. Both events showed the typical high variety in EtherCAT devices, as well as a high level of system conformance.

The 2015 Japanese EtherCAT Plug Fest was held 10-11 September at the facilities of Beckhoff Japan in Yokohama. The ETG was pleased with the improved quality, variety, and functional range of devices at the event, even when compared to the equally impressive results from the year before. In 2015, the Plug Fest had significantly more devices exhibiting advanced features such as highly-precise synchronization through Distributed Clocks, as well as modular device description (Modules/Slots). Additionally, the number of new and unique EtherCAT Slave Cont

UK - Rambert is Britain's national dance company and has built a reputation of commissioning leading dancemakers, composers and designers from across the globe. It presents new and historic dance works to audiences in all parts of the country, performed by world-class dancers and accompanied by live music. The company recently decided to install a new lighting set-up in its London base, with this being used more and more frequently as a performance space. For both the purchase and installation of its new equipment, Rambert turned to White Light to draw on the company's extensive stock range and expertise.

Rambert is based on London's Southbank in an award-winning building which was officially opened by HM The Queen in March 2014. The move to the new location not only reflected the prominence of the company within British dance but also sought to provide the public with greater a

UK - Entec continues its lively working relationship as a lighting supplier to one of the UK's most innovative, interesting - and successful - contemporary artists, Paloma Faith, working closely with LD Tony Austin and lighting director / programmer Phil White

Known for her eccentric retro style, Faith's music career goes from strength to strength with another chart topping album and a 2015 Brit Award for best Female Solo Artist. She has been touring for around the last six months including a spring outing for which Entec supplied the full lighting rig. The shows have continued into the summer with the floor elements of the rig modified as a specials package for festivals and headliner gigs.

The full rig comprised four overhead trusses with two side trusses, for which Entec invested in a new Doughty Engineering H-Frame system which is highly versatile. It proved the ideal solu

USA - Elation Professional Cuepix Panel LED matrices and Elation Colour Chorus LED batten wash lights were used by lighting designer Bobby Grey to light the Tripolee Stage at the multi-genre Electric Forest Festival 25-28 June in Rothbury, Michigan.

Stage design for this year's Tripolee Stage was by Heather Shaw and her team at multi-disciplinary design firm Vita Motus Design Studio, who has created innumerable touring stages in the past and did it again at this year's Electric Forest.

Event co-producers Madison House and Insomniac decided to make something more out of this year's Tripolee Stage and asked Vita Motus to bring it into a more music appropriate space while maintaining the overall look and feel of the beautiful Electric Forest setting. Vita Motus's Future Present stage concept imagined an ancient relic built on earth by future generations erected 1000s of years in

USA - The Bay Area-based band Primus recently toured North America with a Meyer Sound Lyon linear sound reinforcement system to deliver its quirky, bass-driven brand of alternative rock. Described by FOH engineer Jason Mills as a "really fast" system with plenty of punch, the Lyon configuration was provided by Pro Media/UltraSound of Martinez, Calif.

"Lyon is a very snappy box," says Mills, who worked triple duty as FOH engineer, production manager, and system tech. "It's responsive, punchy and clear. The fans have noticed, too-I'm getting more compliments after shows than ever before."

The full system for the tour included 24 Lyon-M main and 4 Lyon-W wide-coverage line array loudspeakers, 12 700-HP subwoofers, and four UPJ-1P loudspeakers as front fills. Two CQ-2 and four MSL-4 loudspeakers were deployed as needed for corner front and out-fill, w

UK - With the Rugby World Cup now well in train it's opportune to reflect on an event at the O2 Arena, when, as a curtain raiser to the England campaign, sponsors O2 presented Wear the Rose. For 20,000 dedicated England supporters this was an evening to engage with the team, but with a twist. A slickly presented hundred-minute question and answer (Q&A) session between team members and compere Vernon Kay was interspersed with video clip highlights from the various players. This was then followed with a 75 minute finale from Take That.

"This started with an approach from O2 for Take That to appear," explains production manager Chris Vaughan. "Once the band had agreed it was a just a short step for their creative manager Kim Gavin to come on board and provide a framework for the whole evening. This was to be a great send off for the team."

For the key v

USA - Scandinavian FOH engineer Mads Staerke, who has mixed Denmark's hip-hop artist L.O.C. for seven years, will be a guest speaker on the Meyer Sound Mixing Workshop webinar series. Staerke will be joining programme host and veteran mixer Buford Jones.

In the webinar, Staerke will discuss the danger of excessive audio compression, his experimentation with large-scale concert system configurations, and his approach to mixing with linear systems like Meyer Sound LEO. An open Q&A will be available for attendees' questions.

The Mixing Workshop schedule: Wednesday, September 30 7AM PDT/2PM UTC; 9AM PDT/4PM UTC. To attend these sessions, sign up for free here. http://www.meyersound.com/events/seminars/webinars.php

In addition to L.O.C., Staerke has mixed jazz (Caroline Henderson), electronic dance music (KATO), rock (Kashmir), pop (Kim Larsen), and more. When not on the road he

UK - Warehouse Sound Services helped this month's BBC Proms in the Park at Glasgow achieve a sensational sound experience after designing, installing and engineering the sound for event and the diverse range of acts involved.

BBC Proms in the Park returned to Glasgow Green this month. The live event took place as part of the BBC's wider Last Night of the Proms celebrations. The event featured X Factor winner Alexandra Burke, Young Traditional Musician of the Year Claire Hastings and world-renowned saxophonist Amy Dickson

The Scottish Symphony Orchestra, under Stephen Bell, performed a versatile show, with music ranging from Bernstein's overture Candide and Sibelius' Karelia Suite to a specially adapted Poldark Suite by composer Anne Dudley from her music for the popular television series, and a host of imaginatively crafted accompaniments to main acts that also included the lo

Europe - Hawthorn, one of London Stock Exchange's '1000 Companies to Inspire Britain 2015', has continued its reach into Europe with two significant events for September 2015.

The creative production company was commissioned by event management experts Taylor Bennett to design and produce all things technical for business events in Cologne and Barcelona.

Hawthorn delivered Taylor Bennett's creative exhibition stands for Adobe and Channel Advisor at dmexco, 16 - 17 September. The Digital Marketing Exposition & Conference 2015 is recognised as the premier global digital marketing event, drawing over 31,000 visitors to Koelnmesse, Cologne.

Last week, Hawthorn's technical team moved south to Barcelona to help realise Taylor Bennett's content rich party for Herbalife. Taking place at Poble Espanyol, over 3,000 guests were treated to a lively festival style reward and recognition

Italy - More than 100 Raptor moving heads from D.T.S. installed by rental company AMG International, highlighted the finals of Miss Italia 2015, hosted by Simona Ventura and broadcast live on La7 television on 20 September.

The beauty contest that crowned Alice Sabatini - chosen from 33 final candidates - was held for the second time at the Pala Arrex of Jesolo, a large modern multi-functional centre dedicated to concerts, congresses, fairs and sporting events.

(Jim Evans)

Italy - It has been confirmed that Showlight 2017 will take place on 20-23 May 2017 in the Renaissance city of Florence, Italy.

The colloquium, organised by lighting professionals, for lighting professionals, is now in its tenth incarnation, its peripatetic nature having taken it to London, Hollywood, Amsterdam, York, Ghent, Edinburgh, Munich, Glasgow, and most recently, Cesky Krumlov in 2013.

Showlight is a bringing together of lighting professionals from all areas of expertise and levels of experience, from wizened professionals to fresh-faced students! The emphasis is on sharing knowledge and enjoying the inspiration and variety our industry offers in a networking event without parallel.

An eclectic programme of speakers will inform and entertain delegates in a series of 20-minute sessions, interspersed by a micro-tradeshow, and accompanied by a social programme which inc

UK - What can just £5 do? It can win you an Amazon Gift Card for £100, £250 or even £500 - but more importantly it can help a colleague in need who has fallen on hard times because they, or an immediate family member, is seriously ill or injured.

Stop by the Behind the Scenes UK stand (C10) at the PLASA Show 5-7 October to do your part to bring help and hope to your colleagues in need. Raffle tickets are just £5 each and will be available throughout the show. The drawing will be held on Tuesday afternoon, 7 October but you do not need to be present to win.

The raffle is to help raise funds for the new UK charity Behind the Scenes which provides grants to entertainment technology professionals that may be used for basic living costs, some medical related expenses, transportation, retraining, or funerals. One grant recipient said, "I just want

UK - Immersive experience studio, Marshmallow Laser Feast (MLF), has created a virtual reality (VR) work set in Grizedale Forest, the Lake District forest famous for its sculptures.

The project, called In the Eyes of the Animal, takes users on a fascinating journey that allows them to fly above the forest canopy, come face-to-face with hi-definition critters and embody various animals as they traverse the Grizedale landscape.

Through the use of virtual reality, aerial 360° drone filming, LiDAR and CT scanning, Marshmallow Laser Feast creates an experience allowing Abandon Normal Devices Festival (AND Festival) visitors to see the forest through the eyes of its creatures.

Artistically interpreting the sensory world of the animals, Marshmallow Laser Feast has built a real time system that dynamically visualizes precise LiDAR scans of the forest and CT scans of the a

UK - Liverpool based Adlib is full of festival spirit following a highly successful summer of shows and events covering a rich and diverse cross section of concerts and music performances - from Latitude to Leeds/Reading - with lighting, sound, their infectious enthusiasm and characteristic humour.

Creamfields is always a special event for Adlib. The company has been involved with various Cream live activities since the superclub exploded onto the dance scene in the early 90s and has continued to be a major influence right at the epicentre of rave culture.

This year Adlib supplied sound and lighting to three arenas, CF03 the 15,000 capacity Cream Mega Arena; CF05 The Curve Arena - complete with wrap-round production design and CF12 Hospitality, with production overseen by Ian Greenway production manager from LarMac LIVE.

Cornbury 2015 was staged in the attractive leafy envir

South Africa - Cape Town based CS Audio, a busy full technical - sound, lighting, video and structures - solutions and rental operation started in 1995 by Donald Clark, became the third company in South Africa to invest in Robe BMFLs, with the purchase of 12 x BMFL Blades together with 24 of the new DL4S LED Profiles.

These are added to around 150 other Robe moving lights in current rental stock, confirming that Donald is a big of a fan of the brand!

CS's eclectic work schedule covers a broad spectrum of shows and events - corporate and industrials, parties, concerts, music festivals and theatre productions - so adaptability is always a key to choosing lighting products.

The BMFL Blades and DL4Ss were delivered after the 2015 Mediatech expo in Johannesburg by Robe's South African distributor, DWR.

Both types of new fixtures went straight out on a tour with Australian origi

Italy - Audiosales in Italy has reached the end of a busy summer, supporting customers through a succession of festivals and high profile events involving premier Martin Audio PA systems; these have ranged from the flagship MLA system to conventional line arrays.

The first ever Today's Festival welcomed more than 23,000 people across five different locations over three days in Turin's Barriera di Milano - incorporating major concerts, dance events and creative workshops. Some 50 national and international artists performed including American headliners Interpol and TV on the Radio.

In the main stage sPAZIO211, Davide Scalzo, the owner of Microfase, provided a Martin Audio system comprising 12 x W8LC Compact line array per side, with 18 WSX subs, and W8C/W8S as side-fills.

Over in Tuscany, the first edition of Beat 2015 saw a total attendance of over 70,000 people arrive at t

USA - Making the transition from the portable to the permanent is nothing new at Saddleback church. One of the most widely known and highly respected houses of worship in the world, Saddleback started out as a portable church, holding its first service on Easter Sunday, 1980 in the apartment of its founders Rick and Kay Warren. Saddleback, which now has 10 campuses in California and four overseas, did not even acquire its first permanent home until 1993, when it opened the doors of its Lake Forest, CA church.

This June, history repeated itself for Saddleback, when it made the transition from portable church to permanent campus in Anaheim by opening a 40,000-square-foot facility with ten classrooms and a 1,000-person worship area across from Angels Stadium. When it came to lighting the new campus, which is located in a retrofitted building, Saddleback technical director Greg Bake

Mexico - 15 September is one of the most important dates in the Mexican calendar; this year, it marked the 205th Independence Day for the country, with celebrations in the Zócalo public square in Mexico City. Multiple Nexo line array systems were deployed around a special four-sided concert stage, with the full sound reinforcement specification running to 436 Nexo cabinets in total.

Zócalo is one of the largest public plazas in the world. With live music, mass singing and fireworks, the event is attended by 40,000 spectators.

The demanding job of providing sound reinforcement for the event was shared between five audio rental companies with a strong tradition of cooperation. Sound designer Sergio Zenteno coordinated the pooling of equipment inventories from Tecnoson Espectaculos, ROA, Star, Backline and Concepto 3, to create a system that used 12x Nexo line arrays around the

UK - Star Events returns to Showman's Show on the back of a phenomenal season in 2015, which saw it providing infrastructure and ingenuity on grass, on tarmac and on water.

The Star stand, at the corner of Avenues B and G, will be focussed on the company's seating and fencing & barriers portfolio, the latter a component part of events from Cyclo-cross to Latitude Festival.

In the spirit of a taste test, at Showman's, visitors will have the opportunity to directly compare the industry's traditional, uncomfortable folding chairs with Star Events' tip-up, flat floor system, which comes complete with air insulated seats and backs.

This summer, the Star system was used across events including Greenwich Music Time, Nocturne Live at Blenheim Palace and Neil Diamond at Blackpool FC. In all cases the promoters reported superb audience feedback.

(Jim Evans)

UK - Unusual Rigging is proud to announce that it is now meeting over 50% of its annual on-site power consumption with renewable energy via a solar PV system.

The 100KW solar PV system is installed on the roof of Unusual's new 1,056 sq m warehouse, which opened in June this year, and was energized on September 3.

Tom Harper, resource and sustainability manager at Unusual Rigging, explained: "This really is the icing on the cake in our drive to become a green business. Over the past few years, we have been implementing the key concepts of a circular economy - ensuring that all materials streams are efficiently managed and recycled, as well as striving to run entirely on the basis of renewable energy, mitigating negative effects on human life or our ecosystem. This implementation of the solar panels is our most recent step and will significantly reduce our annual C02 footpr

UK - Bend it like Beckham the Musical, which opened to rave reviews this summer, is a striking tale of female footballer Jess, based on the 2002 film of the same name. The musical takes the audience on her journey as she struggles with a big decision - live up to her family expectations of university and marriage or chase her dreams and follow in the footsteps of her hero David Beckham.

When production manager Gary Beestone realised the show would throw a number of interesting challenges at him, he asked Unusual Rigging to provide the entire rigging at London's Phoenix Theatre.

"I've worked with Unusual Rigging on a number of projects in both theatre and events and have always had a great working relationship with them. The show required complete rigging solutions for the overhead flying in the Phoenix and also for the set build, and with a variety of challenging flying p

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