Spread across two stands at ABTT this year, White Light showed items from its extensive hire and sales stocks, including theatre lanterns from Arri and trussing from Prolyte for which White Light has recently been made a distributor; these join products from Robert Juliat, Rainbow, Look Solutions and ELC which White Light already distributes in the UK. The company's award-winning Digital Festoon System was also on show.
The day after ABTT, White Light held a Moving Light Shootout at the Royal Opera House's Linbury Studio, where lighting designers had the opportunity to compare the latest 'theatrically-oriented' moving lights: the Clay Paky Alpha Wash Halo, the ETC Revolution, the Vari-Lite VL1000TS, the ADB Warp as well as the venerable Vari-Lite VL5 and VL5B. "All of these lights use a tungsten bulb as their lightsource," comments White Light's hire director Dave Isherwood, "making them ideal for theatrical lighting designers looking for a unit that can blend in with a conventional lighting rig. They all also claim the advantage of low running noise, and it was fascinating to be able to compare them side-by-side in a real theatre environment rather than individually in a demonstration studio."
Those making the comparison included lighting designers Wayne Dowdeswell, Alistair Grant, David Holmes, David Plater, Andrew Voller and Nobuo Koritani from Japan, Kevin Sleep from English National Opera, Mike Atkinson, Alex Murphy and Paul McLeish from the National Theatre, Matt Peel from the Royal Shakespeare Company, John Charlton, Martin Adams, Michael Scott and Paul Hornsby from the Royal Opera House, theatre consultant Jon Stevens from CharcoalBlue and freelance electrician Martin Chisnall.
The company rounded off the week by holding its second Graduates Open Day, designed to allow students from schools and drama colleges to find out more about White Light, and to learn more about the entertainment industry from those already working in it. A total of 32 attendees were given a tour of the company HQ as well as a moving lights demonstration by Chris West from Martin Professional, an introduction to the Fat Frog 2 by Zero 88's Bryan Kelly, as well as the grandMA console by MA Lighting's Richard Lambert. They also took part in a Career's Panel that featured lighting designers David Howe, Jonathan Rouse, Andrew Voller and White Light's Jason Larcombe and a discussion about life and lighting with lighting designer and programmer Rob Halliday.
Feed back from the students was full of praise for the Open Day. "I found the day to be a very useful and fulfilling experience," said Joe Duffield, from Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication. "It's certainly given me some ideas (and hope!) as to what the lighting entertainment industry is and the possible career paths within it. Thanks for a truly worthwhile day."
(Sarah Rushton-Read)
