"In order to bring these 700-year-old Mystery Plays to life, I knew I had to deliver some spectacular effects," said lighting designer Chris Ellis. " I also knew we needed a large lighting rig to do justice to the large setting in the Nave of Chester's medieval cathedral. With only modest power supplies available, it was an ideal opportunity to try out a large LED rig to help keep the power consumption down. Chauvet lighting kindly obliged with a selection of some 100 luminaires."
For a dramatic rainbow following Noah's Flood scene, Ellis installed eight Chauvet Professional Legend 230SR Beam moving yoke fixtures above the stage, in the cathedral's Norman tower.
"My favourite of the Chauvet Professional lights is the Legend 230SR Beam, which was light enough to be installed high up in the Tower Gallery without damaging the stone walkways," Ellis said. "It was stunningly bright as a 2.5-degree beam, but could also produce a multi-beam look with little loss of light output and could even soften off enough to produce a stage wash when required. Just added a bit of haze and we had a show."
Mystery Plays were created all across Europe from the 13th century as a means of celebrating the stories of the Old and New Testaments for the Feast of Corpus Christi. Originally performed inside the churches, from the 14th century they were produced by Crafts Guilds and performed in the open streets and market places on pageant carts ("waggons"). Performed by local people, the scripts and performances changed each year to remain current and have popular appeal.
(Jim Evans)
