ETC LED luminaires, controlled by an ETC Ion console, helped lighting designer James Tan achieve that lighting goal during a production at Singapore's Esplanade Theatre Studio.
Red takes place in spring 1958, in Rothko's New York studio. In order to create natural looking light shining through the window into the compact space, Tan used seven ETC Source Four LED Lustr+ luminaires.
"I decided to use LED fixtures that would be intense enough and could also change colour easily, as the play spanned two years with different seasons and day and night," says Tan.
On the other side of the stage, Tan placed a Source Four LED Series 2 Lustr fixture with an attached Source Four LED CYC adapter on a head high boom to illuminate the back of the entrance. "What we managed to achieve was a perfectly clean source of light that had enough punch," explains Tan. "The CYC light backlit the frosted windows and created the silhouette of a person entering or exiting through the door."
The only other character in the play was Ken, Rothko's young assistant. The highlight of the play is a scene where both characters work on a canvas together, choreographed to lighting and sound. Tan's design for this dramatic scene included two 21 inch ETC Selador Classic Vivid-R LED luminaires that provided brightness and saturated colour to enhance the canvas.
"The intensity, punch and colour mixing abilities of the Vivid R fixtures are very impressive and they helped make the canvas pop. The saturated colours added a touch of elegance to the look of that scene," explains Tan.
The show was run on an ETC Ion console with the latest software, v2.2. "Ion was easy to program and it worked well for the play," concludes Tan. "The lighting programmer was able to programme smoothly, despite a very short technical prep time."
(Jim Evans)
