White Light is Out of Order for UK theatre tour
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Out of Order tells the story of Richard Willey, a Government Junior Minister, whose plans to spend the evening with one of the opposition’s typists go disastrously wrong. This revival is being produced by Tom O’Connell and the lighting designer is Jack Weir. He comments, “Out of Order is a purposefully over-the-top, hilarious farce and typical of Ray Cooney’s work. The show takes place in real time, in the one location of a hotel room overlooking the London skyline. My role was to light the action and highlight the farcical elements which pervade throughout.”
He adds: “The set features several doors (with characters frequently coming on and off stage) and this really drives the action of the piece. Therefore, on a practical level, I had to ensure the play had enough coverage and that we believed the environment which designer, Rebecca Brower, had created.”
To achieve this, Jack drew on WL’s extensive equipment range to achieve his design. He comments: “I specifically chose the Martin MAC TW1. These offer a great deal of flexibility; something which is vital when touring a show like this. When we visit venues, we have essentially less than a day for the fit up so time is definitely of the essence. Similarly, we are visiting venues that range vastly in size from the Palace Theatre in Southend to the Manchester Opera House. Therefore, we need to have equipment that is able to adapt to this and maintain the shows look.”
Other equipment includes ETC Sensor Tour Dimmers, ETC Source Four Profiles and an ETC Ion Console.
Jack also had to take into consideration the front cloth which features at the top of each act. He comments, “I used a front wash which features four Martin MAC Aura LEDs on the front bar along with two MAC Quantum Profiles. These are excellent units for touring, owing to their small size, LED technology and weight.”
Whereas the play first premiered more than 25 years ago, this revival has been updated for a contemporary audience. Jack notes, “The action is very much set in the modern day. What this means is that I’ve not had to create a vintage feel out of necessity, so I have been able to utilise more modern LED technology in addition to tungsten for my design.”
Jack adds: “This is a really ‘laugh out loud’ show and will no doubt have audiences up and down the UK in stitches. It’s been a great experience to design and I’m grateful to WL for all of their help throughout.”
(Jim Evans)
