Down in Sussex, the Chichester Festival Theatre is closed for refurbishment - but the company has created a temporary home for itself in a giant tent pitched in the surrounding parkland. The first performance in the tent is, appropriately, a new production of the circus musical Barnum, presented in association with Cameron Mackintosh. Directed by Timothy Sheader and designed by Scott Pask, the show features lighting by Paule Constable, continuing her regular collaboration with White Light. Constable's rig makes full use of the comprehensive range of equipment available from White Light's rental stock, including the powerful yet tiny Clay Paky Sharpy, used to encircle the front of the stage.
At White Light's base in Wimbledon, work is underway preparing another Paule Constable rig: that for the National Theatre show War Horse, which embarks on a UK tour starting at the Theatre Royal Plymouth in September. The tour continues White Light's involvement with the show; the company has supplied the equipment to the West End production at the New London theatre since it opened in 2009.
The busy summer also seems set to segue into a busy autumn for White Light, the company having already been confirmed as the lighting supplier for two major new musicals: The Commitments, which will open at the Palace Theatre, directed by Jamie Lloyd, designed by Soutra Gilmour with lighting by Jon Clarke, and From Here To Eternity, which will open at the Shaftesbury Theatre directed by Tamara Harvey, designed by Soutra Gilmour with lighting by Bruno Poet.
(Jim Evans)
