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Astera Tubes selected for “Richard II” at Stratford Festival

A new production of “Richard II”, adapted by Brad Fraser, is playing in the Tom Patterson Theatre as part of the 2023 Stratford Festival in Stratford, Ontario, Canada. Conceived and directed by Jillian Keiley, the work is choreographed by Cameron Carver and lit by Leigh Ann Vardy who is utilising twelve Astera Titan Tubes and four Helios Tubes as lighting and visual props to assist the ambience and narrative flow.

Keiley wanted a minimalist stage setup, and as the creative team started to evolve the aesthetic - with the action set in a Studio 54-inspired disco steeped in the glamour, grit, and glitz of 1970s/80s New York - it became essential to involve lighting elements that could take on the roles of both physical props and metaphysical suggestion.

In particular, they wanted light sources that a “Chorus of Angels” could use and manipulate. Vardy, Keiley, and Stratford Festival’s technical director Greg Dougherty started looking at options for sourcing the right luminaires to meet this brief, and it was Doug Ledingham, head LX for Stratford Festival’s Tom Patterson Theatre, who first suggested looking at Astera’s wireless Tubes as a solution. Chris Pegg from Astera’s Canadian distributor Lumenayre showed them some units. “Basically, this was exactly what the creative team wanted”, states Ledingham.

The Tubes are used multiple times throughout the performance but never lighting an actor, set or scenery piece in a conventional way. One of Vardy’s favourites is a bath house scene when the cast enter in a transition holding the Titan Tubes. On a downbeat of music, the lights snap on and sputter out, creating a dramatic shift in the mood. The cast then place the Titan Tubes in patterns on the stage, unlit, and as each character enters a small “room” created with them, they glow in different colours to outline the action.

In the play’s prison scene a stark look is achieved by flying a 4-ft diameter disco ball in to about four feet above the stage. The Chorus of Angels then carry twelve Titan Tubes onstage and attach them to a custom-built cage around the disco ball. As the ball flies out, the Titan Tubes are eased down to create illuminated jail bars around Richard.

The jail is “broken” by a character wielding a Helios Tube and “smashing” the bars, accompanied by shattering glass sounds and Helios pixel effects. In the final moment of the show, Richard is stabbed with a glowing pink Helios Tube, and as this happens, the colour drains out of the Tube as neon pink blood pours out of his wound.

(Photos: David Hou)

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