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UK panto shows lit with Robe

Lighting designer Andy Webb specified Robe for two high-profile UK 2023-24 panto season shows - “Snow White & The Seven Dwarves” at Aylesbury Waterside Theatre in Buckinghamshire, directed by Chris Wilkins-Nelson, and “Cinderella”, directed by Benji Sperring, staged at the Malvern Festival Theatre in Wiltshire, both produced by Martin Dodds for UK Productions (UKP).

The 1200-capacity Waterside Theatre is the larger venue in terms of both stage and audience sizes, and here Webb utilised sixty Robe luminaires - a dynamic mix of T1 Profiles, Spiiders, MegaPointes, BMFL WashBeams, LEDBeam 150s, Cyc FX8s and ParFect 100s, together with elements of the in-house generic rig.

The 850-seat Festival Theatre - now known as Malvern Theatres - is a cozier space and has been a provincial arts centre since 1885, and here Webb specified 45 Robe fixtures which were a combination of MegaPointes, ParFect 100s and 150s, DL4S Spots, LEDWash 300s, plus some of the regular house conventionals.

Webb programmed the shows using Avolites Tiger Touch II consoles, each featuring approximately 300 cues. The additional production lighting equipment, including all the Robe products, was supplied by rental specialist CEG. Shaun Ellis was Webb’s LX1 on both productions, and he also drew up all the follow spot plots.

As always, time was the biggest challenge in lighting both shows. The lighting get-ins were on Sundays for show openings on the following Thursday. Webb received some set reference photos during construction and while the assorted drop cloths were being printed and painted, leaving three days onstage to make it all happen.

At cast rehearsals during the day, he concentrated on real-time key and face lighting also filming the action, then worked overnight adding all the layers, details and complexities. “Due to the number of scenes and the hectic pace of the shows and of panto in general, the workflow is always fast and furious”, he explains, so having familiar fixtures is a must. “I can’t get more time, but having the right tools enables me to work quickly, more efficiently and achieve more in a short timeframe”, he adds.

In Malvern, Webb used the MegaPointes as his general spots as no T1s were available for that show due to high demand. He programmed the MegaPointes like they were T1s, including plenty of shutter work. He was delighted to have T1s back at Aylesbury after a gap last year. “I’ll spec T1s every time for panto”, he notes.

The overhead fixtures for both shows were spread out over six LX bars with a spot-wash-spot-wash configuration to achieve maximum coverage, and a fan of MegaPointes for specials and pick-ups. In both venues, Spiiders (Aylesbury) or ParFects (Malvern) were rigged on the apron truss or in the side positions, utilised as front kickers and side fill. The LED chips in the Spiiders, LEDBeams and ParFects are identical which assists with continuity and programming.

Webb loves many things about lighting panto including the “no rules” relating how scenes and characters should or should not be lit. Both theatres had new LED pros arches installed this year as part of the lighting/scenic setup, which allowed Webb to get even more interactive with audiences and draw them into the stories with lighting effects.

Webb and Ellis stayed with each of the shows for the first three days of their runs, with Aylesbury clocking up 57 shows over four weeks, entertaining around 50,000 people, and Malvern delivering 38 performances to approximately 30,000 people across three weeks.

(Photos: Barry Rivett/Lisa Roberts)

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