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Robe supports Taki Rua Productions production of “Hatupatu/Kurungaituku”

Lighting designer Jo Kilgour created the lighting for “Hatupatu/Kurungaituku: A Forbidden Love”, a new aerial dance work produced by Aotearoa’s Kaupapa Maori theatre company Taki Rua Productions. The work, written by creative director Tanemahuta Gray and Kapa Haka by Wetini Mitai-Ngatai, premiered at the Tawhiri Warehouse in Wellington as part of the 2024 Aotearoa New Zealand Festival of the Arts.

Eighteen Robe T1 PCs and ten LEDWash 600 wash beams made up an integral part of Kilgour’s lighting rig, which was supplied to this production by Wellington-based rental company Grouse Lighting and project managed by Cameron Nicholls with the assistance of Riley Gibson.

The immersive storytelling was presented in traverse, with the audience standing either side of a central 1.5-metre-high runway stage, relating the tale of warrior Hatupatu and bird woman Kurungaituku in an anti-gravitational collage of movement, action, and visceral emotion.

A “spine” truss running the length of the runway in the roof and scaffolding structures either side was used to facilitate the people flying, so finding workable lighting positions was challenging. Upstage at one end was a rear projection screen, with four roof trusses flown parallel to the spine (two either side) along the length of the space to provide additional lighting positions.

A maximum trim height of 6.5 metres in the lowest venue on the tour also impacted the approach of all technical departments - lighting, rigging, audio, video, flying, etc. - who had to work within with these parameters. All the equipment had to be relative to the spatial dimensions and the main spine truss.

Kilgour worked collaboratively with set designer John Verryt. The design process included a pilot workshop staged at Tawhiri Warehouse in November 2023 with the full set design and a quarter of the then-specified lights, so Kilgour could establish what worked and what was practical.

The pilot confirmed that any long snout fixtures overhead encroached too much on the space so they were out, and the exercise also enabled her to identify optimal rigging positions for fixtures that would not interfere with the access needed for the flying artists and climbing technicians. It also underlined her decision to use moving lights.

The T1 PC’s zoom made it a popular choice for the “boom” positions which were mounted on the scaffolding structures 2.8 m either side of the runway stage. To ensure accurate and complete control of the output, Kilgour utilised the internal beam shaper (barn doors) to accurately shutter light off the climbers, the audience, and the projection screen. In addition to side lighting, the T1 PCs were used for specials on the overhead rig and for washing across the space. The ten LEDWash 600s were rigged overhead and used almost like house lights, for general uniform wash coverage of the space.

The action-packed 75-minute show saw moments of great beauty and serenity juxtaposed against raw and aggressive fight scenes accompanied by a soundtrack composed by Paddy Free. The video images designed by Artificial Imagination included a lot of content from Rotorua, where the story is set. A research trip there gave the creative team the idea of keeping the venue hazy and misty with lots of fog mimicking the mythical geothermal activities present in the region.

Having this many moving lights plus several other luminaires extended the possibilities for lighting, and nine days of full production rehearsal time in the Wellington venue with the cast - ahead of the first show - was another rare luxury for the creative team. Kilgour pre-programmed the show before handing over to Nicholls and Gibson for the tour.

After Wellington, “Hatupatu/Kurungaituku” toured to Auckland’s Q Theatre, then played at the Air Force Museum of New Zealand in Christchurch before finishing up at the Energy Events Centre in Rotorua.

(Photos: Stephen A’Court Photography/Lauren Groundwater/Paul McLaughlin)

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