Philips Lighting recently announced that its support of London’s Arcola Theatre in
staging the popular Grimeborn opera festival helped the venue with its ambition to
become carbon neutral. At the same time, the lighting rig also providing lighting
designers with a dynamic, beautiful and consistent quality of light.
Arcola Theatre aims to become the world’s first carbon neutral theatre, so being able
to use low-energy, high-quality LED stage lighting fixtures from Philips Entertainment
Lighting contributed a significant advantage to the production of Grimeborn. Arcola
estimates that the inclusion of Philips Lighting’s LED technology in the Grimeborn
lighting rig delivered a 36% power-saving.
Philips Selecon PLprofiles and Philips SL BAR wash lights augmented Arcola’s existing
lighting equipment. “This dramatically reduced our power consumption,” says
technical manager Geoff Hense. “Currently, our older lantern stock is a major obstacle
to our efforts towards being carbon neutral, due to the high power consumption and
lamps that regularly need replacing. The Philips Selecon PLprofiles do not have these
limitations. We see this partnership as a bridge to converting entirely to LED lighting.”
Hense, along with assistant technical manager Michael Paget, created a fixed lighting
rig for the festival, with some additional ‘specials’ available to meet individual
requirements. “Some companies may bring their own lighting designers or
programmers, but all have to work within these limitations,” says Hense.
Based on the feedback from this year’s lighting designers, the fixtures have more than
met expectations. Robert Price, lighting designer for Samson & Delilah, comments,
“My brief was to make the light almost another character in the opera. The
characteristics of the main singers are often represented by light; sometimes a very
heavy use sometimes stripped all the way back. Again, these units hold their own very
well. Even if I solo down to just one light, I know it’s going to look good. It’s made it
very easy.”
The LED colour-changing has been a great advantage, says Price. “We go through so
many colours and shades, but I can colour change very smoothly and easily with the
same units. From a time-saving and programming point of view, they’re a big
advantage. And the mix between the tungsten and LED is just beautiful.”
Price was also impressed by the power of the Philips SL BAR wash units used to light
the rear wall. He adds, “The wall is almost black, and yet they appear very punchy
and bright on it. The colour match between the units is perfect, and the wash is
incredibly clean, with no hotspots or blemishes.”
Colin Kavanagh, general manager Philips Entertainment Lighting said: “We are
delighted to be able to support the Grimeborn festival again this year. We applaud
Arcola Theatre’s sustainability ambitions, as they reflect Philips Entertainment
Lighting’s own values with regard to the environment. Producing high-quality, low
power consumption LED stage lighting fixtures is part of our commitment to providing
lighting designers and venues with the tools they need to meet their future lighting
requirements.
