LONDON — Lighting designer Arturo Ollandini is using Robe ColorSpot and ColorWash 2500 moving lights supplied by Sonalyst in his design for comedy duo, The Mighty Boosh, currently on tour in the U.K. The show, produced by Phil McIntyre Entertainments, is a mix of comedy and music with the lighting requirements of a theatrical rock ‘n’ roll tour. It’s the second Boosh tour for Ollandini, who came up with a flexible rig that fitted in around the set, which was built on a revolve with set dressing one side and musicians on the other. He chose an all-moving light rig because parts of the show were still “work in progress” and constantly changing when they first hit the road. The tour also started in a series of smaller venues before expanding to larger theatres and city hall-sized spaces after the first month.
Along with the need to highlight the show’s theatrical skits and rock ‘n’ pop moments with glamour and glitz, Ollandini used the Robes to highlight some of the standup-style routines performed downstage of the red velour front tabs.
The front truss is equipped with five ColorSpot 2500E ATs and four ColorWash 2500E ATs and is rigged at least five meters from front-of-stage where possible. That’s to create an “advanced bar” feel and to provide a proper amount of front wash coverage, which helps fill the stage when it becomes busy and supplement the lighting from the two followspots used on the tour.
For the smaller venues, Ollandini used Robe 700 fixtures on the front truss instead of the 2500s. He said the transition from the 700s to the 2500s was seamless, and he had to do very little retouching to the cues already in the desk with the new fixtures onboard.
Behind the front tabs is a 40-foot-wide, 18-foot-deep box truss with four underhung truss sections, each of which is four feet long. The two rear truss sections drop down six feet, and in front of them, a pair of truss sections drop down four feet on either side of stage. All four sections have a ColorSpot and a ColorWash 2500 rigged on them for side lighting.
On the back rail of the box truss are another ten 2500s, including ColorSpots and ColorWashes. The box truss also houses the show’s three projectors supplied by XL Video, a drape truss lit by a white cyc and a set of blacks.
The steps and bridge around the set have LED strips on the treads. A smattering of i-Pix Satellite brick fixtures also illuminates these and other set elements. There are also some additional moving lights on the front rail of the box truss and the floor.
All lighting is programmed onto the Road Hog Full Boar console, which Ollandini uses to operate the show. That console triggers a Full Boar running the Catalyst digital media server, programmed with all the video cues.
Ollandini has used Robe before on two occasions — once for the Belfast Paralympics and for the last Ricky Gervaise tour. He spoke favorably of the brightness, color range and quality of light output from both the 700 and 2500 Series.
Ollandini is working alongside lighting tech Ross College and closely with projectionist Mark Hughes. The tour is currently scheduled to run until January 2009.
For more information, please visit www.robe.cz.
