White Light Provides Shakespeare's Globe with First-Ever Theatrical Lighting Rig

	The Taming of the Shrew. Photo: Marc Brenner

Opening in 1997, Shakespeare's Globe is a reconstruction of the Globe Theatre, an Elizabethan Playhouse in London which housed all of Shakespeare's original works. Today, the theatre is dedicated to exploring Shakespeare's work through both performance and education. Similar to the original productions, daytime performances within the venue have always used natural daylight, while evening shows use a broad wash of tungsten floodlighting. Now, for the first time ever, the venue is installing a theatrical lighting rig and has approached White Light to provide the equipment.

The rig has been installed as part of Emma Rice's first season as artistic director. The lighting designer is Malcolm Rippeth, who is also lighting two of the shows in the opening season. He comments: "The Globe has always been a space for experimentation which is reflected by the introduction of theatrical lighting. Emma's work was always going to involve the highest production standards and it's important to remember that Shakespeare himself used all the theatrical technology available to him during that time."

Rippeth's brief for the installation was to create the most flexible and state-of-the-art system possible while ensuring that it was visually unobtrusive.

He states: "Ultimately it was about minimizing the rig's visual intrusion into the space while providing the various lighting designers with the widest range of options possible."

The fixed rig consists largely of ETC ColourSource PARs which provide a defined area system across the stage with full color mixing. For moving lights, Martin by Harman MAC Viper Performances were used in overhead positions whereas the SGM G-Profiles were used as front of house units.

Rippeth adds: "The trickiest part of the rig was finding a good backlight fixture, as these units are most prominently in the audience's sightlines. As regular moving heads were out of the question due to their size, I drew on the GLP X4 Battens which are a tilting, zoomable, color-changing strip. These are visually extremely discreet while providing the exact effects required."

As this was such a huge change from the very simple lighting used previously at Shakespeare's Globe, this meant Rippeth had to work closely with the technical team at the venue. He states: "The introduction of the lighting rig has meant significant changes across the entire building. There was lots of electrical and rigging infrastructure that needed to be installed, all of which had to be completed by the new season. Thankfully the entire production team at the Globe rose to the challenges brilliantly."

The lighting rig has already been used on A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Taming of the Shrew, and Macbeth and will continue to be used throughout the season. It is expected that the rig will evolve and adapt for future seasons, being even more sympathetic, discreet, and flexible next year, with White Light supporting the continued development.

Rippeth comments: "White Light has been hugely supportive from the start, constantly going that extra mile to get us the equipment we needed and working within our budget. They are clearly interested in theatre and supporting a designer's ambitions; evident by their continued maintenance and guidance as the season has progressed."

Bryan Raven, White Light's managing director, adds: "Obviously we are delighted to be part of theatre history by supplying Shakespeare's Globe with a theatrical lighting rig for the first time. A large majority of lighting that Malcolm drew on actually came from our £3 million annual investment in new equipment. Such an investment enables us to provide venues and lighting designers with the latest technology possible; as proven with Shakespeare's Globe."