The Royal Ballet and Opera Begins Major Lighting Infrastructure Renewal with Martin

	"When we first saw the Martin MAC Viper XIP we knew it would have a place in our rig," says Champion.

The Royal Ballet and Opera has begun a comprehensive renewal of the Royal Opera House's lighting infrastructure, installing 90 Martin MAC Viper XIP fixtures.

The Royal Opera House in London's Covent Garden is home to The Royal Opera, The Royal Ballet, and the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, and, as one of the world's leading opera and ballet companies, presents a rigorous repertory schedule that requires rapid daily changeovers and a lighting system defined by technical excellence and longevity. The selection of MAC Viper XIP fixtures has led to Martin becoming an Official Partner of the Royal Ballet & Opera.

Led by George Townsend, lighting project manager and lighting specialist in the venue's renewal team, the project aims to successfully replace a 25-year-old lighting rig while maintaining the venue's uninterrupted performance schedule and ensuring ongoing re-lighting consistency for returning productions -- a significant technical and logistical achievement, the company says.

The Royal Opera House's operational demands are unique in scale and complexity. A typical day features a morning rehearsal of one opera or ballet, followed by an evening performance of an entirely different production, with complete set and lighting changeovers accomplished in a matter of hours. "It's a bit like touring internally -- we do it every day. It's quite rare for a show to sit on stage for an entire day," says Townsend.

"We have a fixed rig that is utilized across all productions," he continues. "Designers obviously can supplement that with extra bars and lights on set pieces, but the aim is to try and light with the core rig as much as possible. For the efficient changeovers, and for when that show comes back, it's a quicker revival process.

"The Martin MAC Viper XIPs have given the Royal Opera House a lot more functionality and many more creative options so there is less need to supplement the rig, making the whole of our processes more efficient. And being modern reliable fixtures things are coming back on the stage exactly how they are expected to."

The additional challenge was the overlap with productions lit with the previous system. "We have to bring in new systems while still doing productions, and a lot of productions overlap," explains Townsend. "We decided to create a new lighting rig that we could install under our old rig. Some shows would use the old one as we transitioned, and newer or revived shows would use the new one."

The phased approach allowed productions to transition gradually between systems, with the last show using the old rig -- the ballet Alice's Adventures in Wonderland -- completing its run in June before the old over stage system was de-rigged.

The fixture selection process involved an extensive shootout at the Backstage Centre in Purfleet, adjacent to the RBOs scenic workshops, bringing together not only internal lighting team members, lighting designers and broadcast lighting directors, but also peers from organizations including the National Theatre and English National Opera.

"Beyond performance, the bigger driver was policy and long-term support," Townsend explains. "Martin's UK support via Live Technology and directly was a big factor: provision of spare parts, MAC Attack training, and that sense of a robust service infrastructure."

Build quality proved a critical differentiator. "There's a very obvious difference between the MAC range and some competitors, in terms of how solid they feel," he notes. "Given how long we keep rigs in service -- and how often shows come back after a couple of years -- we needed something that would recreate designers' work consistently over a long period."

Jack Champion, acting head of lighting, agrees: "When we first saw the Martin MAC Viper XIP we knew it would have a place in our rig -- the question was how many and where. The build quality combined with the form factor and the output were a formidable combination."

An unexpected benefit emerged during the project: the IP-rated fixtures have significantly improved maintenance workflows. "IP rating actually wasn't on our original wish list at all, but we ended up with an almost all-IP overhead rig, and it's made a huge difference," Townsend reveals. "It's not about weather -- this is an indoor house -- but dust and general environmental contamination."

A key element in the project was an extensive visualization process that preceded physical installation by over a year. "Although it looks like we've 'just' put the lights in, we've actually been working with them for over a year in the virtual Opera House," Townsend explains.

This visualization is essential for the venue's workflow, allowing lighting designers to build their shows before arriving on stage. The accuracy of the fixture models in the virtual environment was critical to providing designer confidence in the process.

"The anti-shutter collision technology within the MAC Viper XIP proved difficult for the RBO to replicate in Visualization, with the fixture being in control of this function and not the lighting console." notes Townsend. "Martin collaborated with the RBO to bring a classic viper framing option to the Viper XIP holding regular development calls between the RBO and Henrick Kristensen (Product Manager, Martin Professional) and product testing sessions with the Lighting Control and Visualization Team at the RBO. Martin's support and determination to implement these firmware changes has been invaluable."

The new installation distributes 90 MAC Viper fixtures across multiple positions: overhead light bridges carrying the bulk of moving lights above the stage, proscenium positions with cross-bridge mounting and two runs of fixtures, front of house positions integrated with the venue's historic architecture, including candelabras on circle fronts and fixtures under circle fronts across three levels, dome positions at the top of the auditorium shooting down to the stage.

The overhead trusses feature a consistent fixture pattern including four MAC Viper XIPs acting as ballet pipe ends at both ends of each truss pointing across stage.

The new rig has transformed the venue's capabilities and efficiency. "With the old rig, designers ended up rigging lots of extra trusses and fixtures because the core rig just didn't give them what they needed," Townsend reflects. "With the new rig and the Vipers, there's far more functionality and choice, and things come back to the stage how they expect them to." The efficiency gains are tangible: "We can't magically add 'more hours' in the day, but the time we do have is now used far more efficiently."

For Martin Professional, the RBO partnership reflects both confidence in the technical capability of its fixtures and a genuine alignment with customer needs.

Chris Munn, UK, Ireland, and Italy account manager, Martin Professional, comments, "Our partnership with the Royal Ballet and Opera goes beyond the proven performance of the MAC Viper XIP and the close collaboration that shaped its integration -- it's about enabling artistry in one of the world's most iconic venues. The MAC Viper XIP brings the flexibility and precision needed for long-term demands to highlight the incredible talent. Seeing these fixtures become the backbone of every production is a testament to Martin's commitment to supporting creative excellence and a powerful validation of what this partnership enables."

Now fully operational across all productions, the new rig has demonstrated its reliability in one of the world's most demanding environments, the company says.

"The MAC Viper XIPs are really solid units," Townsend concludes. "I'd describe them as a thorough workhorse fixture: solid, consistent, and now in use across all our productions."

www.martin.com

pro.harman.com