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The beautiful neo Gothic building and austere atmosphere of St Andrews Church in Luton formed its own natural, highly spiritual stage set and backdrop for a rare production of Jesus Chris Superstar, produced and performed by local amateur musical theatre company, The St Andrews Players.
Lighting designer was Dave Houghton, who has been lighting in the Luton area for 22 years, during which time he has been involved in numerous large-scale productions sponsored by local press and businesses. Theatre Projects and Avolites have frequently supported these more ambitious projects by providing unbeatable equipment deals … and this was no exception. Dave jumped at the chance to utilise an Avo Diamond III for control of the lighting rig which included six V*L 5 wash luminaires and six V*L 6 spot luminaires, 30 LSD ColorMag scrollers, 50 parcans, ETC Source Four profiles and other generics. The 50m throw from the rear balcony was achieved with two 2Kw Xenon ColourArc follow spots. There was also a 72 way Avo dimmer on the job! The church, designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott O.M., R.A., F.R.I.B.A. who also designed Liverpool Cathedral, the Forth Road Bridge and Battersea Power Station. St Andrews was constructed in 1932 and has majestic 35 ft high stone arches all the way down the nave. The rig itself was framed in a perpendicular arch. Flanking each side of the nave are smaller arches running the length of the building, so the view from all angles was curved and stunning. The 4 ft high stage was set in the transept, central to the church, with three ‘goal post’ arches for the lighting rig – one to each side and one upstage, constructed from Slick Minibeam trussing. A further 24 ft wide 12 ft high balcony was constructed behind the main acting area in front of the altar with much of the action consisting of interplay between the two performance areas - also connected by rustic ladders. This stage set together with the natural arched colonnades presented an extremely versatile and visually interesting space. The fundamental lighting aesthetic was to deliberately accentuate the amazing architecture and pulchritude of the church, whilst not cluttering it with extraneous lighting gear and mess. The V*L 6s were used for gobo projections and tracking actors, a job made extremely easy with the Avo Graphics Tablet, while the VL5s were engaged for flooding and isolating the general acting area plus the building features and set pieces. The get in, rigging, fit up, tech, programming and dress rehearsals all had to happen in a highly compressed period of 4 days, during which time the production team worked 24 hours - in shifts. Dave has used an Avo Pearl in the past but this time decided to go for the Diamond III. He was impressed by the ease at which they learnt the desk and the “massive versatility” of the console once they were familiar with programming features. He and his fellow programmer/operators Seb Williams and James Hamilton all have plenty of lighting experience, however they don’t always get a chance to use state-of-the-art equipment such as this. This, coupled with the time pressure could have made life very difficult, but the Diamond III proved a star in its own right. The band consisted of five live musicians consisting Lead, Rhythm and Bass guitars, full DW custom drumkit and the following keyboards: Korg Trinity, an expanded Roland JV1000 a Roland D70 and a Fatar mother keyboard with Behringer digital effects and dynamics processor. The orchestral sequences were programmed using Cubase VST and transferred into the sequencer on the JV1000 which was played live sending a click track to the drummer and keyboard player. Audio for the show was a combination of St Andrew’s Players’ own kit (monitor system) and a hired in FOH system from Gradav Theatre Services. A full Bose FOH system was supplied by Gradav, including 802’s, 402 infills, 101 delays and 302 bass bins, complete with Soundcraft console. They also provided a 12 way Sennheiser radio mic kit and Yamaha SPX 900.
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