HARMAN’s Martin Professional Delivers Gold Standard Lighting On Treasure Island

LONDON — Praised by critics for its lively and ingenious interpretation of a classic yarn, the British National Theatre’s rendition of Treasure Island for the winter of 2014/15 is both a dramatic and aesthetic success. Central to the family production’s visual presentation, HARMAN’s Martin Professional fixtures were heavily featured in Bruno Poet’s lighting design.

Running at the Olivier Theatre from September 2014 through to April 2015, the production features a set by Lizzie Clachan that takes the audience from a pub in southwest England to Bristol docks, sailing to and finally on the titular island itself. Instrumental in establishing the show’s atmosphere is Poet’s lighting design, which works double-time fulfilling both form and function. His designs accentuate the locations’ drama but also help tell the story by directing the audience where to look in particular scenes.

“I was very keen to use single-directional light sources as often as possible for a very clean look, both in the air with haze and in terms of light and shadow on the stage,” said Poet.

No stranger to Martin fixtures, Poet deployed Martin MAC Auras on his recent projects for the West End revival of Miss Saigon and Icelandic band Sigur Rós’s world tour and in the process developed a curiosity for Martin’s MAC Quantum Wash.

“I’m very keen on using HMI lights and 5Ks, so I was interested in the Quantum as an LED alternative to those kind of sources,” he said. “While I didn’t think you could really replace tungsten light, I discovered the Aura to be a fantastic improvement on a small discharge source and wanted to see if the MAC Quantum Wash, could replace the bigger discharge lights.”

Poet’s preference for tungsten meant that he chose Martin MAC TW1s for lighting the show’s characters and Quantums for a big single source, wide lens look. Meanwhile, Martin MAC Vipers were used for areas where precise light was essential.

“The Olivier stage is fairly big and one MAC Quantum Wash can cover it while retaining a good amount of punch,” he said. “When it’s on the wide setting you get a lovely 5K-like source and beam in the air. The MAC Quantum’s broad color palette also worked especially well for the night and storm scenes. I see it as a 2.5k HMI replacement with a huge electricity saving as, unlike the HMI, it is drawing very little power when not in use.”

Poet is equally enthusiastic about the MAC Viper fixtures.

“The MAC Viper Wash DX is wonderful because it’s bright enough to cover the whole stage but the internal barn door effect is incredibly useful,” he said. “There are moments when actors have to sneak onstage from the back without being seen and the internal barn doors help me cut the beam off at a precise place and with a beautiful soft edge. I like their punch, I like the color mixing. In fact, I like everything about the Wash DX. It’s absolutely my favorite discharge wash light at the moment!”

Working alongside the Olivier Theatre’s Lighting Supervisor & Chief Electrician Andy Taylor and Programmer Daniel Haggerty, Poet and his team are more than happy with the choice of Martin fixtures for the show.

“The MAC TW1 is probably my favorite moving light for illuminating actors and the Vipers and Quantums were great complements to the rig,” he said. “They gave me the flexibility of different effects for different moments, plus they’re reliable, very light and straightforward to rig. We had to mount a couple of the Quantums in odd positions but the process was easy.”

Martin equipment
·         MAC Quantum Was, 8 pcs.
·         MAC TW1, 12 pcs.
·         MAC Viper Wash DX, 10 pcs.

For more information on the National Theatre, please visit http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/

For more information on lighting designer Bruno Poet, please visit http://brunopoet.co.uk/

For more information, please visit: www.martin.com

As a world leader in the creation of dynamic lighting solutions for the entertainment, architectural, and commercial sectors, Martin lighting and video systems are renowned the world over. Martin also offers a range of advanced lighting controllers and media servers, as well as a complete line of smoke machines as a complement to intelligent lighting. Martin operates the industry’s most complete and capable distributor network with local partners in nearly 100 countries. Founded in 1987 and based in Aarhus, Denmark, Martin is the lighting division of global infotainment and audio company HARMAN International Industries. For more information please visit: www.martin.com.

HARMAN (www.harman.com) designs, manufactures and markets premier audio, visual, infotainment and enterprise automation solutions for the automotive, consumer and professional markets. With leading brands including AKG®, Harman Kardon®, Infinity®, JBL®, Lexicon®, Mark Levinson® and Revel®, the Company is admired by audiophiles, musicians and the entertainment venues where they perform. More than 25 million automobiles on the road today are equipped with HARMAN audio and infotainment systems. HARMAN has a workforce of approximately 17,600 people across the Americas, Europe, and Asia and reported sales of $5.9 billion during the last 12 months ended December 31, 2014.
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