White Light transforms National Theatre in LED for Fast Forward fundraiser
Last month we had our first opportunity to light the way for Fast Forward, a unique fundraising gala evening at the National Theatre. Featuring an auction for once-in-a-lifetime experiences and excerpts from forthcoming productions, the event raised proceeds for NT Future – a transformative project providing new facilities for audiences, artists and young people.
Fast Forward took place on March 4, 2015 and attracted a glittering guest list including: Simon Callow, Olivia Colman, Frances de la Tour, Anne-Marie Duff, Sir David Hare, Ian Hislop, Patricia Hodge, Tom Hollander, Jeremy Irons, Lesley Manville, Andrew Scott, Fiona Shaw and Anna Wintour.
Held in the iconic Olivier Theatre, innovative event design saw the stage utilised for dinner service, keeping the vast auditorium space free for the plethora of entertainment. Performances included: Damon Albarn showcasing a song from his forthcoming musical wonder.land and pieces from James Graham and Patrick Marber, as well as Southbank Sinfonia and the London Community Gospel Choir.
White Light worked closely alongside the National Theatre’s team, including: Head of Lighting – Matt Drury; Lighting Director – James Farncombe; Prod LX - Breandan Andsell and the in-house LX team to facilitate the installation. Full kit provision from White Light incorporated new LED equipment which had previously never been used at the National Theatre. This included: sought-after CORE Pinpoints – used for the first time ever in the UK, Mac Auras, Pixelines, VLXs and Sharpy washes/profiles to transform the space. The National Theatre’s Lighting Resources’ Huw Llewellyn designed the lighting for the underground walkthrough experience. Finally, Blueprint provided additional SGM LT-200 vertical tubes and SGM ILDs, used for a circular truss which flew in and out above the audience for a captivating circus performance.
Farncombe comments: “We have received excellent feedback about the lighting for this event. Our LX team enjoyed delivering something a bit different to their usual projects and we were really impressed with the speed and intensity of the new Sharpys. We are grateful to White Light for helping to deliver the goods.”
Richard Saunders, Project Manager at White Light, comments: “This fundraiser was a prestigious addition to White Light’s events calendar and we relished the creative challenge of transforming the Olivier Theatre for a more bespoke set-up. It was also an exciting opportunity to fully demonstrate the capabilities with some of our new LED kit, for the first time ever in the National Theatre.”
Photo courtesy of Victoria Erdelevskaya or Cameron Slater
The National Theatre is grateful to the following companies and individuals who have contributed to Fast Forward:
Companies
AKA
American Airlines
American Express
Ascot Racecourse
Atelier Ten
Bank of America Merrill Lynch
Belu
Berry Bros. & Rudd
British Airways
Burberry
Buro Four
Cantate
cazenove+loyd
Diageo
Eon Productions
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
Film4
Goldman Sachs
Harkness Roses
Intercontinental Hotels
Lendlease
Loews Regency Hotel
McKinsey & Company
M.A.C.
Macfarlanes LLP
Mount Nelson Hotel
Mustard
National Theatre of China
Neptune Investment Management
Nyetimber
Oberon Books Ltd
PACCAR Inc
Philips
Rise Contracts
Santander UK plc
Selfridges
Slaughter and May
Sotheby’s
Stage Technologies
The Wolseley
UBS
Vogue
White Light
David Yarrow Photography
Individuals
American Associates of the National
Theatre
Sir Martin Broughton
Graham and Joanna Barker
Alan Bennett
Simon Berry
Joan Burstein, CBE
Lady Chinn
Rebecca Clouston
Ricki & Robert Conway
Kate and Arne Groes
James Hogan and Charles Glanville
Neil MacGregor
John Makinson
Sam Mendes
Ian Mill
Kate Mosse
Elizabeth Offord
The Pigott Family
Kevin Richardson
Joy and Max Ulfane
Mr Galen Weston
Anna Wintour
and those who wish to remain anonymous