Ambersphere and Little Leigh Take Ayrton to the Panto

	Dick Whittington at Hawthorne Theatre, Welwyn Garden City. Photo: Mark Bryan, A2Zoom Photography

With cheesy jokes, sometimes questionable costumes, and a central tale of good versus evil, a traditional Christmas pantomime is a staple of the British festive period. But, to ensure that everyone has a great time a lot of hard work goes into creating the right panto atmosphere, from writing a great script to getting a good cast. Often, the unsung heroes of the piece are the lighting team who design the show's mood.

From lighting the bright rooms of the prince's castle to establishing the dark gloom of the villain's lair, panto lighting is vital to get right, as Leigh Mulpeter, who owns the lighting design company Little Leigh, knows full well. "Over the Christmas period we were hired to manage and provide the lighting for a production of Dick Whittington at the Hawthorne Theatre in Welwyn," begins Mulpeter.

"For a show of this nature and a venue of this size what was needed was a small versatile lighting product that could be quickly installed at any venue, so I got on the phone to Ambersphere Solutions, who I have used in the past, to see what they recommended. No sooner said than done, Thor André arrived with some Ayrton NandoBeam-S3 fixtures to demo. I was very impressed with their performance. I particularly like the speed of the zoom function, and that the wide beam has a nice, evenly-spread wash. I also like that they are very light and quick which makes them extremely versatile, always an important purchasing factor for a rental company such as ours."

"Throughout the purchasing process the support from Ambersphere was fantastic. If I ever had a question or an issue they were only a phone call away. Ambersphere is a great company with a great bunch of friendly people and an exceptional approach to customer service. I would definitely use them again."

When Dick Whittington entered production, Mulpeter decided to use his new NandoBeam-S3 fixtures for the show. "The venue was quite small in relation to the size of the set, which made the setup a rather time-consuming affair; consequently, the timeframe for focusing was quite restrictive. However, despite a relatively short tech week, we managed to fix any issues ahead of the show. Weight restrictions, for example, at the Hawthorne Theatre meant the NandoBeams were ideal due to their light weight," continues Mulpeter.

"During the show I used the NandoBeams for a variety of purposes. Primarily, we used them to light set pieces as well as adding color to scenes and to highlight actors. They effectively highlighted key elements in important scenes and their nice beam abilities really came into their own during some of the numbers."

"Being my own worst critic, there were definitely elements of the lighting in the production I would change. However, with 45 shows over 19 days, and cinema turn-arounds most evenings, time was not on our side. It's nice to know that the show was well received, especially by younger audiences, which I think means we did our job well. Oh, yes we did!"

Ayrton is distributed exclusively in the UK by Ambersphere Solutions.

Little Leigh Lighting can be contacted at www.little-leigh.co.uk

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