Change text size : a a a



News and features index



News items
What's happening at BRB

Features

 Wolfgang Stollwitzer interview
October 5, 2008
 The Beasts within
October 4, 2008
 Lei Zhao
September 6, 2008
 Kristen McGarrity
September 6, 2008
 Behind the scenes: Department for Learning
August 18, 2008
 New faces look back
July 14, 2008
 Birmingham Royal Ballet on Classic FM
July 8, 2008
 Notes on Petrushka (full version)
July 4, 2008
 The history of Le Baiser de la fée
July 4, 2008
 Notes on Card Game
July 4, 2008
 Jonathan Payn on BBC Radio York, Spring 2008
June 18, 2008
 Ambra Vallo on Giselle
June 13, 2008
 Desmond Kelly
June 6, 2008
 The Fairy's Kiss
May 13, 2008
 The history of Card Game
May 10, 2008
 Petrushka
May 9, 2008
 Stravinsky: the real deal
May 3, 2008
 Your personal profile
April 22, 2008
 Behind-the-scenes: wardrobe
April 2, 2008
 South-West tour notes
March 20, 2008
 2008-09 season
March 20, 2008
 North-East tour notes
March 19, 2008
 Anniek Soobroy
March 10, 2008
 Céline Gittens
March 7, 2008
 The light fantastic
February 12, 2008
 Dominic Antonucci
February 11, 2008
 Japan 2008 desktop wallpaper
January 11, 2008
 Behind the scenes: Diana Childs
December 7, 2007
 Fantasy and Reality
December 1, 2007
 An Entertainment of Genius
December 1, 2007
 Beauty and the Beast
November 19, 2007
 Stravinsky autumn 2008
September 19, 2007
 Angela Paul
October 9, 2007
 All that jazz
October 8, 2007
 Cardiff2008
October 5, 2007
 Enjoy Strictly dancing?
October 3, 2007
 New arrivals 2007
September 24, 2007
 Tyrone Singleton
September 21, 2007
 Edward II
August 10, 2007
 Strictly dancing
August 10, 2007
 Take Five costume rehearsals
June 22, 2007
 Mary Goodhew: the making of a dancer
June 12, 2007
 Michael O'Hare
June 1, 2007
 200708 Season
March 28, 2007
 Carl Davis interview
February 7, 2007
 Pas de deux - Stravinsky and Balanchine
January 29, 2007
 Ballet Hoo! aftershow interviews
October 7, 2006
 The Acrobat and the Ringmaster
April 20, 2006
 Transaction Charges
July 14, 2006

 
Press releases
Read BRB's current press releases

Reviews
Look up external reviews and articles on the Company.

Discussion forum
Join in the discussions on BRB and its performances, hosted by ballet.co.uk

The light fantastic



Music and dance are just two of the elements that go into a Birmingham Royal Ballet performance, with costumes, sets and lighting all contributing to the production that you see. Birmingham Royal Ballet has been lucky enough to work with some of the most gifted designers working today, such as Steven Scott, who worked on The Shakespeare Suite and The Orpheus Suite.

Nick Ware, Birmingham Royal Ballet's head of lighting at the time of their creations, explains what makes them unique.

'Orpheus... and Shakespeare Suite were different in one respect for us because the set designer was the same as the lighting designer.

'Normally in a creative team in ballet you have the choreographer at the top of your pyramid and he engages a team. If he needs a new score produced, he'll find a composer, and if he needs sets and costumes he'll source a designer, who nine times out of ten will do both.

'Occasionally, as with some of our productions like Arthur and Edward II, the set designer is one person and the costume designer is another – in those cases Jasper Conran. But what I hadn't seen until Orpheus... and The Shakespeare Suite was someone who did both set and lighting design.'

Steven Scott was a technical manager who had moved into design, and by the time of The Orpheus Suite in 2004 he had produced a large number of light-based indoor art installations. His designs for Birmingham Royal Ballet use light as an essential element.

Nick explains further: 'The set is an integral part of the lighting - it actually creates some of the effects. Taking Shakespeare Suite, you've got that black wall with the nickname of 'the graphic equaliser', because it looks like one from the front of a hi-fi. And that's heavily backlit and changes throughout to provide all the different images for all the different characters.

'With The Orpheus Suite you've got two things going on within the set design. First you've got the LED back wall, with 17 panels that create colours, chases, effects and spaces like doorways, and train effects. But it then flies out and you've got this light box behind and you go into the underworld and that whole sequence – the appearance of infinity really, using space and light.'

A lot of work went into creating such a unique design. Steven presented his concept first to choreographer David Bintley, and then to Nick and the rest of the lighting and set department.

'We built one of the panels as a prototype' Nick remembers, 'because although he'd used the concept and materials in different installations he'd done, he'd never done it on this scale, so we had to build one section as a test just to prove how much intensity we were going to get, and to look at how we were going to control it.

'Steve had made a smaller example, no bigger than a sheet of A3, and we went straight from there, straight onto the internet looking for products to build a full-scale version. We ended up with products from all over the world, German products, Danish products, and we put it all together to create the entire back wall.'

click here to read the second half of this article.
  Contact Us | Legal Statements | Credits | Discussion Forum
® Birmingham Royal Ballet | Company registration no. 3320538 | Registered charity no. 1061012