In the foyer of the Fugard Theatre, a cardboard cut-out has been set up so that audience members can take a photo of themselves ‘wearing’ the thigh-high glittery red boots so prominent in the production and its marketing materials. The fact that even this small show-related attraction has such a long queue on performance nights says a lot about the production’s runaway success. Since its opening in June of this year, Kinky Boots has been playing to rapturous full houses.
Now Kinky Boots will continue sashaying and strutting its stuff across the boards of the Fugard Theatre until 27 October.
The lighting for the show was designed by seasoned UK veteran Tim Mitchell and programmed by Mathew Lewis. “Programming for Kinky Boots made me fall in love with the Eos consoles all over again,” said Lewis, who is also the ETC product manager at ApexPro. “The lovely thing about Eos is whether you’re using your laptop or you’re using the big flagship console, it’s all the same software. So it’s all compatible and works together. It’s such an easy console because it speaks the same language the designer speaks to a programmer.”
According to Lewis, the lead product developer on Eos, Anne Valentino, actually went and sat in theatres while they were programing and listened to how the designers talked to the programmers. She then developed the syntax from there, so as to keep it simple and comprehensible. The Eos Ti was born from these efforts, and it is the console Lewis worked on for the production. His love for the console is contagious and, according to him, “There’s not a show on Broadway that’s not on Eos.” Lighting Designer Tim Mitchell echoes the sentiment by saying that “Eos consoles make average programmers look brilliant.”
The Eos Titanium (or Eos Ti) is ETC’s flagship lighting control console, with powerful hardware, easy-to-navigate software, and the right tools to realise art within the tight timetable of professional productions. The desk’s common-sense syntax is consistent and predictable so anyone – novices and professionals alike – can get down to business. You can work from an abstract concept of a design to a straightforward command sequence, thinking less about the mechanics of the system and more about the look of your show. All of this with an award-winning colour engine.
Another ETC flagship is prominent in the lighting rig for the show: the Source Four LED Series 2 Lustr, ETC’s flagship lighting fixture. Leading the pack of LED theatre lighting, the Lustr uses ETC’s x7 Color System with the addition of a lime-green LED emitter and more red, to create a deeper, richer colour spectrum that fills in the gaps that ordinary LEDs leave behind. This cutting edge technology lends the production a world-class sheen, as various spaces are created and enhanced by lighting wizardry.
The biggest lighting challenge and goal, per Lewis, was contrasting the “boring old world” of the shoe factory with the glitz of Lola’s neon nightclub lifestyle. “The way that LED technology has come along, made it much easier to be able to switch between these states. Especially the Lustrs that can render tungsten-like looks all the way through to bold, saturated colour. Couple that with the power of Eos, particularly the colour mixing engine, and the whole process becomes a lot easier.”
Kinky Boots is a foot-stomper, and had the audience on its feet by the rousing show-stopping finale. Book now to avoid disappointment – and remember to get your own kinky-booted selfie during interval!
Article from: www.entertainment-tech.co.za