When theatrical lighting designer Jared Sayeg began planning the lighting for Topdog/Underdog—Suzan Lori-Parks’ darkly comic fable about brotherly love and family identity, staged at the Pasadena Playhouse—he realised the importance of using versatile luminaires.
They needed to “handle slow, smooth fades as well as sharp shutter cuts, while also delivering broad strokes of light that could envelop the stage space”.
It was a blend of warm and cool in constant contrast to one another, he explains: “Emulating both a tungsten quality inside, and the ability to pierce through the space with sharp cold light from the outside were key elements to the design”. Helping him achieve his goals were GLP impression X5 IP Bars.
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This was Sayeg’s 20th production at the Playhouse and a primary consideration – especially relevant to proscenium-based venues – was to control spill and minimise light pollution.
This was particularly important on Topdog as the set was very intimate, floating in a black void, and the focus becomes more and more granular as the play progresses, really bringing the audience closer in without any peripheral distraction, he says.
He and director Gregg T. Daniel strove to reinforce the sense of tension in a confined space, so that the two actors were on top of each the entire time: “The windows, doorway, and lamps were our primary sources of light, we really leant into them – and played the shadows in the corners in which they’re absent. While there are subtle moments, we also had sharp punctuations tied in with our transitions and we echoed that in the lighting, often opening or ending a scene by shuttering the entire stage picture as a big swipe”.
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PRG North America supplied the lighting inventory. As for the choice of the X5 IP Bars, Sayeg says: “I had the shop arrange a demo for me. We did a shoot out there and I was sold!” The GLP Impression X5 IP Bars form an intrinsic part of the design, he emphasises:
The reason we only used four fixtures is because that is the exact amount of width in which they fit into the playing space, and were all that was needed to achieve the image I was after. I wanted to engulf the scenic picture at times and echo the light from the two windows, casting down into the recessed basement-like set. At times I would use ‘big strokes’ as a light curtain, blurring reality and yet making the lighting state intensely emotional.
Jared Sayeg is no stranger to using GLP’s award-winning tools. Over the years he has worked across their portfolio, and has had widespread experience with the impression X4 (S&L), impression X5, X5 Compact and impression E350. “I find myself using more and more GLP products for their quality and reliability”, he says.
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Reviewing the seismic upgrade to the X5 Series, he notes: “Although I loved the X4 line, the X5 platform is a big leap forward with colour; but it was the intensity and zoom range that really impressed me and were the two critical features I needed for this production. The ability to fully engulf the space with a very wide zoom – coming from a high steep angle, to smoothly zooming down very slowly to a tight beam, while tapering in fades with individual cells – was impressive. The production opens and ends with the impression X5 IP Bars as almost a visual motif… it’s the first and last source of light we see. And its powerful!”
Finally, the product’s IP rating certainly wasn’t lost on the designer. “It is a great advantage to have the IP rating for these fixtures”, he agrees. “When the opportunity arises, I plan on including them in my designs for both indoor and outdoor projects”.
Photo credit: Jeff Lorch
