Sub Rosa is a Gothic promenade piece in the backstage labyrinth of a Victorian theatre written and directed by David Leddy, an award-winning playwright and director based in Glasgow, UK. It is a Fire Exit production in association with the Citizens Theatre. Artistic Licence supplied a range of new products, when it was featured at the Fringe – the world’s largest arts festival.
The latest colour mixing product Flexi-Strip was used in combination with the new higher power version of Rail-Pipe. This allowed the 15m of Flexi-Strip RGB60 to be DMX512 controlled and integrated into the overall lighting control system.
Flexi-Strip RGB is a range of colour-changing LEDs encapsulated on a flexible substrate with a transparent silicone lens. The product is backed with a self-adhesive tape for ease of installation.
Lighting designer Nich Smith was responsible for translating from the original 2009 production at the Citizens Theatre, Glasgow. Smith had to take the key elements of each scene and reproduce them in a non-theatrical environment while maintaining the ambience of the piece throughout the building.
According to Smith, lighting played a big part in the show to evoke a ‘seventh character’, the building itself. Flexi-Strip was selected as the suitable product for the opening effect in Sub Rosa. He added that the opening scene needed to be dramatic and high impact to draw the audience immediately into the world of the production, even before the actor’s first entrance and dialogue. The key element of this was to light the entire room with a multi-coloured, immersive colour-changing sequence.
Smith achieved this using Super-Bright Flexi-Strip concealed on top of the Master’s Room picture rails. Smith’s intention was also to dress the set with old style lighting equipment to create the lighting effects using the modern technology available.
Flexi-Strip is available in a variety of colour options, full colour RGB, warm white and cool white. The RGB colour mixing versions comes in Bright and Super-Bright intensities. A number of Flexi-Strip bundles are also available containing all that is needed to get started, including a power supply and wiring instructions.
Since 1988, Artistic Licence has specialised in the design, development and manufacture of products for the architectural lighting and entertainment technology industry. The product range encompasses DMX512-A, RDM, Ethernet, Art-Net, DALI and MIDI. The range extends from test equipment to data distribution, and motion control to LED lighting. In 2010, Artistic Licence Engineering and Artistic Licence Integration were created to handle the greater demand for product development and project integration.
Artistic Licence Engineering builds on its predecessor’s reputation in the design, manufacture and marketing of high-spec lighting and lighting control products. Artistic Licence Integration drives the development of bespoke installations, specialising in DMX, DALI and Ethernet control.
Established in 1946 as an alternative to the Edinburgh International Festival, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival or The Fringe takes place in Scotland’s capital during four weeks every August alongside several other arts and cultural festivals, collectively known as the Edinburgh Festival, of which the Fringe is by far the largest.
