How it used to be

Nobody clearly remembers when we had our old stage lighting equipment installed. It's agreed by most that it was nineteen-seventy-something, but the something is up for debate.

For a few years now, we'd known it wasn't in the best of health. Channels were prone to flickering for no apparent reason, usually at the least convenient moment. One channel wouldn't go up beyond 80% brightness, and we could never figure out why. When a lamp blew in the lighting rig, it would frequently kill the dimmer channel associated with it, necessitating repairs, or a willingness to put up with that channel being stuck on at maximum brightness with no way of dimming it or turning it off.

It also limited us somewhat. Since the early days, when directors were happy to put up with "Turn the lights on at the start of this scene. Then turn them off, and back on again", we've got more and more ambitious. Rapid lighting changes on our old manual control desk usually involved careful planning from the operator, going through the exact sequence of movements they were going to make when the time came, minutes in advance of their cue. Sometimes, when a group of lights needed to come in or out at the same time, faders were moved with a biro, or in some cases a bit of wood, cut to the right length for moving a certain number of channels. It was even known on occasion for the sound operator to have to lend a hand, to push that one last fader up when the lighting operator had run out of hands!

Things go wrong

And then, one day during our production of the Elephant Man, it all went horribly wrong. I arrived early, as I like to make sure everything is working before we let the audience in. I turned the stage lighting isolator on and... bright light. Everywhere. Practically every single light on the stage had come on. And I couldn't turn them off. I honestly don't know what time I discovered the problem, but the time between that moment and the house opening to let the audience in was frantic. Our other technician, Nick, arrived. He couldn't figure it out. The chairman and producer spoke to the cast who, to give them their dues, agreed to press on. I retired to the bar with a copy of our local lighting hire company's catalogue, and made my plans for the rest of the week.

It seems that the lighting problems were of little consequence; audience members who'd seen the rehearsals or one of the previous productions that week remarked on how the performance was somehow edgier. The cast had to make entrances and exits in character, with Merrick limping painfully onto stage for each scene. As they left, one of the cast members turned to me and asked "Be honest - what did you say when you found the problem?". My reply was one word, and one not to be repeated in polite company.

Out with the old

Thanks to the generous contributions from our audiences, members of the society, and from at least one visiting group who had rented the theatre, we'd managed to do a bit of fundraising and, with the near disaster which had struck during The Elephant Man, it didn't take much to convince the committee that we needed to be allowed access to that money immediately. 

We've now replaced all of our steam-driven old equipment with newer gear. We've got a computer based lighting desk, so that even complicated lighting cues can be done by pressing one friendly looking button marked 'Go'. We have more channels than we have before, so the days of nipping down and swapping a few plugs over during the interval so we could use different effects in the second act are behind us. Thankfully, we're also in the position of having equipment that matches industry standards for the first time ever; if something does go wrong, we can pick up the phone and just get hold of whatever failed, instead of having to hire absolutely everything as we did during The Elephant Man.

And if anyone is wondering... yes, those are round pin plugs. They may not be in current use in most homes, but they're still very much the current thing for theatre lighting.

Thanks

Massive thanks are due to many people, not least: The cast of the Elephant Man - for carrying on as if nothing had happened, Dave Welsh - for sorting out the mains power required for running the new equipment, anyone who donated money towards the project, my girlfriend - for putting up with a dimmer rack the size of a fridge taking up space in her kitchen, and probably quite a few other people as well.

The technical details

Finally, if anyone really cares, here's how the old and the new compare:

^* 2,400 Watts is about the same power as 40 standard household bulbs