LEICESTER'S CURVE THE FIRST UK THEATRE TO TAKE DELIVERY OF PHILIPS VARI-LITE VL4000
Leicester’s Curve theatre has become one of the first in the UK to invest in the latest addition to Philips Vari-Lite’s product line, the VL4000 Spot. The theatre purchased ten of the luminaires from White Light as an ultra-versatile and cutting-edge solution to lighting its range of productions and events.
Since opening in 2008, Curve has taken pride in being a state-of-the-art venue that offers world-class theatrical experiences. The technical team therefore updates the moving light stock every six years in order to provide lighting designers with the latest technology.
“We’re finding more and more designers are looking for profiles with shutters, which made our existing profiles the first of our stock to change,” says Curve’s Operations and Technical Director Paul Moore. “Ensuring our creative teams have access to the best tools on the market is a key aim for Curve and the VL4000 Spot will very much help us deliver this.”
Curve covers a wide range of productions from plays to musicals and conferencing to graduation ceremonies.
“The VL4000 Spot is a very versatile luminaire, which is ideal for us,” continues Moore. “We will probably use them in the quieter ‘studio’ mode most of the time as this will be bright enough for most of our work, but it’s also fantastic to have the ability to turn them up to 11 should a scene require it. The VL4000 Spot’s feature set is very impressive and the use of common components throughout the unit should mean we only have to hold minimal spares. In reality, we will need to work the new units for 10 years, and we’re expecting the VL4000 Spot to still be a very desirable and often requested lamp at the end of the life cycle.”
The brand new VL4000 Spot luminaires arrived on site on the 11 November. They will go straight onto Curve’s Christmas production of The Sound of Music, lit by Lighting Designer, Phil Gladwell, who, according to Moore, is: “Very keen to use them and explore their potential.”
“The PLASA Innovation Award-winning VL4000 Spot luminaire from Philips Vari-Lite includes all the tools needed to create dynamic and useful lighting on any stage as every aspect of the luminaire has been designed with performance in mind,” says Brad Schiller, product marketing manager for Philips Vari-Lite. The 1200W VL4000 Spot boasts 33,000 lumens as well as a quiet Studio mode, which outputs 25,000 lumens. Its high resolution optics ensure remarkable centre-to-edge focusing and an unprecedented contrast ratio while a 5:1 zoom covers an amazing 9 to 47 degrees without sacrificing output or clarity.”
Photography by Pamela Raith