CirqueTech – Illuminating La Nouba

By
Richasi
Published: Aug 11, 2006Posted in: CirqueTechTags:

On August 10, 2006, La Nouba celebrated an impressive milestone – its five millionth guest – and I was in the audience celebrating! While I sat comfortably in my seat waiting for the show to begin, my mind wandered about the technical aspects of the lighting scheme. It’s a bizarre thing to think about just before a show, and I can tell you that not once throughout the various performances I have seen over the years have I inquired about the lighting. But I wondered… what systems are used? How was it put together? What lighting equipment was developed? How many lights are in there anyway? So, I did a little research after the show and this is what I found out…

  • Believe it or not, there are over 1200 lighting fixtures used in each performance. To be more precise, there are exactly 1250 total lights in the system. That’s quite impressive.
  • You’ll find a variety of lighting products used, including:
      • o) Altman “punch” lights
      o) High End Systems’ Dataflash AF1000 units
      o) Strobe lights from Diversitronics
      o) Wildfire UV fixtures
      o) Over 1,000 “ellipsoidals” and “PARs” from Altman, City Theatrical and ETC (“Source Four’s”)
      o) Thirty-eight (38) “Moving lights” from High End Systems
      o) Twenty-four (24) “Stage Scans” by Clay Paky
      o) Six (6) Robert Juliat “followspots”
      o) One-hundred-fifty (150) Wybron Coloram-II “scrollers”.

  • Among the more standard-fare of colors, you’ll also find “Bright Orange,” “Lime Green,” “Saturated Red,” and “Chrome Yellow.”
  • The total system delivers over half-a-million watts of light.
  • Control system includes over 1000 dimmers, utilizing a Strand Light Palette 550-I to control the conventional fixtures and strobe lights.
  • A Flying Pig Systems Whole Hog II is used to control the moving lights.
  • Special Effects are controlled by a Strand Light Palette 520-I lighting console.
  • The grid-shaped pattern on the stage is accomplished using stock “gobos” trimmed with high-temperature aluminum tape and shutter cuts.
  • La Nouba uses ten (10) stage smoke machines, but these are harmless to your health.
  • Four (4) hazers (or fog machines) are also used to give the La Nouba theater a sense of foreboding.
  • Oh, and a 3,000 gallon tank of liquid nitrogen supplies the burst effects seen throughout the stage floor and the rock wall.

You can learn more about the products listed here and the companies that manufacture them below: