A Night At The Tivoli Down Under

To commemorate Australia’s Centenary of Federation, The Australian Ballet and Sydney Dance Company have joined forces for the first time to present an unforgettable celebration of Australia’s Tivoli Circuit - Tivoli. Tivoli pays tribute to the rich heritage of the Tivoli Circuit - an era of variety theater that helped to shape Australia´s cultural identity.

Tivoli´s narrative follows a young performer and his life-long love affair with variety theater, a life surrounded by comedians, acrobats, magicians and gorgeous girls. Onstage and backstage, the story draws us back into a glamorous and escapist world spanning over half a century and encompassing two World Wars, the roaring ´20s, the depression and the topless follies of the ´50s...right up until the advent of television. 

Tivoli is both a ‘night at the Tivoli’, with all the razzle-dazzle of magic acts, big numbers, tap dancing, singing and roller-skating, and a journey through over half a decade of variety theater. In one evening, through the eyes of the young boy who joins the theater in 1906, we are taken on a kaleidoscopic ride of the Tivoli: from the innocence of its glory days to the advent of television.

First-class crew

Tivoli is conceived and choreographed by Graeme Murphy and devised with long-time collaborator Kristian Fredrikson, with research by Frank van Straten. Fredrikson also designed the costumes. The set designer for Tivoli is Brian Thomson who has worked with Murphy before on Synergy. With onstage, backstage and offstage sets as well as 5m high can-can legs, giant 3m high letters, puppets and silk backcloths, Tivoli has kept Thomson very busy.

Lighting designer Damien Cooper has worked with Murphy on his last three productions: Mythologia, Body of Work and Air and other invisible forces. In Tivoli, Cooper has had to create lighting effects for each period as well as light large-scale production numbers from the gas-lit Empirettes to the Follies-Bergèresque finale.

Dreamscapes with MAC 2000

Although the costumes are very true to the Tivoli era there was no attempt to recreate the look with the lighting. The set design is also a radical departure from the era with lots of black cloth and cut out shapes.

“The lighting design can be very stark and sharp at times “ explained Damien Cooper. “I’m using lots of profiles on this production as well as ten Martin MAC 2000s. I chose the MAC 2000 because I wanted to create a lot of dreamscapes and I could take advantage of their wide 28° angle. Also with their three gobo wheels you can do a lot of morphing and an out of focus rippling effect. It’s like smoke burning or clouds passing without too much literal details. I also have fifteen MAC 600s in a top light position in the rig for color washes and for soft specials.”

MAC 2000s used in majority of scenes

Four MAC 2000s were used for backlight hung from the No. 4 lighting bar while the remaining six were hung three a side on the box booms.

“That was a fantastic position because it allowed me to light full high side onto the down stage performance area where a lot of Graeme’s choreography plays,” said Damien. “With the MAC 2000’s wide angle I could do a lot of detail and texture onto that performance area. There was a passerele, which is an extension that came out around the pit, and the MAC 2000s could light that too. In fact the MAC 2000s could do full coverage from down stage to right upstage enabling me to do textural work on the cyc, gauzes and clothes that flew in. They also allowed me to do a very beautiful proscenium wash when we were in Sydney’s Capitol theater.

“The MAC 2000’s were so useful and they ended up being used in the majority of scenes as I was able to take advantage of the CMY color mixing and the morphing of gobo’s to move smoothly between scenes. They really were my front of house lighting. I’m not a big fan of the direct flat front of house shot. Their high side position really allowed you to get all the facial detail that you needed. It takes the two dimensionality of a followspot out of the equation; it really pulls the heat to one side and allows me to get a lot more depth into the look of the show. I was very much in love with that shot and I became very partial to it!”

Damien was also impressed by the quietness of the MAC 2000. Other lighting equipment, automated and conventional, is also used in the show.

Lighting Design: Damien Cooper
Associate Lighting Designer/Production Electrician: Hugh Hamilton
Touring Head Electrician: Adrian Sterrit
Head of Domes: Kathryn Anderson
Lighting Assistant: Dave Wilkinson