The Good and Evil side of illumination

It also seems appropriate that Denmark-based Martin Professional would provide the lighting for such a performance.

In February the Riding Hall in the town of Århus was witness to the world premier of Snow Queen, Andersen’s hopeful tale of an unlikely love between the Snow Queen and the Devil in the world’s of good and evil.

The performance was special in many ways. The production was a mix of professionals and amateurs, professional opera singer Loise Fribo the highlighted star of the show.

The play was an excellent example of the multitude of effects possible from a relatively few number of lights. Lighting Designers Anders Agerbo and Jens Holm used 10 MAC 500s along with a small number of conventional lights. As Anders put it, "We really made something big out of something small and used the lights optimally to get the most out of them – in fact, I don’t think there was a color or gobo that we didn’t use."

Anders and Jens used basic colors to create the feeling of cold for the world of the Snow Queen, and warmth for the devilish underworld. The MAC 500s were hung from a standard parallel truss above the stage with ballet lights illuminating from the sides. Danish distributor Kunelco supplied the 10 MAC 500s as well as the other lighting fixtures.

The show was a privately financed production directed by Daniel Bohr and the 12 performances proved to be such a success that the group was contacted by an American theatre group interested in having them perform in New York.