Never Did Me Any Harm is a new dance theatre work by award-winning director and choreographer Kate Champion (Not in a Million Years, The Age I’m In), exploring the complexities of contemporary family life. It is a co-production between Sydney Theatre Company and Force Majeure.

Force Majeure is known for making work that transforms the familiar and domestic into the poetic. Drawing inspiration from Christos Tsiolkas’ bestselling novel The Slap, Champion and her company interviewed people of all ages and backgrounds for their opinions on what makes a good parent.

Using a distinctive language of dance and text, Force Majeure and Sydney Theatre Company give full dramatic voice to these real life stories. In an unsettling yet familiar Aussie backyard, the fears of parents are danced, voiced and unraveled.

Set and lighting designer Geoff Cobham collaborated with Chris Petridis, video designer and assistant lighting designer, on the project. A PC running Jands Vista v2 software with a Vista M1 wingboard was used to operate the show.

“Essentially I built the video system which included a Catalyst media server running ArtNet so that was an exciting factor in using the Vista for control,” Chris commented. “I find that the Vista is very compatible with ArtNet and networking.”

The production utilised five standard projectors plus a Robe Spot 3000DT digital moving head projector so Chris was running two complete media server systems as well as a normal lighting rig.

“Geoff and I are similar in our artistic approach to lighting and consequently we really favour the Vista because it’s very intuitive in creating the desired stage looks,” explained Chris. “Other consoles can be all about numbers. With the Vista, instead of having to think about what you’re trying to create in a mathematical manner you can think about it in an artistic way. That’s the greatest thing about Vista and that comes across in the programming of it using features like the colour picker and having all the gobos visible when you’re loading and programming them.”

Like modern video and audio software, the Vista displays your designs as a series of ‘events’ laid out across the screen over time. This ‘timeline’ approach means that you can see everything that’s happening in relation to time: when lights come on, when they go off, when they change colour, when they move. Chris is partial to Vista’s timeline particularly as it uses the same shortcut keyboard commands as a PC or Mac.

“It makes it so simple to move attributes between cues,” he added. “Rather than having to constantly think about tracking and how to pull attributes out of certain cues to move them, you can just click on the attribute and cut and paste as you would with any other software. Just the other day I showed this feature to another lighting designer and he was blown away by it. Being able to scrub the timeline is handy – you can move to the point where you want a new attribute to start fading and just drag the attribute to that point. That’s fantastic.”

The Vista’s interface makes patching a breeze. You just pick the light you want from a list, type the quantity you want, then drag it over to the DMX universe screen. All done! The Vista also includes an extensive fixture library including profiles for the world’s most popular and less well-known lights.

“I find the patching on a Vista to be incredibly simple and I like having the visual 512 channel universe and being able to move stuff around that way is really great,” added Chris. “I like that you can have all the windows pop out and put them on a second monitor, it’s so nice having a large visual display of what you’re using.”

Never Did Me Any Harm will be playing at the Melbourne Festival later in the year.

Norwegian Lighting designer Roy Arne Wold is using a Jands Vista T2 console, with the next generation Vista v2 software, to control lighting and video on the current “Hellbillies” tour.

The Hellbillies are a country rock band – with slightly more emphasis on the rock than the country – and among Norway’s most popular recording artists, with 12 albums under their belts and a large and loyal live following.

Just before embarking on the tour, Roy decided to upgrade to the new Vista v2 software, which he says “takes the entire Vista control system into a whole new league”.

On this year’s tour, they are carrying a ‘specials’ package of lighting and video, which is supplemented with each days locally provided house rig.

The touring rig consists of eight Robe ColorSpot 700E ATs, twelve Robe ColorWash 575AT Zooms, four Martin Atomic strobes, eight Active Sunstrips and eight panels of 30mm pitch LED screen, together with 48 dimmer channels.

At each venue, they connect the house rig into the T2 and use Vista v2’s second generation generic fixture model to automatically swap the show programming to fit that days fixture types, saving time and ensuring that they are able to consistently deliver the same high quality show.

The T2 is also triggering the touring Hippo Critter media server which stores and plays back all the content for the video panels.

One of the many features that Roy particularly likes about Vista v2 is the way the console interfaces seamlessly with media servers, with all the media clips displayed as easily viewable thumbnails on the desk. “It’s great to be able to see and do everything on the desk, and not have to refer to the server at all” he says.

Other v2 highlights for Roy are the ease at which you can add split timings to a cue, and the powerful search functions, whereby you just type in the first digits of what you are looking for and it will be found instantly.

“I love the layout” he says, referring generally to the v2 interface. “I can see so much information simultaneously and can create my show so fast”.

Roy and his company Raw Light’s investment in the T2 has proved to be an excellent commercial move for an independent LD, and guarantees that he can have his desk of choice on all his shows!

Roy comments that he has always experienced excellent, knowledgeable and helpful service from both Jands and their Norwegian distributors Norsk Sceneteknikk As.

Vista v2 was designed from the ground up to allow all levels of user to get the most from whatever mix of technology they have available, whether lighting, LED, or media. Available in a wide range of hardware Vista v2 offers both the simplicity to work quickly, with the power to control the finest details, so everyone can focus on creating a great looking show rather than on programming a desk.

Jands Europe’s Neil Vann said “Shows of all sizes and styles really benefit from using Vista v2. It has the right balance of power and simplicity to ensure that it is fast to use, while allowing the user to create exactly what is demanded on stage. Take a look for yourself and see what this exciting next generation of control can offer you.”

All photos ©Derek Jones

Lighting designer Derek Jones recently finished the European leg of the current Yusuf Islam (formerly known as Cat Stevens) world tour, finding it the perfect opportunity to try out the new Jands Vista v2 software running on his own Vista S3 lighting console.

Regarded as one of the world’s greatest singer-songwriters, this tour marked Yusuf’s high profile return to performing in Europe for the first time in 36 years.

Derek invested in his Vista S3 desk for a Cliff Richard & The Shadows tour about 18 months ago and it hasn’t stopped working since.

“Vista v2 has definitely taken the platform to another level,” enthused Derek, who is impressed with the new software’s power and simplicity. He added “v2 makes it even faster to get a basic show up and running. It’s so quick to create your cues, yet allows you the power to control the details.”

The tour rig featured Martin Professional MAC 700 Profile moving lights in the roof and MAC 2K and 250 Washes on the floor. A Catalyst media server was also triggered from the Vista S3, which fed content to a 60ft wide by 30 high projection surface upstage. The original show design was by Marc Brickman.

Equipment for the European leg of the tour was supplied by leading UK rental company, Lite Alternative.

Recommended to Derek by other lighting design colleagues, he admits to “Falling In love” with the Vista console after finally taking the plunge to look at it, adding “There’s absolutely no going back now.”

“The surface is flexible, small and highly portable,” he declares, explaining that his Vista S3 has been flightcased so it can travel as standard baggage on a plane, weighing less than 32 Kgs, while the laptops (main and backup) that run it travel with him as cabin baggage. This makes it practical and affordable to take his own console to one-offs both in Europe and further afield, so he always has his desk of choice to deliver the best looking shows to his clients.

Derek has found the worldwide support and general responsiveness of the Jands team really good, “They will actually listen to your ideas and feed back and come up with real solutions to help achieve what you need,” he confirms.

Vista v2 was designed from the ground up to allow all levels of user to get the most from whatever mix of technology they have available, whether lighting, LED, or media. Available in a wide range of hardware, Vista v2 offers both the simplicity to work fast, with the power to control the finest details, so everyone can focus on creating a great looking show rather than on programming a desk.

Jands Europe’s Neil Vann adds: “Derek’s shows always look fantastic, and this tour is no exception. We are proud to be able to give him a way to help realise both his and his clients’ creative ideas.”

All photos ©Derek Jones