What Others Are Saying

The #SaveStageLighting campaign has received a large amount of press coverage.  Here is a selection. Click the red text to link to original article.

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Press and Media Coverage

 

The Stage

Michael Grandage has become the latest high-profile figure to condemn proposed regulations that threaten the future of stage lighting, calling for the industry to be more “vociferous” about the issue.

‘Industry needs to be vociferous about proposed EU lighting laws’    News Story 17th May 2018

 

It’s alarming how few people, companies and organisations had noticed, and might still not have noticed, if it hadn’t been for three articles in The Stage and a lot of rabble-rousing by the ALD. When all of this calms down, we need an industry-wide discussion about how we get a better ‘red alert’ system in place.

EU lighting to-do is about much more than what goes on backstage  Rob Halliday column 15th May 2018

 

A solution must be found as the financial contribution of the arts to the European economy is enormous, as well as one of its great artistic achievements.

Cameron Mackintosh calls for urgent solution to EU lighting rule    News story 9th May 2018

 

The proposed new EU Ecodesign regulations, expected to come into force from September 1, 2020, will severely affect the equipment available for stage lighting. In doing so, the changes will dramatically affect the way lighting for performances is created, and will impact heavily on performing arts organisations and other venues, from major commercial West End theatre to venues throughout the UK, to school and village halls, some of which may be forced to close. UK Theatre and SOLT Statement

EU lighting rule ‘will cost UK theatres £1bn’     News Story 8th May 2018

 

Without the right tools, I can only give you a very crude, very bland show. A show without the liquid magic of how light can transform a stage, the fading and the dimming, the subliminal receding and the dramatic piercing. We need the tools to create the pictures that the audience has come to expect, that takes them on the journey of the show, that moves them. Otherwise our world will be a much darker place.

Paule Constable: The prospect of theatres literally going dark is real    Opinion Column 26th April 2018

 

This is not just a problem for those who work in lighting. It is a problem for actors, directors, stage managers, producers – anyone who works in theatre or likes watching theatre.

The lamps are going out all over Europe                                         Editorial 19th April 2018

 

While no existing tungsten fixtures meet the proposed energy-efficiency requirements, it turns out that many of the LED fixtures – which have finally provided a good-quality, workable alternative – don’t meet these standards either. Products that don’t meet the standards can’t be sold after September 2020; once stocks are gone, they’re gone.

EU lighting changes threaten the entire theatre industry           Rob Halliday column 17th April 2018

 

"Great lighting is an essential part of a brilliant production, and everyone who works in theatre wants one thing: excellence on stage. This legislation is rooted in a good desire to reduce power usage, and I believe that it was never intended to destroy artistic greatness." Nica Burns - Nimax Theatres co-owner

Theatres face shock £180m bill under EU lighting proposals    News Story 17th April 2018

 

 

The Guardian

 

If, in 18 months, such equipment were to be invented – an aim apparently pushing beyond the boundaries of physics today – it would certainly cost as much as five to 10 times the equipment it replaces. This is, therefore, a potential financial disaster at best, and an artistic and practical catastrophe for every theatre in the land.

EU rule could leave theatres dark​                                          Richard Pilbrow - Letters to the Editor 29th April 2018 

 

Lighting in shows helps to convey emotion, drama and energy and while the artist is always at the centre of what we do, performing in the O2 in the stark light of the cleaners’ work lights will not quite offer audiences the same exciting experience.

EU rules mean it’ll be lights out for acts like Beyoncé      Tim Routledge - Letters to the Editor 30th April 2018

 

There are also the ramifications on the people whose livelihoods this will directly impact. The diverse nature of the industry makes it hard to put a number to the jobs at risk, but it is several thousand in the UK alone.

Don’t let the EU turn out the show lights                              Bryan Raven - Letters to the Editor 4th May 2018

 

Also helping to steer the action is the great lighting designer Paule Constable. She lent War Horse its spectral quality as well as warmth; here she supplies both family glow and the eerie arrival of shades from another world, easing an audience silently into the unexpected. Last week she warned that her profession was under threat from new EU regulations banning out-of-date theatre lights. Her alarm cry is one of the best pieces of theatre writing around.

Theatre Critic Susannah Clapp - Observer review of Nine Nights at National Theatre

 

Radio

5 minute report - BBC World At One 4th May 2018 (from 29:30)                                                        BBC iPlayer until 3rd June 2018

Patrick Woodroffe on Anneka Rice's Radio 2 Programme 26th April 2018 (from 1:25:00)          BBC iPlayer until 25th May 2018

Stage Lighting Under Review - BBC Front Row 24th April 2018 (from 8:40)                                 BBC iPlayer

 Paule Constable is Fighting To Save Stage Lighting                                                                     Curtain Call website Podcast

 

Other Outlets

The EU’s new lighting rules are physically impossible for theatres                                  Wired.co.uk  18th May 2018

Leading lighting designers - new rules could end live performance as we know it       Evening Standard 17th May 2018

New EU Lighting Regulations Threaten to Crush Live Events                                         EDMTunes.com 14th May 2018

How new EU rules threaten British theatre                                                                              Dominic Cavendish - The Telegraph 13th May 2018

British theatres under threat from EU plans to ban lighting                                                Sky News 12th May 2018

Industry stands with the #SaveStageLighting campaign at the National Theatre          LSI Magazine 11th May 2018

National Theatre to host open forum discussing costly EU lighting regulations          WhatsOnStage 10th May

Octagon Theatre fights back against EU stage lighting regulations                                 Bolton News 9th May 2018

Dark Times for Theatres Under EU Bulb Rule                                                                   The Times 8th May 2018 - pdf article

To see or not to see: will proposed EU regulations turn UK gigs and theatres dark?   Wiggin LLP Law Firm Insight Article 4th May 2018 

“Gigs will go dark” – Petition launched against EU ‘threat’ to venue lighting               NME.com news story 1st May 2018 

“Catastropic" EU Plans Would Mean Lights Out For Venues                                              IQ Mag News Story 1st May 2018

Halogen and CFLs to be banned in Europe                                                                            Lux Magazine 30th April 2018

#SaveStageLighting!                                                                                                                    Light Sound Journal.com 28th April 2018

Oldham theatres to fight back against EU regulations                                                        Oldham Times 26th April 2018

New EU Regulations Will Have Devastating Consequences on All Stage Lighting      Stage Directions 16th April 2018

ALD launches Campaign to protect ALL UK theatre lighting from EU proposal           Sardines 6th April 2018

Europe’s Theatres In Crisis As Venues Face Going Dark                                                   Mr Carl Woodward Blog 6th April 2018

ALD launches #SaveStageLighting Campaign                                                                      Light & Sound International 5th April 2018

 

Supporting Industry Press Releases

The legislation really threatens everyone in the industry, large opera houses and theatres, arts centres and school halls. No one is unaffected. None of the current repertoire of the Northern Ballet could be recreated in any way close to how they exist now.

                Steve Wilkins, Technical Director at Northern Ballet    Northern Ballet Statement

 

 GoboPlus.com supports #SaveStageLighting              Projection Lights and Staging News 16th May 2018

Stage Electrics meets MEP over Ecodesign                  LSI Magazine 16th May 2018

Defend Our Industry – #SaveStageLighting                    Chauvet Statement 4th May 2018

Theatres Trust supports industry campaign                   Theatres Trust news story 4th May 2018    

PRG Calls For Stage & Studio Exemption!                      PRG XL Video news story 3rd May 2018

An Open Letter From Hampstead's Head of Lighting   Hampstead Theatre Website 30th April 2018

Save Stage Lighting Campaign                                       Equity News Story 24th April 2018

#SaveStageLighting to Save Europe’s Theatres           UK Theatre Blog article 29th March 2018

Comment: Europe’s Venues Face Going Dark               Miro Magazine 18th April 2018

ALD Publishes Guide to 'Devastating' Lighting Regs   Installation International 17th April 2018

ALD Campaign Releases Explanatory Guide                Live Design Magazine 16th April

 

Association of Italian Lighting Designers                       You Tube support video

 

 

Irish Theatre Community You-Tube Support Video