Peeru Gunto at CU

Ibsen Goes Kabuki with NEXERA

The recent production of Peeru Gunto at the University of Colorado in Boulder displayed a magical array of Kabuki-style surprises, beautifully lit with Wybron Nexera lighting. Much to the delight of audiences, the Ibsen adaptation featured colorful costumes, Japanese instruments, singing, dancing, puppets and more.

Peeru Gunto is a variation of Peer Gynt, by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, which explores the question, "What does it mean to 'find' oneself?" While Ibsen's original 1867 version is steeped in Norwegian folklore, Peeru Gunto is based on Japanese themes, giving the strange journey an alluring quality.

The play was adapted and directed by Dr. Cecilia J. Pang, known for the critically acclaimed Alice in Wonderland -- Or Not! Pang, who studied the Kabuki style of theatre in Japan, introduces cultural themes in the form of vibrant costumes and colorful scenery representing locales from Japan to the American Wild West.

The superhuman-sized, spectacularly lavish style of Japanese Kabuki theatre required imaginative stage lighting. Robert J. Shannon, Senior Instructor and Lighting Supervisor at CU's Department of Theatre & Dance, explains his choice of Wybron Nexeras to compliment the rich hues of the costumes and the variety of scenery.

"I decided to light the show in the manner of a dance production, except that I did not have good positions available for low angle sidelight. But I gave myself total control of my top, highside, and front washes, using a channel-per-light hook-up. The final piece of the puzzle, however, was the Nexera washlights. I instantly had bright, soft edged, re-focusable, color-changing units, which gave me exactly the flexibility I needed for this 36-scene, 2 act production.

"About 3 weeks before the show opened, the number of painted drops in the show was going down from 7 to 3. I was asked to do something with our light gray leno filled scrim to make the missing drops not so missed. The answer for me was to mount 3 Nexera Profile lamps in the only position available that would not cast the actor's shadows onto the scrim, load them with a template, and "paint" the scrim. The beautiful rich color provided by the Nexeras enabled me to give each of those scenes with the missing drops a unique look. It frankly just would not have happened if I had not had those units.

"In the end, my choices and the Nexeras superior brightness and rich colors pulled it all off for us. Ms. Pang's comment to me on the 2nd week of the run summed it up; she called the lighting in many of the scenes "exquisite", and I agreed."

The combination of Pang's creative adaptation and Shannon's artistic stage lighting gave new life to a classic tale. To learn more about the University of Colorado Department of Theatre & Dance, including current and upcoming performances, visit www.colorado.edu/TheatreDance.

*Photos by Steven McDonald