LD Juanjo Llorens praises fixture versatility on Spanish touring theatre production

Despite the onrush of new products into the marketplace, it was nevertheless to a classic award-winning touring standard from GLP that Spanish lighting designer Juanjo Llorens recently reverted.

Internationally recognised in the field of performing arts (with prestigious awards of his own), Llorens turned to the impression X4 Bar 20 when designing the lighting, bearing in mind that the scenery of the new touring production of Para La Libertad (by Okapi Productions) started from a large background wall. This recreates on stage the life and work of Alicante poet Miguel Hernandez, who died in a Franco prison in the Spanish Civil War, and features the songs of Spanish musical maestro Joan Manuel Serrat, who set the poems to music. The show is further brought to life by the versatility of GLP impression X4 Bar 20 battens.

The lighting designer could see immediately how they could add dynamics and variation to the production, sensing the possibility of being able to convert the Bar into several different devices, achieving pixel by pixel control, and making full use of it, along with tilt and zoom. “It offers thousands of possibilities, from a curtain to simply illuminating a face or a hand with a single pixel, with the help of the zoom,” he exclaims.

“From the first moment, it became clear to me that in a variety of modes these Bars would become the lighting designer’s greatest friend!”

The presence of a wall within the scenography allowed him to play with the versatility of the Bar. Llorens created a wall washer and at the same time, used the tilt movement to create the general backlight. “When I wanted to bypass the wall the versatility of the scenic projection provided the dramatisation required. The ability to use the 20 LEDs in each Bar gave me that versatility, together with the tilt, to create different spaces where I could develop the scenes.”

In particular, Llorens highlights the fixture’s smoothness of mechanical movement through its transitions, from its zoom to its tilt function: “They responded very well to both the control of the intensity and the speed of the movement itself.”

Juanjo Llorens was already entirely familiar with GLP’s exceptional design and build quality. “I have been working with GLP lighting since the first appearance of the impression X4 Series,” he says. “The entire range is fabulous, starting with the tiny impression X4 S, which is great for spaces where you need to hide the source but at the same time have versatility. It is also easy to combine the different models in the X4 Series.”

On this production the lighting, which was supplied by rental company Spike Light & Sound, was programmed by Ruben Franco, with the impression X4 Bar 20s in Single Pixel High Resolution (SPixH) mode.

In summary, Juanjo Llorens is clear why the X4 Bar 20 is proving such a differentiator on this tour. In conclusion, he says: “I don't think there is another fixture that would give me the same versatility to light that immense wall in its entirety. By using the different zoom apertures and playing with the tilt I could create the necessary backlight base, without any other type of device. The impression X4 Bar 20 was a wonderful ally which enabled me to tell the story in a theatrical way at all times.”

Starting with its premiere in May 2024 at the Palacio Valdés theatre in Avilés, the production has toured several Spanish cities. It will undertake a season in Madrid at the Marquina Theatre before going back on tour.