The annual outdoor Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour runs for four weeks in the Botanical Gardens every March/April. With the Opera House, Harbour Bridge, and city skyline as backdrops, it’s a spectacular setting that wows the audience but can strike fear in the creatives and crew with unpredictable weather, pre-established rigging positions, and even wayward wildlife.

“It’s a difficult site to work on because access is tricky, so rigging is time-consuming, and the weather is very variable,” commented Bruno Poet, lighting designer for the production. “Sometimes it’s incredibly hot and challenging to work, and sometimes very rainy and windy, which is just as tricky. But James Harling and the Chameleon Touring crew were utterly fantastic.
 

“The other tricky thing is that they had to install all the set electrics on site rather than in a workshop with a controlled environment. You’re working outdoors on a raked stage, and everything takes longer than expected.”
 

2025 saw a brand-new production of the Broadway classic musical Guys & Dolls brought to life on a raked, larger-than-life set by designer Brian Thomson. The set unfolded throughout the night, including the giant centrepiece New York City yellow taxi, which transformed into various scenes throughout the show.
 

In a delightful twist, the Opera Australia Orchestra was released from their usual subterranean location below the stage, putting them on display in a purpose-built, fully enclosed sky-deck for the first time in the event’s 14-year history.

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This orchestral sky-deck immediately drew the attention of Poet, who began the position of lighting designer once the set design was well underway.
 

“The scaffolding structure at the back was an excellent opportunity for significant backlight positions,” he commented. “Working out where to rig lights is quite limited on site because they’ve built various structures over the years, and you have to fit into that. There are two high-side towers, which do most of the performer lighting, and towers out front, which are useful for followspots and front wash.”
 

With those positions set, Poet concentrated on integrating lighting into the set at the back and side of the stage. With the orchestra behind a gauze, his job was to make it so you could see through it at times, but other times not, such as when there was a lot of dialogue to avoid pulling focus. Martin MAC Auras lit the orchestra and music stands from within.
 

“It was fun, and the arrow itself gave me a lot of opportunities to put colour into that area of the set,” Poet added. “We also placed addressable light bulbs around the outside of the arrow set piece and hidden LED neon to light the gauze, giving shadow outlines. Above the orchestra, we had a large lighting truss with a lot of backlight, which allowed me to create sculptural beams from Elation Proteus Brutus through the haze and to colour wash the stage.”

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Joining the Proteus Brutus was a single Robe iForte LTX placed in the centre, and Poet comments that it was helpful because having that on the centerline with shutters meant that he could do precise backlight while the Brutus did big washes. Across the top and at the sides was an array of Chauvet Color Strike Ms in a line.
 

“We used them partly for a visual look to be bold and architectural, so we could just do glows of colour around the set,” explained Poet. “But also, it was great to have strobes for the uptempo numbers. In addition, as the whole set is so geometrical, I wanted something more chaotic and random, so we added Chauvet Strike 1s in a scattered formation used for several moments in the show. Then also in that structure below the orchestra, we had a light curtain of Chauvet COLORado PXL Bar 16 to create a long, low backlight angle.”
 

Under the structure, where the taxi parks, were generic wash lights to light up the scaffolding underneath and on the floor, right at the back, were four more Brutus to light through the scaffolding.

Two angled pieces of wall scenery that travel diagonally up and down the stage reside in the corners of the stage, upstage left and right. They come down towards the centre of the stage for various themes. On top of each wall are eight MAC Aura XIPs, which Poet could use in whatever orientation the walls were.
 

“They were essential for the whole show because they gave us a nice way of closing down and making the performance more intimate,” remarked Poet. “When the walls came forward, we could use the Aura XIPs as a backlight to frame the action. And when those walls are right at the back, they deliver a nice architectural glow.”
 

On the floor, on either side of the stage, were Ayrton Perseo Profile S fixtures used mainly for the big dance numbers because they were great for strong side light angles. They allowed Poet to light the performers without hitting the floor so that he could highlight them against the bright yellow artwork on the floor.
 

At the very front of the stage was a row of ACME Pixel Lines for footlights, which were used again mainly for the dance numbers, particularly when the company arrived at the very front. Also at the front, on either side, was a group of four Aura XIPs, again used as a footlight angle.

“They were super useful and I used them a lot more in reality than I’d imagined,” added Poet. “They did a lot of work lighting the ensemble faces downstage.”
 

Three towers holding Ayrton Domino LTs and Robe iForte LTX followspots were out front. At the side of the stage, there are ‘goal posts’ with trusses running up and down the stage. These housed a variety of fixtures, including a Robe iForte LTX on each side, more Ayrton Perseos on the upstage half of those ladders, and a mix of Perseos Domino LTs on the downstage half.
 

Poet utilised forty Astera AX3s that the cast discreetly placed on the stage for three numbers. Poet says they were instrumental in transforming the New York street painted on the stage floor. Combined with the Color Strike 1s at the back of the set, the AX3s created a starry sky effect.
 

“We had a bunch of Astera Titan Tubes inside the taxi to do the internal lighting,” he continued. “We also had them in the flying dice to give it a slightly different graphic look.”
 

Darcy Cook of Tourlights programmed the show with Poet using his own MA Lighting MA3 console. The pair spent five days doing Previs in Depence while the cast rehearsed.
 

“While they rehearsed, we had a little room upstairs, and pre-programmed a lot of the show offline,” clarified Poet. “I could watch a run-through downstairs, then return to Darcy. It meant we had something to edit when we got on stage, rather than starting from scratch. We had minimal programming time, so it made a huge difference. Darcy was excellent and made the entire process smooth.”
 

Photos: Hamilton Lund

This article first appeared in the July edition of Lighting & Sound International magazine.

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