Bruno Poet uses over 100 GLP impression X5 Wash, X5 Compact, X5 IP Bars and JDC1 on West End show

When the highly anticipated stage version of the blockbuster film The Devil Wears Prada debuted in Chicago in the summer of 2022, it was to mixed reviews.

Paule Constable, who lit the show in Chicago, had praised GLP’s then newly launched impression X5 washlight. And when equally acclaimed, multi- disciplined LD Bruno Poet took over the reins in the UK, he went even further – specifying around 120 GLP fixtures across the entire impression X5 Series, punctuated by JDC1 hybrid strobes.

Poet has been a devotee of GLP’s LED solutions for a number of years, making expansive use of their X4 Series, notably the award-winning Bars (on the highly-acclaimed Sigur Rós tour and Tina: The Musical). He used the impression X4 washes again on The Devil Wears Prada’s pre-West End warm-up shows in Plymouth. However, he was keen to upgrade these to the impression X5 Compacts for the West End and managed to persuade vendor PRG to invest in the new units (with 69 X5 Compact replacing the earlier X4). “The X5 Compacts have more punch and I like the fact that the entire X5 Series has the lime chip, so that the colours I missed with the X4 are now completely possible. It’s made a huge difference,” he says. Finally, and equally importantly, the absence of loud fan noise, so often present on other LED heads, made the X5 Compact a game- changer and underlined the necessity, even in musicals, for scripted dialogue to be heard, the LD adds: “There are spoken scenes and also quiet moments in music, and what you don’t want is for the quiet moments to be filled with the sound of 80 moving lights.”

Also in the LD’s team are Max NaruThe GLP fixtures are pretty crucial to the overall dynamic,” Bruno Poet concludes. “I must say, I like GLP’s new products, and between the X5 Compacts, X5 standard washes, JDC1s and the X5 IP Bars we’ve made pretty comprehensive use.”

Also in the LD’s team are Max Narula (programmer), Tamykha Patterson (associate lighting designer) and Ian Moulds and Sam House (production electricians), brilliantly supported by Stuart Plume and his team at the Dominion.

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