GLP X5 Dot illuminates world premiere of Paddington

One of the UK’s leading theatre LDs, Neil Austin, has provided the inspiration for a new breakthrough GLP theatre light. For so long, theatre and architectural lighting designers have sought a perfect LED replacement for the classic miniature MR16 “Birdie” spotlight, which has proved so popular as a footlight solution and concealed stage set fixture down the years.

Austin now believes that all technical parameters have now been met and are manifest in the new GLP X5 Dot. He has deployed 14 of the X5 Dot Wash field test fixtures, two concealed in each of seven footlight shells, on London’s latest West End hit, Paddington: The Musical. So confident are vendors White Light that the X5 Dot Wash light will revolutionize theatre lighting design that WL Technical Director, Dave Isherwood, unhesitatingly committed to the purchase.

Austin and GLP USA Director, Mark Ravenhill, first started discussing the possibility of a small, low cost, yet powerful unit that would be an exact replacement for the Birdie back in 2018. But it took a seven‐year gestation period to “perfect everything that we needed until the technology caught up,” according to Ravenhill. This included incorporating the renowned X5 colour‐ mixing system, with red, green, blue and lime elements that calibrate exactly to every other X5 Series fixture; inbuilt zoom; full‐range smooth dimming; and a fan‐free, convection‐cooled IP65 housing – all of which match the Birdie form factor precisely. The X5 Dot will even take MR16 accessory items on the front, like barndoors, as well.

Ravenhill remarked, “We worked with these IP65‐rated prototypes, running at around 15 watts, offering perfect colour mixing and an integral zoom lens that shifts from 16° to 43° without changing the unit’s length, all designed to meet Neil’s requirements. They’re bright, precise and ideal behind the footlight shells.”

In conclusion, Austin adds, “There are few companies in the industry who would agree to develop a new item for a small production run like this, but we just have this history of doing small scale projects with GLP. Mark is always willing to take the chance where it pushes GLP in a new direction … and is prepared to listen to a crazy lighting designer!”

www.glp.de

Photos © Johan Persson