062 VENUE
SOLDIER OF ORANGE
THERE IS A CERTAIN RESPONSIBILITY THAT COMES WITH HANDLING A STORY LIKE SOLDIER OF ORANGE, BUT CLEARLY THE PEOPLE BEHIND THE SHOW PRODUCTION OF THE FAMOUS DUTCH STORY ARE NOT AVERSE TO A CHALLENGE. IN FACT, THEY SEEM TO THRIVE ON THEM.
Katwijk, the netherlands EUROPE/MIDDLE EAST/AFRICA
Though it may not be well known to those outside The Netherlands, Soldaat van Oranje (Soldier of Orange) is a story ingrained in the national Dutch psyche. It is a fact-based story written by one of its characters, Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema, who was part of a group of students torn apart by allegiant differences following the German invasion in 1939. As resistor or collaborator, each character follows a different path and each plays a different role in the war. Its historical significance, the tragedy, drama and emotion of the story, and a fa- miliarity that is maintained by the 1979 movie version which regularly appears on Dutch television, cements its place in Dutch culture. When New Productions B.V decided to turn Soldier of Orange into a musical theatre production, it knew that there was an appetite for the story, but it also knew that it would need to produce something spectacular to capture the paying public’s imagination and make it commercially viable. Through an ambitious production that incorpo- rates a revolving stage, unique audio set-up and cutting-edge visual elements, the company has delivered just that.
Soldier of Orange is set in Katwijk, in an old military aircraft hangar that was used during World War II, which provides a unique and fitting setting for the story. Most of the play is set inside the hangar, where the evolving stage configuration creates spaces ranging from an intimate bedroom to an expansive beachfront. During one part of the show the hangar doors open to show an authentic World War II plane taxiing on the runway outside. This is no ordinary theatre production.
Positioned in the centre of the revolve, the audience turns through more than 1,440° (over four times) during the performance. Blank- ing panels measuring approximately 20 metres across are used as blinkers on either side of the stage, their positions determining the width of each scene. This varies from a fairly standard stage size to a performance area spanning 60 metres for the climatic beach scene. On occasion, the panels close to create a projection screen. New Productions B.V and Producer Robin de Levita approached video designer Peter Wilms with a determinant concept, but with
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working parameters that allowed creative autonomy. The challenge may have been a little daunting, mainly because of the stage Peter entered the production process, but his wealth of experience in sce- nic projection design equipped him handsomely to thrive in the role. “The challenge was enormous. We go from archive stills from the Im- perial War Museum collection right up to CGI techniques, which are used for things like an aerial view of the bombing of Rotterdam, and also of Berlin. It’s nice to be able to go from some black and white film to beyond HD graphics,” revealed Peter. He called on the services of UK audiovisual company Blitz Com- munications, asking the company to specify the visual infrastructure necessary for delivering the proposed projection story. Blitz’s Manag- ing Director, Paul Hutton, admitted that when he first heard about the project, he had some initial concerns. “To begin with, we thought it was a little bit ambitious because the in- formation that came to us was that is was to be a musical, in Dutch, for 1,150 people each night, on the coast, outside Amsterdam and it was going to run for a year,” said Paul. “When we saw the invest- ment they were making with the revolve, the build and everything else that was going into it, we thought ‘well these guys wouldn’t invest all of this if there was a chance this was only going to run for three months’.”
The investment included a sizeable stock of projection equipment, which was supplied and installed by Blitz Communications, with assistance from EML Productions. Six Panasonic PT-DZ12000E projectors are part of the revolve, fixed to the ‘doughnut’ positioned over the seating, and are used throughout the show. Each fixture weighs 35kg, which, along with the compact design, means it is installation-friendly. Native WUXGA (1920 x 1200) resolution means full HD can be achieved over large screen platforms. And, as Paul explained, they are sensitive to the performance. “We had Panason- ics on our fleet. They needed projectors above the audience that were going to be quiet. We did a number of tests and the Panasonics came up with the right level of brightness and also they are quiet, which was important.” For the final beach scene, which depicts the bombing of Rotterdam, a wave machine motions real water towards a beach, before a pro- jected backdrop. It all links seamlessly.
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