Formed at the turn of the millennium, with the aim of providing lighting and production services to the theatre and events industry, Edinburgh-based Blue Parrot has enjoyed a long association with Martin lighting over the years. This has taken them from MAC 500’s and 600’s right through to today’s Auras and Vipers.
As their own theatre work increased, with MD Jonnie Clough himself a theatre lighting designer in his own right, the love affair continued, and just over a year ago the company invested in 12 Martin MAC Encore Performance WRM moving heads specifically for a Christmas show at the local Royal Lyceum Theatre.
Of their purchasing decision at the time Clough said: “It was our success with the Viper Performance that gave us the faith and confidence to invest in the Warm White Encores. I was impressed with the demo and we ordered them even before they were available.
“However,” he continued, “as a sales company we have also sold some Cold White (CLD) fixtures and I love those equally. The return on investment with the MAC Encore Performances has been higher than any other fixture we’ve stocked, with a lot of these specced on our own shows.”
He says the timing of the latest acquisition, an initial batch of Martin MAC Encore Wash WRM from Sound Technology Ltd, the Martin by Harman UK distributor, couldn’t have been better, and reflects their growing theatre production work. He added that it will be a natural replacement from the now obsolete Martin MAC TW1 (tungsten wash).
“These will complement our existing stock of MAC Encore Performance WRM, further widening our stock of intelligent fixtures highly suited to the theatrical industry, whilst also being great for use on live events and TV,” he stated.
The Martin MAC Encore Wash WRM is designed to produce rich colour and premium white light in a wide variety of applications where light quality is critical, and is a perfect, LED-based replacement for the MAC TW1. The soft edge moving head offers unparalleled 3000 K warm tungsten emulation that challenges the output quality of an incandescent light source, and doubles as a replacement for tungsten based Fresnel generics, with the additional benefit of colour mixing and movement.
In conclusion, Clough said: “For theatrical work, it always tends to be Martin that is specified. We are now filling a gap in our rental stock and these will be a welcome addition.”
The new fixtures are expected to go straight out to venues across Scotland for various Pantos and Christmas productions.
