Knifedge Video Projections To Feature In Edinburgh Festival’s Headline Opera

This epic production from St Petersburg’s renowned Mariinsky Opera is masterminded by two British artists, Stage Director Jonathan Kent and Production Designer Paul Brown. The play contrasts an imaginative spirit world with the stark reality of human existence.

Dunn’s video designs are key elements in evoking the mystery and beauty of the spirit world. From a technical perspective, the rig consists of one 20K Christie front of house projector and four on-stage Barco DML 1200 moving head projectors. The show, originally plotted on a Grand MA and run on the Catalyst media server, has been re-plotted onto the Mariinsky’s proprietary media server, designed as a powerful but lightweight touring solution. Surfaces include gauze, scenic objects, painted floors and backdrops, frequently combining to give the effect that the projection is floating in mid-air around the soloists.

'Die Frau Ohne Schatten' opens on 1st September at The Festival Theatre, and has already been voted one of the top shows to see at this year’s festival by The Times and The Evening Standard. Earlier this year, the production won two Golden Mask Awards – Russia’s highest theatre awards and the country’s equivalent of The Tony’s.

The show, which premiered in 2009, was the first of two Mariinsky operas for which Dunn has created projection designs. She has just returned from Russia having worked on the premiere of Benjamin Brittan’s ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ at the theatre in July. Conducted by Valery Gergiev and directed by Claudia Solti, the opera received widespread critical acclaim.

Here, Dunn’s work involved integrating projection with Isabella Bywater’s magical scenic design comprised entirely of mirrored and semi-transparent surfaces, complimented by Jennifer Scriver’s lighting design and a number of acrobatic sequences. This time, her rig consisted of two Barco DML 1200s. This allowed a great deal of flexibility in the focus whilst also providing just the right throw levels of light for the space and surfaces involved.

“There’s a magical quality you can create with live integrated video projections that no other medium can match,” said Dunn. “But to work effectively, it’s essential that video is seamlessly integrated with the lighting and scenic design so that it enriches the visual experience, but never dominates it.  It’s not a medium that will suit every show - and not one that should be overused.  But in the right place, at the right time, it can add whole new dimensions to productions.”

On both productions, Nina worked with Knifedge’s team of 2D and 2D animators and camera crew to generate unique material conceived especially for the shows.

Alongside fellow Knifedge Creative Director Timothy Bird of Sunday in the Park with George fame, Dunn is fast becoming recognised as one of the leading experts in theatre and opera projection design around the world.  In addition to her most recent Mariinsky production, this year alone she has already designed video projections for Ibsen’s Emperor and Galilean at The National Theatre, a European theatre tour of The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Northern Ballet’s production of Cleopatra.