Lightweight and packing a mighty punch, Lightswitch’s lighting design matched Eddie Izzard’s raucous theatrical style without sacrificing transportability.
Lightweight and packing a mighty punch, Lightswitch’s lighting design matched Eddie Izzard’s raucous theatrical style without sacrificing transportability.
Eddie Izzard is a renowned, world-famous performance artist known for his ever-changing standup comedy routine. His Force Majeure Tour was set to be one of the most ambitious tours yet, hitting all 50 U.S. States and almost 100 countries during its 2012 through 2016 run. Eddie has a raucous, theatrical style and frequently uses improvisation. These unique aspects required a lighting design that would offer the grandiosity of a big set as well as the nimble adaptation to an ever-changing show, all while keeping equipment lightweight for tour transportability.
Lightswitch developed a lighting rig that would have all the capabilities of a really big show, while being contained in a rig that could be set up and programmed by one person within a few hours. Eddie Izzard’s shows are naturally theatrical, with big costume changes and magnificent reveals. We matched his style with a design that provided the perfect complement to the show’s exuberance without sacrificing transportability — including a three-minute light show for his introduction. Our design also needed to be flexible enough to change with the show each night, as Eddie often riffs or makes up new sections throughout. To keep our design easily adaptable, we created slow transitions from one bold look to another over a series of 10-20 minute cues. We even worked with Eddie in different languages when he performed in French, Spanish, German, and Russian, looking for key moments to signal our cues.
A one-person show can be a difficult piece to make continuously entertaining no matter how talented the artist, especially if it lasts several hours like Force Majeure. Our design provided the spectacle to match Eddie’s theatrical style, as well as ever-changing looks to keep the show moving and engaging. This theatrical “set” was the perfect solution for a long tour with tight space and budget restrictions. Our close working relationship with Eddie allowed us to intuitively respond to his cues throughout the improvised performances, matching his comedic timing with supportive lighting moments. Force Majeure was an enormous success and an example of exceptional endurance, reaching audiences across the globe with a performance of unmatched spontaneity and delight.
