Taking Philips Hue From The Home, To The Stage

Hidden away in a warehouse theatre in Sydney’s Inner West, a stage show with a difference is happening. An improvised re-telling of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, the actors switching the scene from romantic to sad to action-packed, the mood entirely driven by the colour of the lighting.

And the colour of the lighting is entirely driven by the audience – via Philips Hue.

Now I’ve got these all over my house. I’ve got them setup via If This Then That recipes and timers to come on when the sunsets, flash when my son needs to get out of bed, and to change to blue when the International Space Station is overhead. And despite coming from an acting background myself, I’d never even thought about them being used like this.

Speaking exclusively to Gizmodo, the director of this unique event let us in on about the role of lighting and colour on stage, and if there is scope for the Hue to be used outside of the home in a professional capacity.

“One of the main components of my work is working with light and colour to create a reaction in the viewer often without knowing what they are reacting to,” Jasmin Tarasin said. “It’s actually one of the key elements to the craft of directing”.

Tarasin said using Hue within the production made the process of achieving variation in colour and intensity “a lot simpler”.

“In most productions you would have a whole lot of lights with coloured gels and a lighting desk,” Tarasin explained. “For this production, we were able to create all of the colours we needed for the play and control it on set through an iPhone”.

The production used a total of 47 hue lights installed in the studio that, at the touch of a button from members of the audience, changed to transform the entire stage and ambiance of the room.

While this was certainly an interesting experiment, Tarasin does believe the Hue should continue to be used in a professional setting – and not just in the theatre.

“Since working on the project our production designer Danny Brustman, who doubles as an interior designer has started think about how she can use the range in her upcoming projects including bars and hotels, offices and shops,” Tarasin revealed.

It definitely opens up the realm of possibility, and left me wondering how other smart “home” devices could be integrated into professional settings.

What do you think? What smart home device would you like to see used out of the home, and how? Let us know in the comments!


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