Martin Professional’s revolutionary MAC Viper XIP lighting fixtures made their debut theatrical performance at this year’s Shakespeare in the Park Singapore, bringing a bold and atmospheric visual dimension to the critically acclaimed production of Macbeth. Held under the stars at Fort Canning Green, the event marked a milestone in outdoor theatrical lighting with the debut of Martin’s next-generation weatherproof moving head fixtures in a major Southeast Asian theatrical production.

Presented by Singapore Repertory Theatre, Macbeth ran more than 20 performances between May 7 and June 1, 2025. The production drew thousands of attendees over its run, reaffirming Shakespeare in the Park’s status as a cultural highlight in Singapore’s arts calendar.

This isn’t Martin’s first foray into Shakespeare in the Park. In the 2024 production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, lighting designer Gabriel Chan selected Martin MAC Ultra fixtures to bring the whimsical world of the play to life. That successful collaboration laid the groundwork for this year’s bold and technically demanding lighting design.

The MAC Viper XIP, renowned for its high-output 28,000-lumen performance and Martin’s proprietary XIP smart weatherproofing technology, proved to be the ideal choice for the open-air setting. With Singapore’s unpredictable tropical climate, the production team required fixtures that could withstand humidity and rain without compromising on output or precision. The Viper XIP delivered on all fronts—offering razor-sharp gobo projections, whisper-quiet operation, and a crisp 5800K color temperature that enhanced the haunting mood of the Scottish tragedy.

“The art of theatrical lighting extends far beyond illumination—it must harmonize seamlessly with sound, movement, and the emotional rhythm of the cast,” said Gabriel Chan, the show’s Lighting Designer. “In an open-air venue like Fort Canning Park, where the stage sits at the heart of a natural landscape, we face the added challenge of not having the structural flexibility of a traditional theatre. Without flown trussing, every lighting position must be carefully negotiated, making precision and adaptability absolutely essential.”

Gabriel Chan’s passion for theatre lighting began in his schoolboy years, when he volunteered to operate lighting fixtures for school performances. After graduating from the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, he began his professional career as a lighting designer in 2010. This year’s production of Macbeth marks Gabriel’s eighth stint with Shakespeare in the Park Singapore, a testament to his enduring creative vision and technical mastery. For the first three productions, he worked as an associate lighting designer Rick Fisher and then took over the reins in 2015 during the staging of The Tempest. 

Co-lighting designer Genevieve Peck added: “For this production, the Martin MAC Viper XIP stood out as our key fixture due to its weatherproofing capabilities which were crucial for our needs as an outdoor show that had to withstand heavy rain, intense sun, and high humidity. The fixture delivers rich colours, with reviews noting that the lighting design helped ‘conjure an atmosphere of raw, oppressive heat.’ I was also particularly impressed by the speed and precision of the frame shutters, which allowed us to create a very narrow shaft of light that could slide open and shut rapidly, effectively visualizing the act of drawing a sword.”

The production utilized a total of 46 Martin MAC Viper XIP units, supplied by Mediapix Pte Ltd. The fixtures’ fast zoom, high-resolution dimming, and advanced gobo capabilities enabled dynamic transitions between scenes, from eerie fog-drenched battlefields to intimate soliloquies under moonlight. There were also intricately staged split scenes, where the lead actor delivered his monologues in a tightly sculpted beam of light, while the ensemble continued their performance in the background, creating a layered visual narrative that demanded precise lighting control and spatial separation.

“Martin Professional, a HARMAN brand, continues to redefine the boundaries of lighting technology with the MAC Viper XIP, setting a new standard for outdoor theatrical productions worldwide,” affirms Hanslee Lim, Director for Lighting, HARMAN Professional APAC.