More than 400 LED panels from INFiLED’s DBmk2 Series were used for the recent UK premiere of Muriel’s Wedding the Musical – the stage adaptation of PJ Hogan’s beloved 1994 film – at the Curve Theatre in Leicester, UK.
Designed by Andrzej Goulding, the production – which ran from April 10 to May 10 – blended theatrical storytelling with a playful, modern aesthetic, featuring oversized mobile phone frames, animated graphics and vivid, Australian-inspired visuals. INFiLED says that, to realise Goulding’s creative vision, the technical team needed an LED solution capable of delivering “deep contrast, faithful colour reproduction at low brightness, and seamless integration with the physical set”.
The musical’s dynamic set featured two automated LED sliders (representing smartphone screens) that moved across the stage in time with the action. The modular 500 × 500mm INFiLED panels allowed the video team to create irregular wall shapes tailored to the unique framing requirements of the show.
In total, 412 DBmk2 panels were deployed: a 11m × 7m backwall made up of 308 panels, 56 panels on a downstage automated slider, and 48 panels on an upstage automated slider. All screens were powered by a Disguise EX3+ media server and driven by Brompton SX40 processors with XD distribution, ensuring smooth, responsive performance throughout the run.
Dan Trenchard, video engineer for Muriel’s Wedding, said: “The blacks were deep, the whites were clean, and it just looked great on stage.”
He added: “The challenge is that the darker you make the wall, the worse the colour reproduction can become. For this show, we ran most of the product at about 500 nits. At this lower brightness, we still needed the colour reproduction to be just as accurate as when the screen is at full brightness.”
Working with long-time partners like Stage Sound Services and Brompton – whose 10-bit processing technology complemented the INFiLED displays for broadcast-quality visuals – created a streamlined, stress-free production environment, concludes Trenchard: “LED technology can feel a bit mysterious at first, especially when you’re working with new products. But with INFiLED and Brompton, things are becoming much more user-friendly.”
