Grease: The Immersive Movie Musical - Howard Hudson deploys zactrack PRO
- bolhar
- Nov 14
- 6 min read
Ambersphere recently had the chance to visit Grease: The Immersive Movie Musical to see how lighting designer Howard Hudson and his team used zactrack PRO and grandMA3 to bring this ambitious production to life. Set across a vast 50,000-square-metre space, the show blends film, live theatre, and audience interaction in a truly immersive way.
Grease: The Immersive Movie Musical—produced by Secret Cinema (in partnership with TodayTix)—ran from 1 August to 7 September 2025 at Evolution London, Battersea Park in London. The production featured a 30-strong cast, multiple immersive performance zones, live music, themed food and drink, and invited audiences to step into the world of Grease. In an interview, Lighting Designer Howard Hudson shared how zactrack’s tracking technology and MA’s powerful control made it possible to light such a complex environment with precision and creativity.
Can you introduce yourself and your career?
Howard: I've been working as a lighting designer coming up to 20 years now I work across theatre and opera in the UK and internationally. Highlights include the worldwide production of & Juliet, which is currently playing on Broadway, US Tour and Germany, for which I received Tony Award and Olivier nominations. I was also nominated for two Oliviers last year for the new production of Starlight Express, currently playing in Wembley, and for Natasha Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812, which ran at the Donmar last year.
What was your inspiration when lighting the production of Grease The Immersive Movie Musical?
Howard: We knew this production of Grease was going to break the rules of what a more 'traditional' show might be, and we also knew that we'd be developing a new immersive theatre language where the blend between film, live theatre, and audience participation would be rethought and reinvented. So we found ourselves drawing on all our experience at lighting more traditional musicals, but also knew we had to light a vast space and environment for the whole evening with multiple events happening at once alongside the film. The space was broken down into areas and zones so I thought of the design as sort of layers of light - scenic dressing and set electrics, access and audience light, air work, and then the most important of them all which was how to light the company cleanly and precisely with the dynamism you'd expect from a West End show.
What initially drew you to zactrack for Grease: The Immersive Movie Musical?
Howard: Because we were dealing with such a wide and low space, all 50,000 square metres of it, and a very low rig, we knew that a traditional followspot option wasn't going to be possible. The directing and choreography team wanted the acting company to be able to use the whole space and move throughout it, and so zactrack PRO was the perfect solution to be able to follow our company around. We were able to highlight moments which might be more subtle accents of light, but then also for moments where we really wanted the principles to pop out from the surroundings.
Can you talk a little about how you've used zactrack for this immersive show?
Howard: I've previously used zactrack on Starlight Express, where in a similar way to this, there really wouldn't have been a way to light the show without it. It became an intrinsic part of the lighting design for both productions. For Grease: The Immersive Movie Musical, each of the company had two Trackers, with those in wigs wearing one, and 18 Anchors arranged around the space.
Did the automation of tracking open up new creative possibilities in your use of followspots or dynamic lighting effects?
Howard: There's a great moment in the show where a bed with cast members on travels around the space through the audiences. And, we had a sequence of cues whereby as the bed arrives into certain positions lit by one of the system of lights with zactrack, we'd hand off to another system, and then another system, and another. And so, throughout its journey we were able to light the company from the best angles - keeping off the film screens and scenery - in a way that you'd need 24 followspot operators if thinking in a more traditional sense!
How have the cast and crew responded to working with zactrack? And how much involvement was there with the wider creative team to integrate it into the show?
Howard: Sound designer Gareth Fry and his sound team also used zactrack throughout to send the sound around the space as the company move around. There was a moment in tech where a section of the show was restaged to a different area and neither sound or lighting really had to change much because the system automatically sent our lights to the right place and Gareth's sound there as well! So it certainly saved us lots of work and cues at times. Getting into the routine of making sure Trackers are in and secure is always a challenge but if you tell an actor they're not lit without wearing them they'll be able to make sure they're in after learning the hard way.
What advice would you give to another designer considering zactrack PRO for a similar immersive experience like this?
Howard: I would say that making sure the groundwork of having the Anchors well calibrated and rigged in the best places, and then well secured Trackers (which relies on good collaboration across many departments) saves a huge amount of time going forward. It's worth investing that time at the start as it proves itself later. Changing one small - and what you might not consider to be important - aspect of the physical setup can improve the whole experience hugely. Patience is key with something so intricate and precise. Also having out brilliant programmer Max Narula on the show and his vast knowledge of system and experience with it was invaluable. So I'd say try to book Max.
We understand this is your first time using MA for something like this, how has your experience been? Howard: I've used the MA on more traditional musicals in the past, but this was my first time on a production such as this. We had a huge number of zones and multiple synchronous events happening on top of controlling the kilometres of pixel tape built into the set, the vast moving light and conventional rig compromising around 1200 lighting fixtures and the large atmospheric and environmental rig. It was a good opportunity to work with the new software and get to learn its ins and outs knowing its huge success across Europe and having several productions myself planned there soon.
What is your top grandMA3 feature and why?
Howard: One of my favourite aspects is definitely the visual display of time coded cues. A large amount of the show was run this way and as a designer being able to see that time line graphically was great. Rather than seeing a clock tick with lots of numbers.
Who else was involved with the lighting?
Howard: The army of production electricians headed up by Tom Johnson, Oli Thomas and Jacob Edmonds. My brilliant team of associate Hector Murray and programmer Max Narula. Dan Large at Electric Foundry for all the excellent set electrics and Tom Mowat and the whole Encore team for supplying.
Read the original interview: https://www.ambersphere.com/news/qa-with-howard-hudson/
