CHINA: Moored in history yet reborn for a new cultural era, the Ming Hua — originally launched in 1962 as a French luxury liner and later acquired by China in 1973 — has re-emerged as the centrepiece of Shenzhen’s Sea World cultural and tourism complex, a landmark waterfront destination named by Deng Xiaoping himself. Following its reopening in October 2025, the landlocked vessel has become the stage for The Deal, an immersive physical theatre production that mirrors Shenzhen’s own transformation from reform-era outpost to global cultural and lifestyle hub. At the heart of this reinvention is a lighting control system from Electronic Theatre Controls (ETC), selected to meet the production’s demanding technical and creative brief.

ETC’s solution for The Deal comprises the Gio console, Ion Xe Remote Processor Unit and the Response SMPTE Gateway, forming a control architecture designed to handle the scale, complexity and reliability requirements of a high-intensity immersive performance environment. The Gio console provides comprehensive control of conventional and moving lights, LEDs and media servers, with support for multiple users through partitioned parameter control and full backup—capabilities that directly addressed the venue team’s challenges with their previous consoles and fixtures.

The production’s local team describes a rigorous evaluation process, noting, “In selecting lighting control equipment, we compared major global manufacturers. Our key requirements included robust output independent of stacking, real-time hot backup for performance safety, portability for movement across locations, the ability to simultaneously use multiple lighting protocols, and intuitive interaction for designers. We ultimately chose the Gio console for mobile programming and the Ion Xe RPU for hot backup and playback. The consoles perfectly fit The Deal performance format, offering powerful programming and control capabilities that are a great tool for designers. The success of The Deal confirms that ETC was the right choice.”

The technical scope of the installation reflects the ambition of the production. The lighting system supports eight major performance scenes and exceeds 10,000 control channels, encompassing approximately 500 professional stage lights and special effects units for performance lighting, alongside extensive custom prop lighting featuring more than 800 bulbs, 340 metres of light strips and 39 full-colour light boxes. The console architecture enables intuitive manipulation of brightness, colour mixing and effects, while presenting all lighting data through a dynamic worksheet linked to scene drawings, allowing lighting positions and parameters to remain synchronised with actor movement and audience flow—blending precision technology with artistic intent.

Operationally, the Ion Xe functions as the main control unit housed within the lighting cabinet, while the Gio console handles moving light programming and serves as a backup control station. The Response SMPTE Gateway provides tight synchronisation between audio and lighting cues, ensuring consistent timing and faultless execution across performances. For the production team, the system’s stability, scalability and ease of use have become central to daily operations, reinforcing confidence in show reliability within the complex spatial and narrative structure of an immersive theatre environment.

In acknowledging ETC’s premium build quality, innovative engineering, comprehensive product ecosystem and global service infrastructure, the Ming Hua project demonstrates how advanced lighting control can play a defining role in contemporary cultural storytelling. Within a venue that itself embodies the convergence of heritage and modernity, The Deal stands as a vivid example of how technology, when precisely applied, can illuminate not just a stage—but the evolving identity of a city.