So . . . If for any reason you are tempted to visit, or find yourself in the area for other reasons, please don’t hesitate to give me a call. I would be delighted to meet up and show you the best parts of the area. There are plenty of wonderful hostelries and restaurants and, if you want to stay longer, there’s the Hotel du Vin on the waterfront.
Edinburgh Festival seems such a long time ago and I didn’t cover a finger nail of what I had intended to!
Since then I have visited the very refreshing Curve Theatre in Leicester – article due in Auditoria Magazine at the end of this month – been to Birmingham, Manchester and London and am currently in Brighton for a few days. Of course this weekend we’re gearing up for PLASA. As usual I will be reporting for Lighting and Sound International for the show report but in addition I will be doing my own blog from the show.
This will allow me to bring video interviews straight from the show floor along with unique insights into the latest in product design and applications. I will also be talking to visitors at the show and bringing their response and feedback on their favorite products and stands.
Plus – entirely for your delectation and delight – I will be carrying out a completely non scientific survey on who is doing the best beer and food on stand, who has downsized, upsized, been clever or inventive and who has the best marketing and PR campaign!
Of course I will also be hanging out on a few choice stands myself, imbibing a few bevies with old friends and looking out for the best swag of the show. So . . . if you’re an exhibitor and you’re particularly proud of your corporate swag look out for me on the show floor and give me the best that you have!
Looking forward to catching up with everyone on Sunday. Please feel free to get in touch if you have something exciting you would like to show me or something important to say!
Pleasance Edinburgh opened as part of the 1985 Festival Fringe with just two theatres, which faced onto a deserted courtyard-come-car-park, at the then unfashionable, eastern end of Edinburgh’s old town!
Twenty-five seasons later and the story is very different. The Pleasance has become one of the biggest and most highly respected venues at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, with an international profile and a network of alumni that reads like a Who’s Who of contemporary comedy, drama and entertainment.
The company has expanded year on year, added up to 23 more venues – large and small – and in the process attracted a large number of faithful supporters and staff who return every season.
One such individual, who has been involved with the Pleasance for 11 years, is freelance sound designer Tom Lishman. Keenly enthusiastic about all the Pleasance Venues have to offer, he discusses his role in the organization, what it takes to plan and manage the sound installation across 25 venues hosting over 200 companies and what keeps him coming back for more. He also talks us through the Pleasance’s long and positive relationship with its audio kit supplier, Orbital Sound.
We also talk to the charming and enigmatic Director of the Pleasance, Anthony Alderson. He’s been involved with Pleasance for an amazing 23 years, having started when it comprised just two venues, in which he swept the floors! He tells us how it all began for him and what makes the Pleasance such a special place to work. He also discusses the benefits of company’s continued investment in its artist and technicians, how he has watched the operation grow and develop and his plans for future training initiatives.
Pleasance Theatre Trust Ltd [Registered Charity number 2013041].
And . . . if further proof were required of the opportunities and development prospects for aspiring theatre professionals, in all disciplines working at the Edinburgh Fringe, then Ellie Morgan has to be the icing on the cake. Now deputy head of lighting for all 26 venues, she started with the Pleasance just three years ago, working in a single Pleasance venue as a stage manager!
Since 2003, Sweet has produced close to 500 shows from its performance venues at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
With ten high specification performance spaces in five venue locations:
Sweet ECA, is a complex of five spaces at the Edinburgh College of Art
Sweet Grassmarket, based at the Apex City Hotel on the Grassmarket hosts two studio theatres and the Grassmarket Pool
Sweet in the Firth of Forth, The historical and magical Island of Inchcolm in the Firth of Forth, home to an ancient abbey
and a new venue – the SweetHeart – added right at the last minute!
So . . . a diverse collection of venues and spaces hosting up to 81 shows!
In return for free accommodation and three meals a day, the multi-skilled Sweet volunteers can try their hand at pretty much any element of the theatre process. Staff are actively encouraged and trained in the use of lighting desks, sound systems, basic technical etiquette, stage and production management plus a multitude of other skills. Whilst they don’t make their fortunes, they do get unique hands on experience in a dynamic environment that’s fun, friendly and welcoming.
Sweet is by its nature a youthful company – who else could afford the time and energy to live in Edinburgh for the summer and work long hours for little remuneration?
The company’s various spaces host up to ten shows a day including: open mic, musicals, theatre, comedy, club and a whole host more. There is certainly plenty to keep the volunteer staff occupied for large chunks of the day.
Most of the dedicated and capable team are under 26 years old and hail from a range of different backgrounds and experience. Many are self taught or are in the process of learning from others who’ve worked for Sweet before. Some are actors turned techs – the technical manager is about to go into his third year of Chemistry at Oxford!
Whilst I’m not entirely convinced that working the hours these people put in is entirely healthy or sustainable, I do remember how satisfying it is to push oneself to ones personal limit and discover your breaking point. Not something I would advocate on a long term basis or if you have a delicate nature! However for a month in the summer holidays, as long as it is well supervised, it’s a great way to step out of the comfort zone, learn about working and living with all sorts of people, 24/7, teamwork and your own inner workings of mind and body.
At the helm of this phenomenal operation – in terms of production and operations – is the surprisingly alert Alex White. He discusses his demanding and physically challenging, multi-role position at Sweet. He also gives us an insight into what someone could expect if they fancied giving over a month of their life to Edinburgh Fringe next year!
As you’re probably gathering the vast majority of venue set ups – technically speaking – are fairly simple.
Popular at the festival is the Zero 88 and ETC range of consoles, low wattage lamps such as the ETC and Selecon ranges and, in terms of sound, there seems to be a fair amount of d&b and Yamaha kit around.
Key to the specification of kit for most technical managers is reliability and efficiency. For most venues the major challenges are limited fit up and get out time, fast turnarounds between shows and the often low levels of power available in a venue.
Technical manger for the Sweet Venues, Nick Lloyd has had more than his fair share of challenges this season – he tells us what his daily routine involves.
I discovered that his dedication knows no bounds – he tells me that he worked himself to an exhausted collapse, recovered in hospital for a day and was back at work just days later – some people just don’t know when to stop!
Anyway he seems healthy enough now and I am sure he learned a valuable lesson – how to pace himself in future.
People travel from all over the world to get involved in Edinburgh Festival. Whether they are theatre co’s, actors, directors or the audience, Edinburgh is an international festival on all levels. The scenario is no different when it comes to the production and technical element of producing a show here.
New Zealanders, Australians, Greeks, French and Spanish along with many other nationalities travel to the UK to work alongside English, Welsh, Scottish and Irish. Between them they deliver everything from the PR, marketing, technical and venue management to hitting the go buttons, pushing up faders and building stages all over the city. For one or two months a year Edinburgh becomes a delightful, heaving, dynamic melting pot of ideas, art, cultures and people.
To many Edinburgh Festival is the premier Theatre and performance art Festival in the world. It’s most certainly the largest with over 2000 shows in up to 300 venues – mostly found spaces. Because of this it presents a truly unique way for young aspiring arts professionals to gain access to, and experience of, a diverse range of theatre processes.
On the tech and production side of things the wages may not furnish you with the means to pay for expensive holidays and fast cars. The hours are long and accommodation not always the most salubrious. However to many the opportunities and advantages far outweigh this.
For techs and production staff the benefits are indeed multifarious and regularly include large helpings of on the job training with the latest technologies in lighting, sound and video – even in some of the smallest venues.
For example, at the request of two companies performing at the Assembly Rooms Music Hall – not a small venue by the way – they’re using the GrandMA 2 console with GrandMA version 1 software.
As you can’t be here in person, MA Lighting’s Callum Howie gives us a whistle – stop tour of the grandMA2 . . .
At first it may seem a bit potty to put a brand new piece of hardware into one of the busiest schedules of the theatre calender. Especially given that both venue programmers had never actually laid hands on any MA console before! Nevertheless, as I discovered, whilst it certainly presents some challenges, it’s also hugely rewarding.
MA’s Callum Howie and Steven Sanders – Programmer and operator for the venue explain . . .
Head of lighting for all five venues in the Assembly Rooms is Paul Lim. Again another international bright young thing. Most of the year he can be found in Melbourne Australia, working as a production manager! He discusses what he perceives to be the Fringe Benefits of Edinburgh and what keeps him coming back year after year.
There is no doubt that whatever stage you’re in your career if you haven’t worked at least one season at the Edinburgh Festival you’ve probably missed out. Although in the main it’s manned by those in the earlier stage of their careers, there are also plenty of professional, experienced production folk all too pleased to share their wisdom, knowledge and partying abilities with the younger and less experienced.
The warning on the programme says – You may experience feeling of excitement. Whilst we encourage you to share these feelings with others please remain in your seat.
What better tempter to get you into a show – even if its a kids show!
Now coming from both an art and science background I’ve always believed that theatre is an ideal arena to combine the two disciplines. If at the same time it can impart a passion for both in the audience then all the better.
Hailing from a lighting background myself, where I’ve had the privilege to observe first hand how sybiotically engineering and digital technology works with the arts of colour mixing, pattern, angle, beam and intensity to create atmosphere, environment, time and place, i was delighted to come across Visualise at Venue 13.
The company’s mantra is very much: “Less explanation more exploration. To that end they have produced a hugely engaging interactive science demonstration – very now given the governments drive to improve our nations interest and skills in science and engineering!
With shows like the BBCs Bang Goes the Theory so popular, perhaps we are in for a more exciting educational theatre that can both encourage a healthy enthusiasm for science and entertain.
Visualize was certainly extremely well received – not just by the kids but also by many of the grownups! I was totally engrossed by the two pop bottle water vortex, the super smoke rings, the visualization of sound, dynamic colour theory displays and most of all, the ‘rainbow rays’.
Many of the highly visual performance elements used lighting, sound or video. Some of the ideas would do as well applied to a ‘less is more’ style of lighting design as they do a science demo.
Project manager Debbie Syrop discusses what inspired some of these fabulous ideas:
So . . . I am now very happily kitted out with much coveted VIP passes for some of the best private bars of the festival! You know those exclusive hideouts where stars hang in the same space as venue staff and everyone rubs along together, full of community spirit, shared experiences and ambitions!
As I am sure you can imagine it’s been a demanding weekend both for my liver and for my brain. I’ve managed keep both filled with copious heady cocktails of booze and culture! If that isn’t enough I’ve also met so many interesting people, I hardly know where to start, what to include and what I must inevitably leave out!
On Friday I popped over to The Musical Theatre@George Square accompanied by Peter Kirkup of Zero 88. There my eyes were opened to exactly how many relatively large productions a theatre can host in a day! I must say the constant stream of theatre audiences that pour through the doors of so many huge venues never ceased to fill me with wonder. Where do they all come from and what happened to the economic recession?
I was lucky enough to catch the frenetic turn around into One Academy Productions performance of Jerry Springer the Opera – see links below – and met up with two very busy lighting techs who’ve not only managed to learn an entirely new console during one of the most relentless and busy festivals in the world, but also have to deal with the day to day crisis of working long hours with lovies, technology and audiences – and we all know the toll that can take!
So . . . a remarkably sparky and up beat Simon Hayes discusses his experience of the Zero 88 Orb . . .
And an amazingly laid back Jenny Kershaw discusses what it is to do two people’s jobs at the same time across more than one venue!
On Saturday I was over at the Assembly Halls where I met my husband’s favorite drinking partner – Didier Bareau. Responsible for the lighting in the Rainy Venue at the magnificent Assembly Halls, Didier is a man renowned for his ability to party as hard as he can work – apparently he works extremely hard!
At the age of 33 Didier is almost a veteran of the festival circuit and travels from one to another with the ease of a Romany gypsy. From Adelaide to Edinburgh to Glastonbury to Wexford, he is as happy with rock and roll as he is with opera, ballet or circus. We meet his as he prepares for one show of many that day, and talk to him about what he does and why. We also take a look at just one of the crazy turnarounds between shows.
Yesterday – Sunday – I spent the bulk of my late afternoon and evening in the decadently, gorgeous burlesque style, Assembly rooms bar! Here I drank copious amounts of gin and tonic, ate potato wedge chips dipped into dollops of sour cream and sweet chilli sauce – yummy – and listened to the very international tech staff wax lyrical about all the bonkers things they get up to on a daily basis! More to come on that later this week.
Having been to Stage Electrics Pie and Pint event the other day, I thought it only fair I pop along to Northern Light’s ‘Plug and Play’ jolly at the rather beautiful College Quad in Edinburgh.
On arrival I immediately bumped into Ashley Lewis from Clay Paky, Alex Cowan from Pixel Range and Tom from iPix. This was the second of the two day event and I was pleased to hear that Ashley and Co had been enjoying everything Edinburgh Festival had to offer! They were certainly in very high spirits when I arrived!
This was hardly surprising given Northern Light was providing some delicious Scottish single malts, fabulous locally sourced food including: smoked salmon, haggis and cheeses plus the usual array of wine, beer and soft drinks. For those interested in the technical side there was also a wide range of lighting and sound products on show.
Ashley Lewis showed the range of Clay Paky 300, 1200 – spot and wash fixtures, Avolites Stephen Baird Smith demonstrated the new Art 2000 power cube and Alex Cowan of Pixel Range previewed the company’s latest architectural LED fixture – to be launched at PLASA – along with the Pixel Par, PixelLine 1044, 110 amongst others. He was very impressed with the event and said . . .
Also going great guns was Peter Kirkup product manager for Zero 88, who was offering what proved to be very popular demos of the new Orb desk. This product seems to be taking off in a big way across the theatre lighting industry – more about that tomorrow.
Nick Read who took on the role of head of hire and events at Northern Light last October said . . . (coming soon!)
It’s amazing how Edinburgh Festival has changed. In my day you had to beg, steal and invent to get a show with no budget up to the festival and operating in a venue. Today it seems, if you are lucky, you can get manufacturers to loan their latest console or piece of kit, train you and your technicians for free and and offer full technical backup. Not only that, at the same time their distributors will furnish you with good quality food and alcohol! The streets of Edinburgh are no longer so full of half starved lovies who sleep on shelves in venue basements and run their lighting off homemade banks of household dimmers! Mind you I have no doubt there are still a few of those around.
Stage Electrics, which seems to have kit in almost every main venue on the Fringe, had their second successful Pie and Pint event up here in Edinburgh. Peter Kirkup from Zero 88 showed visiting tech’s on a break the Orb, the latest console from Zero 88. We will be reporting on its application from the Pleasance venues later this week, so please do watch this space. Paul Roughton of Stage Electrics says: “We have 1470 lighting units on hire up here 113 of which are movers. WE also have 39,672 meters of cable, 1,271.2 meters of truss, 6000sqm of staging and that doesn’t include what we have on Scott Mills the Musical!”
What is also impressive is that some people seem to be involved in more than one show in more than one venue concurrently. One such multi talented person is Zoe Hughes who it seems is acting in two shows and is responsible for the lighting in two others. She discusses her exploits in the film below.
Yesterday I met up with production manager for Universal arts – Anthony Newton. We met originally at the National Student Drama festival (NSDF) some five years ago. NSDF is an ideal training ground for anyone wishing to get involved with the Edinburgh Festival.
Why? Because the NSDF crew spend a lot of time building venues from scratch in found spaces, have to work with limited resources and put in long hours.
Anthony told me that all but one of his staff at the New Town Theatre this year has been involved in the NSDF – so if you fancy a career in theatre and can’t afford the cost of going to university perhaps this is a really good place to start. Try the website – http://www.nsdf.org.uk/ and go to technical to find out more about how you can get involved.
Through NSDF, and the positions Anthony has held subsequently, he has built a strong and symbiotic relationship with ETC. In the video below he discusses that relationship and the new ETC console he and his staff are trying out at the Universal venues this year.
