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Same here.We've replaced our main house blacks every 3 to 4 years for various reasons - not least when over-enthusiastic am-dram companies manage to get paint on the current set...

Watching the thread with interest, as we do have MP users in our venue.But I can't (or more accurately my OCD won't) let the mis-spell of CUE pass by. Sorry, but the word is CUE, not QUE. There is no English word QUE - QUEUE is the closest you'll get, and whilst you might refer to a queue of cues, it wouldn't be very common. Apologies - rant over :D

I liked the Chauvet Ovation P-56 range when we saw them at ABTT earlier this month - I was specifically looking at COB units to replace some in our fixed rig. Just had a well discounted price (list at £725) from Stage LX, but not fall below your £400 ceiling - worth a punt if you can stretch the funds a bit... https://www.chauvetprofessional.com/products/category/theatrical-studio/

Moderation: Update - all items now sold - photos on https://ibb.co/album/hDb0iv LEGALLY BLONDE set pieces for sale

And a couple of locals here so far have spoken of poor sound at Coventry... Hmmm... ™ ©

They're in my neck o' the woods (Coventry Ricoh) today (and tomorrow?) and one of the noise boys on my theatre show this week said he could hear the sound checks earlier. I did (tongue in cheek) ask if he actually heard the 'girls' or did he think it was a recorded vocal track... He declined to respond :D

MOST of that lot was expired stock - not 100% guaranteed to fire, so used for non-essential stuff. :) (Flames though were Le Maitre Salamanders - very nice neat units.

Yes, and no :) The audience for the main part were the cast at the post-show crew entertainment. Most of them hadn't really seen the dragon in full flow as they'd have been backstage, so as a bit of a 'treat' (as we do every year) we did a bit of a crew-created taster. I've expanded the VT a bit in , which shows you the run-up to what's in the public demo footage. For context, the voice-over in the blackout is the same as the puppet character from the main panto - a hedgehog - last year's puppet was a badger. Hopefully you'll get a better flavour of how warped we as crew can sometimes be :D

Finally got round to importing footage from the panto DVD - I'm quite pleased with how the dragon finally ended up. Catch a video showing the best bits here And for anyone who needs a dragon for this year's panto I've just listed it on Fleabay here :) (Mods - proper free-ad going in a minute :) )

What? Weren't the 'girls' lip-synching....?? :D :D

A couple of the guys here...Maybe they were doing something not quite right, but... The usual suspects? Possibly....

A couple of the guys here DO use me-stuff, but as I recall they were looking at Qlab last year and ended up spending a couple of hours or more trying to timecode a 30 second intro to a musical number and even then failed to get it to run right (and for some reason ended up linking TWO macs to do even that. Maybe they were doing something not quite right, but...

SCS ?? Nope - we have a full SCS license - it will work the other way round, ie sound cues can be assigned to specific DMX channels, and that works very well, but what I'd love is a simple trigger mechanism to fire off DMX cues from an audio file.

Only any use if you use a Mac of course, but worth checking out the timeline feature that was added to QLab a while back. Very easy to drag cues to the time you want them. Ugh! Sorry, I am a little averse to the Apple stock I'm afraid :(

This MAY already exist, but I've yet to see anything that satisfies my ideals... A software package that you can import your favourite audio file and EASILY set up cue markers alongside that file that you can then send to trigger specified cues your favourite LX desk, be that as MIDI or other protocol. The theory (in my limited head) would seem to be logical and relatively simple, but the fact that it doesn't seem to be out there suggests that maybe it isn't... :)

Need to find three hair dryer hoods on stands for use in a Legally Blonde set. This sort of thing below. Ideally identical, but close would do. Obviously don't need to work. Anyone have any that are laying around having been used for this before?

One thing you can do with impunity is include interest on any unpaid bills that have gone past your stated payment term date (assuming you have one on your invoice). There's a formula as I recall to help you work out what interest you can charge - it isn't much as a monthly figure but again can help focus the devtor's mind. And you can also include any costs you incur (eg court fees) during the claim process. It's all available online - search for MCOL - Money Claims OnLine

I have 12 CP Pin Scans sitting in my stores that rarely (if ever) see the light of day as we tend to rent in LED movers when needed. So I'm offering these up for sal at £40 each or nearest offer. If anyone wants to take them all we can certainly talk about a better overall price. Don't have pics at the moment but will get some if anyone's interested. Also on eBay here ... eBay link Located in Nuneaton, Warks. And they'd need to be collected.

Interesting... My brain's been pondering different design options for 3 days now (usually when it SHOULD be letting me sleep :( ) and the latest thought was on the extendable pantograph idea with some flexible 'uprights' which are pivoted on the panto connections onto which the wing fabric can be attached... However, the inverted V does sound simpler and perhaps more achievable... With the bonus that with that framework it would be practical to backlight the wings (the pantograph would obviously show through if we did that)... Hmmm... Food for further thought Oh - and I'll be modelling the ides with cardboard/balsa/whatever I can find, though not sure on the lego for this one - that's intriguing in itself :)

Yep - but a hefty price tag on those.... :(

Yep - some sort of pantograph is where I'm thinking of going. Similarly, yes - light behind fast dispersing fog is the plan.

OK - panto planning time again for January next year. Sleeping Beauty - been asked for ideas on how to 'do' the dragon. Needs to be impressive - fire-breathing was mentioned, but no - that ain't gonna happen on my small stage :) We have less than 5 feet of wing space either side, not a lot of depth (stage front to back wall is just 24 feet) and no flying options. But we like to set ourselves a challenge. We normally have a back-build, which forms the basis of the main set piece scene, this year will be the castle of Beauty's royal parents, and that can be up to 4 feet deep, and also masks the cast's cross-over from stage L to R. I've thrown a few minor ideas around, but none will have quite the impact I'd like (or the director) so thinking a little harder I've pondering this: The upper level of the back-build has a set of large doors, dressed as the castle interior on the front for the most part of the show - these open on cue to reveal the dragon 7 feet in the air, which could potentially be wheeled a couple of feet further downstage to overhang more, and then unfold a set of cantilevered wings and mobile head/neck. Ideally it can't be more than about 7 feet tall but wing span - the bigger the better in the space we can use Sounds ideal, and would look absolutely perfect IF I can get it to work, and either find or build the beast in question. :) Which of course is where the BR hive mind comes in. It is possible that someone else has had a similar idea and actually HAS a mobile dragon for loan/hire to an am-dram company - if that's the case then by all means get in touch! Alternatively, suggestions on a postcard on how we might construct one . The dressing of the dragon itself may be an easy fix as we have a local guy whose life has been spent (literally) creating monsters & dinosaurs (he's worked on Dr Who and the latest Jurassic movie for example) so with that in mind, it's the mechanics that I'll need to look at... OK - open for ideas, guys... :D

Over 48,000 names on there now - HAS to be a significant effort to wave in front of the bureaucrats...

The petition is over 9200 signatures... Anyone not added their details?

I see some of you have already seen this, but whether it's likely to have any effect at all it's perhaps worthy of joining those who've signed. ONLINE PETITION