Question for small scale tourists

[Frag_Me]

Schools + Designers + Lighting rigs = Me, very unhappy.

 

Our brand spanking new theatre was presented to us at a huge cost - more advanced than anything we had had before - it even had large sized theatre plugs ¬_¬

 

We've never been able to use it without T bars, as the ceiling is too high and we can't afford any kind of scaff. Even if we did get up there, the bars are placed in such dreadfl places it would look terrible. There aren't any side bars, just 2 bars directly up/front of curtain and one at 45 degrees, none of which we can actually get to. What fun.

 

I'm now an expert at rigging and using T-Bars though ¬_¬

[Roderick]

A few years ago I was involved in the renovation (there's a whole new can of worms) of a concert venue in Sydney, the Hordern Pavilion. As with many of these construction jobs, it was a 'design & construct' contract where the builder is also responsible for the architect. And I learnt the magic words that would stop all discussions and get peoples attention: Not fit for purpose. This refers to part of the contract that will state that the final building must be fit for the purpose it was build for.

This got me out of a lot of difficult discussions such as the amount of power available back-stage - was 200A now 1600A, rigging capabilities - was less than 5Tonne now more than 45Tonne, specific PA rigging areas (can't they just stack speakers? NO!) and even the position of the public toilets which where on the side of the stage (it's a rock & roll venue, think about it).

 

My advice: Check the contract and use the magic words: not fit for purpose.

Let me know how you go.

[richard]

There is a venue that I am not going to name that was recently built in London that has the following problems..

 

1/ Out of the 180 ways dimming only 30 are on the fly floor, about 20 are under the fly floor, and 6 are on the floor, the rest are FOH

 

2/ The two FOH bridges can only see to light a person about 1m US of the pros unless you rig everything on floor stands on the catwalk floor

 

3/ The US doors either side open into a brightly lit corridor with no capability to turn the lights off. The corridor is a main Fire escape so the doors have very noisy strips and must not be blocked.

 

4/ The theatre is on the first floor and only has a lift big enough to take about 18' flats - not big enough for most touring shows that may consider going there

 

5/ The sound positon has a nice window that opens fully so that they can hear, but then there is a big air-con duct straight above it that drowns out the rest of the sound

 

6/ All the workers can be switched on locally in each area, but can only be turned off by switching one switch that kills them all

 

7/ They bought no TRS as the architecht decided that the theatre should have a fixed rig (he did am dram so designed the rig as well)

 

8/ The fly floor (it's all CW) is wide for disabled access, but this means that it is pretty difficult to see the stage floor while having your hand onthe rope/brake!!

 

Admittedly I was there just after opening a year or so ago so it may have improved but...

 

Oh and it had a bright light varnished pine floor..

[paulears]

I went to a school a couple of weeks ago, where the request for dimmer power had resulted in 6 32A blue sockets on a wall panel, pointing upwards - repeated at the other end of the room (about 9m square). I then spotted the conduit to it seemed a little small. A quick removal of an inspection plate showed two brown and two blue cables - 4mm. Following the conduit led to a 45A (shower type) isolator. 3 32A outlets per feed. How the sockets placement was decided, or the feeding arrangements agreed on is a mystery.

 

Mind you - you sometimes do get what you asked for - I did the sound for a road opening, and asked for mains power - No problem, they said.

http://www.eastanglianradio.com/IMAGE_00011.jpg

In the middle of the countryside, I got a nice white panel on the grass, with an rcd protected 13A and 16A socket, and all wiring to it buried and turfed over!