Shows in the Round

[matt-hayes]

Hi,

 

At the start of December I have been asked to light a show in the round. I have never done a show in the round before and would like to see a show before I embark on the design.

 

Does anyone know of any upcoming shows in the round, Ideally in the South West near Bristol/Bath that are on over the next few weeks.

 

Thanks

 

Matt

[gingertom]

What kind of scale are you after? I'm not sure of the program but the Watermil in Newbury do a lot in the round. If you wanted larger scale then if you could get to see a show at Chichester Festival Theatre it may help .(Not in the round, but on 3 sides, and decent house rig from memory. It may give you a good starting point.)

 

I can't think of anything nearer to you off hand.

[dave singleton]

The CFT (Chichester Festival theatre) is great for the audience on 3 sides, but not quite what I'd imagine your after. What is it your looking for in the show? Lighting in the round "should" follow many of the basic principles of lighting design.

 

Whats the show etc? Can you give us more detail and maybe we can give you some pointers to help with the design process.

 

Just for the record, I lit the crucible years ago which was done compleatly in the round (as wel asl sound design) and it was superb. I think its possible the best in debth theatre show I've lit to date.

[gareth]

Jackie Staines (for many years the chief electrician and lighting designer at the Stephen Joseph in Scarborough, possibly the country's premier in-the-round producing house) has written a very good book on this very subject. Link.

[gingertom]

The CFT (Chichester Festival theatre) is great for the audience on 3 sides, but not quite what I'd imagine your after. What is it your looking for in the show? Lighting in the round "should" follow many of the basic principles of lighting design.

 

Whats the show etc? Can you give us more detail and maybe we can give you some pointers to help with the design process.

 

Just for the record, I lit the crucible years ago which was done compleatly in the round (as wel asl sound design) and it was superb. I think its possible the best in debth theatre show I've lit to date.

 

 

I thought CFT was a fair suggestion as to how to light onto a thrust (3/4 of the round), as many of the same principles apply.

[dave singleton]

In theory it is, although from personal experience I think many of the bars are in the wrong place, however the grid is so complex its quite easy to get around that. Then again, maybe my brains frazelled! I havent been in there for a few years, so possibly wrong.

[Lozza]

ey up ive worked at chi festival once and at minerva 2 or 3 times.

 

One followspot (festival)

one fs (minerva)

two main lx at minerva

 

I found designing realy interesting as in the round theatres are a mission to cover.

With 'the ofsted inspector' at the minerva we managed to focus the rig effectively to suit many scenes (my first semi in the round show) - I then travelled with this show the the stephan joseph theatre in scarbourgh ( a massive in the round theatre with a massive metal mesh rig access grid! good times

 

I find in the round shows interesting although I prefer end on staging

 

always be carefull with in the round as it is easy to blind audiance with things like followspot (greatfun but impractical!)

 

Good luck

 

Laurence

[gingertom]

I would agree that you need very good angles and ops to achieve good F/spotting in the round (Although many big equestrian shows and similar do it ).

 

CFT and the Minerva have fairly bizarre grid structures if you look at them in terms of generic theatre, but for the angle of audince towards stage they actually work very well. Especially with the "organic" growth of rigging positions over the years, requested by various LD's.

 

 

I'm sure there are others with more experinece of lighting in the round lurking, but having worked at the Watermill on shows in the round, and having been Dep.Chief LX at CFT, I see that many principles easily adapt from 3/4 round to full round.

 

All I would say is that if you are unsure, it's well worth conducting a paper excersize with a section plan and lighting bar positions, in relation to your front rows of seats from all sides.

[Just Some Bloke]

If it helps, there is some basic advice on lighting in-the-round here.

[matt-hayes]

Hallo,

 

Thanks for all the replies, all really good info and I now have the book.

 

The show is a modern interpretation of Henry V and it is being done on the stage of a 200 seat venue. However we are now blocking the existing seating off and building a rake on stage so that we can accommodate 80-90 people. Another slight change to the design is that the audience will only be on 2 sides which I hope will make life easier.

 

Thanks for the help

 

Matt

[Lozza]

So your seating arrangement is now called "CORRIDOOR" seating, quite rare in theatre as far as I know but still effective

 

Lx should now be easier yeah..

 

good luck

[andy_s]

So your seating arrangement is now called "CORRIDOOR" seating, quite rare in theatre as far as I know but still effective

 

Lx should now be easier yeah..

 

good luck

 

or sometimes known as "Traverse". I don't know of many permanent theatres built like this, (I think the Young Vic have used this format quite often) but popular as a "found space" adaptation.

 

I'd still look at lighting it in a similar way to in the round - you still should look for more than 2 angles for good 3-dimensional modelling, and front light for one side of the audience will be back light for the other, so your colour palette needs to take this into account.

[tonythetechie]

or sometimes known as "Traverse". I don't know of many permanent theatres built like this, (I think the Young Vic have used this format quite often) but popular as a "found space" adaptation.

 

I'd still look at lighting it in a similar way to in the round - you still should look for more than 2 angles for good 3-dimensional modelling, and front light for one side of the audience will be back light for the other, so your colour palette needs to take this into account.

 

Northern Broadsides Home Base in Halifax 'The Viaduct Theatre' is permanently set up as traverse, most of our shows originate there and then go into every other format possible.

 

The comments by other posters are very true, you do need to treat traverse the same as lighting for the round because there will always be dark spots if you don't.

 

The show we toured in the spring finished here and the lighting designer left it to me to work out the lighting for the viaduct after admitting he hadn't much experience of this type of format.

 

Have fun and experiment to see the best way of lighting your show but do be aware of the angles so the audience aren't blinded by lights in their eyes.

 

Tony

[Just Some Bloke]

The Cottesloe Theatre at the National can easily be used traverse.

 

It's not too unusual and can work OK for the right production.

 

Personally, I have to say I've never heard the term "corridoor" before. Maybe it's just me?

[andy_s]

The Cottesloe Theatre at the National can easily be used traverse.

 

It's not too unusual and can work OK for the right production.

 

Personally, I have to say I've never heard the term "corridoor" before. Maybe it's just me?

 

 

no, it's a new one on me as well. - I just assumed it was a very thin version of traverse and neglected to draw attention to my ignorance....