National Theatre

[James Chillman]

Ok on wednesday im off to the national theatre in london with my school to prepare for the NT Shell Connections, I have been doing the lighting for my school throughout the contest and have been invited to london on wednesday next week to prepare for the show.

Does any one know what equipment they have at the national theatre? what can I expect to be using etc?

 

 

James Chillman

[gareth]

Chances are they'll have a standard rig for the groups to use, perhaps with a few focussable specials per group ... but that's just a wild guess, based on what I provided for the National Connections regional events when I did one a few years ago!

 

The best thing to do is probably either get some contact details from your group leader for the person at the National who's co-ordinating the technical side of things ; or you could try finding out which auditorium you're in, and contacting the chief LX for that theatre directly - the admin number is 020 7452 3333.

[James Chillman]

well we have been told we have the option to use Special effects? I was more intersted in the Control side realy? Any how this wednesday is just to sort out the lighting + sound and the performance isnt until july!¬

 

 

James

[James C]

Certainly worth getting in touch with them beforehand. Don't harass them, but do ask them what the situation is. If you want more flexibility than their festival rig can offer, ask them if they can help you find a solution. If you can justify why you want something, they're likely to try and help. It was many moons ago when I did National Connections, but we had pretty much our full rig, and loads of support. The main thing, when you get there is: Don't pretend to know something that you don't. They're not expecting an experienced LD, so they won't be horrified if you ask what they mean by something, or don't know how to achieve something. If you're polite, and can show that you've thought through what your requirements are, you'll get the most out of being there.

 

All the best with it - I stage-managed a National Connections piece at the Cottesloe when I was a student, which is what got me into this industry in the first place.

[la grande homme]

cottesloe has a 520

[PoppaDom]

The national, to the best of my knowledge has a complete strand strand-net ethernet install that is linked throughout the building.

Thus incoporating 520,550,510i, riggers etc etc...

 

Even the workers are controlled via the ethernet system!

[James Chillman]

so basicaly im going to have what ever I want:D, Have got some amazing ideas for when we redo our show in london trying to make the lighting interesting for this play is definatly interesting!

 

James

[benweblight]

they have varis!!!, any questions, I have specs+ went on a tour there once

[gareth]

so basicaly im going to have what ever I want:D, Have got some amazing ideas for when we redo our show in london trying to make the lighting interesting for this play is definatly interesting!

 

James

Just be careful that you don't get too adventurous! Bear in mind that your production time will probably be limited.

 

If you've already done the production once somewhere else, and the lighting design worked OK that time around, then do you really need to change it this time? Just because all the fancy kit is there, it doesn't mean you have to incorporate it into your show. "It ain't what you've got, it's the way that you use it" ...

 

The temptation to work the National's full rep rig into your show is undoubtedly immense, and you're probably thinking of all sorts of ways in which you can change what you did last time in order to utilise all this spanky new technology. But just remember - although there's the possibility that it might all turn out really well, the possibility is just as great that the lack of production time will catch up with you and bite you on the arse, and you'll end up with quite a spectacular amount of egg on your face. Would you like to find yourself in the position of having to explain to your director that, although the lighting was fine in the regional heats, you cocked it up big time and ruined the show in the national finals just because you spent too much time plotting the Varilite moves at the expense of getting the basic cues right? Remember, moving lights take a lot longer to plot than generics, and the potential for f*ck-ups is greater.

 

Sorry, I didn't mean to rant - I just think it's important for people who are still learning the craft of lighting design (and let's face it, we're all still learning until the day we give it up!) to have the skills to get maximum effect from minimum resources, instead of putting everything they can get their hands on into their lighting design "just because it's there".

[Sez2004]

Hey

Just thought Id say congratulations on getting to the National. Sounds like you will have a great time and agreat experience. Enjoy yourself.

[deranged-angel]

Hey

I just did a show for the NT Connections. Which play are you doing? We went up to the Brewery in Kendal, the lake district. Was pretty good. (aside form our own personal disasters) I also did lighting (and sound and set!) and at the brewery they basically had the states on the subs and you could add or subtract lanterns to make them suit you. I imagine that it might be the same for you? I dont know how much time you have for your tech, we didnt have much so maybe thats why they did it this way. I just ran the show from the subs but the ligthing was very simple to start with anyway and by the end of a rushed tech it was even simpler :blink:

 

Good luck and have fun!!! Make sure you catch some other shows too. If you can, watch boat memory (I assume they do the same plays at each venue just with different theatre groups) really enjoyed that one.

 

Em

xxx

[James Chillman]

We did ours in Bath and we got to choose the scenes as we wanted then I programmed it all into thte strand and then run the show from memory, we did the play dead end! I now know a little bit more about what were doing on wednesday its not the actual show or tech run we are going to have a technical meeting to discuss what we want etc!

 

James

[Rowan]

We're half way through shell at the moment, I don't know what other theatres are doing, but we have a three colour wash up with several specials for each group on one of the FoH bridges.

we are also plotting every show, instead of just using the sub's. It would be interesting to know how regional theatres are going about it, so that we can try different things next year.

[James Chillman]

Hi every one just got back from our production meeting in london with all of the team. Went realy well basicaly they wanted to know now what we wanted to do lighting/sound/set wise etc and basicaly lighting we can have pretty much what ever we want there even going to make us a TV with lights in it so tht it flickers making it look like there watching tv!

 

James

[Shaun Foster]

We're half way through shell at the moment, I don't know what other theatres are doing, but we have a three colour wash up with several specials for each group on one of the FoH bridges.

we are also plotting every show, instead of just using the sub's. It would be interesting to know how regional theatres are going about it, so that we can try different things next year.

I did shell connections a few weeks ago in york theatre royal. We had a generic o/w wash, which I was able to split up a bit, and lots of spare lanterns up which we were able to use for specials, and a few colour washes. I operated the show from subs, as it was fairly simple but the other show on that night had been programmed, and the offerd to do that for our show if we had wanted.