The Burial at Thebes

The Burial at Thebes
The Burial at Thebes Details Venue Category: New Athenaeum Performance Dates 1st-4th November 2016

Summary

The Burial at Thebes was performed by 3rd Year actors.

Creative Team

Director Gareth Nicholls

Designer Gillian Slater

Lighting Designer Benjamin Goodman

Sound Designer Jamie Ford

Production Team

Stage Manager Chariya Glasse-Davies

Deputy Stage Manager Miranda Stewart

Assistant Stage Managers Rebecca Bell and Steven Selby

TSM Ben Leach

DTSM Emma Campbell and Amy Dawson

Head Electrician Gary Ashbridge

Lighting Programmer and operator Euan Odd

Electricians Reece Flynn and Stephen Keenan

Sound operator Laurie Sutton

Production Manager Stephen Roe

Stage Management

All the chairs available in the Props Store: File:Available Chairs - RCS Props .pdf

Props/ furniture borrowed from Dundee rep Theatre File:Dundee Props List.pdf

Water Cooler and 2 water bottles borrowed from:

Watercoolers Scotland Email: glasgow@watercoolersscotland.co.uk

2 drawer filing cabinets from RCS

Edible and non-edible blood as well as non-edible wine had to be made for this show. The file below is the recipes that were used.

File:Burial Recipes.pdf

Lighting

Lighting was designed by Benjamin Goodman. The Production Electrician was Gary Ashbridge. Board Operator (GrandMA1) Euan Odd. LX Crew Stephen Keenan and Reece Flynn

The design was of a small nature and consisted of approximately 60-70 fixtures. See plan below.

There was 8 Fluorescent Tube light fittings. These were loaned from the Citizen Theatre via the Technical Manager - Stuart Jenkins. The units were standard fluorescent light houses with LED tape in plastic tubing to represent the fluorescent tube. These were on a 16-bit LED driver which mean we had very smooth dimming control of each unit.

There was a 5Kw Fresnel on a tracking system designed in collaboration with the PLX and TSM. See TSM plans for a detailed description but the idea was to have the 5Kw lamp to represent time passing - the sun setting. This was behind gaps in the set which represented windows. The effect worked really well.

Below is the Master Patch for the production.

Technical Stage Management

Tracking System

There was a 5K Fresnel suspended behind the stage right flat. This sat at 6.5 meters high and was 7 meters in length. This was made up of 7 meters of truss (two 3 meter lengths and a 1 meter length) with 7 meters of triple e-track attached to the underside with doughty clamps. The 5K Fresnel was able to track along the triple e-track. This was suspended on two automated lines (Axis 2, down stage, and Axis 4, up stage) from the grid meaning that the trim height could be easily adjusted. There was a third automation line (Axis 1) controlling the horizontal position of the 5K Fresnel along the e-track. This third line went from the grid to a pulley coach bolted to the ground, down stage of the truss. The line then went back up to a pulley, bolted to the down stage end of the triple e-track, and to the 5K Fresnel. There was another line from the up stage side of the 5K Fresnel going to another pulley, bolted to the up stage end of the triple e-track, and to another pulley that was also coach bolted to the stage. This line then went up to an empty counterweight bar (Bar 22), which had 2 flyweights in the cradle (totaling 24kg). This provided tension meaning that when Axis 1 was lowered in the 5K Fresnel would track up stage and when Axis 1 was taken out the 5K Fresnel would track down stage.

Reinforcing the set

When the set arrived in the theatre the doors were not fitted for easier transportation and building. To reinforce the door frames a further frame, or jamb, was built in the hole cut out of the wall. Onto this ‘stops’ were screwed along the top edge or on all three surfaces and the door was hung with hinges 175mm from the top and 250mm from the bottom.

These rectangles of wood used to further reinforce this frame had tapered edges to stop costumes getting caught on a sharp corner and ripping

For the double doors SL the circular saw was used at an angle to shave off a small amount from each door so when the doors come together a ‘V’ shape is made to stop the doors from getting stuck and popping when they’re opened.

All the doors had the same issue that they drifted open from close on their own. For the two single doors roller catches were used to hold them shut.

A small amount of wood was taken out of the frame with a chisel to accommodate the plate the roller sits in.

The doors themselves had a solid block built into them for a door handle to be screwed into. A hole was drilled into this block on the side of the door and the roller half of the roller catch sits in this hole, a small amount is again taken out with a chisel for the plate and it is screwed in place.

For the double doors a latch was used in the US door so the door handle was functional in opening the door. The downstage door was then secured with a drop bolt and so could be opened to allow the wheelchair through when needed but enabled both doors to stay closed and not drift open.

Masking

3 x Border 16m x 5m (Flown)

1 x Leg 4.4m x 7.5m (Flown)

1 x Border 12m x 3m (winch bar)

2 x Leg 3m x 8m (German masking)

1 x 12m x 3m (Hemp)

Ath soft masking stock [[1]]