Faustus That Damned Woman

Faustus That Damned Woman
Summary
Location Chandler Studio Theatre
Creative Team
Director Becky Hope Palmer
Set & Costume Designer Sophie Sholl
Lighting Designer Kai Fischer
Sound Designer Nommy Soplantila
Production Team
Production Manager Kevin Murray & Jacqui Howard
Stage Manager Lauren Murison
Deputy Stage Manager Anne Peart
Assistant Stage Manager Brad Hamilton
Production Electrician Dylan McLean
Lighting Programmer Viola Fowler
Production Sound Engineer Nathan Farndale
Head Of Stage Tom Sedgwick
Stage Technician Noah Dunnett
Stage Technician Rory Campbell
Stage Technician Toby Cass

Lighting

Backstage Blues

Due to being unable to use blues during tech because of the SM Prompt Desk position, Neon Flex battens from the LX store were hung and put in a blue colour in the US + DS crossover area to provide light backstage.

Tree Trunk

The tree trunk piece contained 3 x LED Birdies, 1 x Martin RUSH Par, and a Micro Rocket Smoke Machine. A breakout box was created to run the 3 x Birdies off of 1 5pin LED QolorFLEX cable. This took the RGBW output and split it into 4 x 4pin XLR sockets to run the LED Birdies. A custom thin PowerCON cable was created so that the cables running to the trunk were as small as possible. In the end a single DMX, PowerCON, and 5pin QolorFLEX cable were run to the trunk. This was then taped over and painted by scenic.

Trapeze + Drop Bars

Due to the tight space in the wings, Channel 24 was rigged on a trapeze bar. This was created with a scaff bar and a fixed scaff clamp (clamped to Chandler LX bar) and a fixed scaff clamp at the bottom to create a vertical bar for the Source 4 JR.

Due to the large tree top piece suspended above the set, a lot of fixtures had to be dropped so that they could be focused without hitting the tree top. Threaded rod was used to drop generics and then double hook clamps with short scaff bars were used the hang the movers.

Rosco I-Cue

A Rosco I-Cue was used to turn a S4 Profile into a moving spot. The I-Cue uses a DMX controllable mirror to remotely focus the beam around the stage. A DMX Iris was also used to add more functionality.

Sound Design

SFX Plans

This was the initial SFX plan formed following the first stages of tech, This would soon become more advanced as the production continued.

Speaker Plans

The speakers used on this show were;

- D&b C7s (Subs behind audience)

- KV2 EX 1.5 (Subs on catwalk)

- KV2 ESD 12 (PA L, PA R, PA C)

- KV2 EX 6 (Rear FX)

Mics

Practical Mic

This prop mic was fitted with a DPA 4060. This was attached to the stand section of the prop, with an additional foam section added to house the pack. This prop would then be taken onto stage by Emma Gray (3rd Faustus) and Molly Geddes (1st Faustus). They would sing into the mic, where reverb would be applied to these vocals.

Hairline Mics

Two of the actors Emma Gray (3rd Faustus) and Puvan Sanghera (2nd Faustus) were fitted with hairline Mics. These were DPA 4060s. These were used at tow different points in the show; The possession scene, where delay and reverb were applied. This was to give an otherworldly, unnatural element to the scene. The other point where it was used was the 'Ted Talk' style monologue, where slight reverb and a small amount of amplification was used, to make it seem as though Emma's character was speaking to a much larger room, as though part of a conference.

Technical Stage Department

Ground Plans

Dead Hanging Tree Piece

To allow the tree piece to be as tight up to the catwalk as possible we needed rigging that would help us achieve that. Below are some images of testing with different slings and chocking techniques to give us measurements that we could then take to Vectorworks and see which suites best.

1m Single Choke --- 1.5m Double Choke --- 1m Double Choke

We finalised using a 1m with a single choke, this would allow for enough room for the set piece to be lifted higher using pulleys then rigged up and lowered back onto the slings.

Death Mask Drop The director wanted the mask to appear like it had fallen into the scene and bounce rather than just be lowered in. To get the appearance of a sudden drop a quick release system was created using two screw eyes into a wooden block which was rigged on to an LX bar and a pin which was tied to a line going off to the gantry.A loop was tied in the line attached to the mask, the pin went through this so the loop was sitting between the screw eyes resting on the pin and the mask would drop when pin was pulled.A hole was drilled into the top of the mask so that a line could be tied through it, in order to get the bounce effect elastic was used for the length between the first pulley and the in dead the rest of the line was made of sash cord to make it easier to fly the mask back out. The line ran through two pulleys, one directly above the drop on an LX bar and the other rigged on its side attatched to the catwalk so that the line could run along the side of the catwalk and on to the gantry, avoiding getting caught on lights.A cleat was made and attached to the gantry railing,the mask would preset on its in dead so that when it dropped it would pull the slack with it , when flown out the mask would be cleated off on top of the in dead.