CPP 1 & 4 2022

CPP 1 & 4 2022
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Summary
Dates 7th June 2022 - 10th June 2022
Location Chandler Studio Theatre
Creative Team
Sound Designer & Percussionist Fraser Mackie
Lighting Designer Mhairi Burton Coyle
Production Team
Stage Manager Anne Peart, Lauren Murison, Lucy May Wilson & Alexandra McKenna
Assistant Stage Manager Noah Dunnett Nommy Soplantila
Head of Stage Tom Sedgwick, Scotty
LX Programmer Anna Athanasiadi
PLX Pippa Reilly
Production Sound Engineer Maddy Frost

GROUP C

group C's piece was a live exhibition where audience members were asked to come to a mic and read one of the questions written on the paper in front of them. once asked, the cast would then perform a short movement piece to express an answer to what was asked of them. originally for TSD there were a few interactive parts to the set. these were; 2 hemp lines hanging from the catwalks that the cast could pull on. 2, 2.5m x 3m white sheets that would drop within the show. a steel deck platform in the middle (2, 8x4 platforms bolted together). 1 chair, secured to the steel deck. a snow drop off the back of the US catwalk. a Black Gauze (number 404) used for projection.

HEMP LINES the 2 hemp lines were just meant to hang down and be interactive for the cast to use. with the piece being based on Shakespeare's The Tempest the theme was to have it set on a ship. with the use of the white sheets, hemp lines and 2 wind machines to help create a storm. as these hemp lines were just there to be pulled and tugged on my plan was to have them hang down off the catwalk and clove hitch off one end to the rigging bars with some extra half hitches to make sure it was secure. this was something that would have been quite simple in the turnaround to Group D, however it was cut, making the turnaround less full on for us.

WHITE SHEETS the white sheets (used as sails) went through a few changes, originally were hung up and out from both of the top corners to create a sail like shape. As well as having the cast pull them down. to make this happen the plan was to used a barrel knot with a short line coming off the sheet bent into the knot so that the cast members could tug on it and it would fall. however this changed from them pulling it down to the sheets falling down. As well as the action changing the shape of them changed as well, from an open sail to bunched into 1 point. To make them fall, we used a highway man's hitch which is a quick release knot, the idea here is that when the operator pulls the loose end of the line the knot would undo itself and the sheet would fall to the stage. It worked well as a solution, however these sheets were cut from the show during tech.

STEEL DECK the steel deck platform was a very simple platform, sat on 200mm legs the 2 - 8x4s were bolted together with some M10s and sat CS with the Throne on it. this was the centre piece and with the chair on it, became the set for the piece. A general note, as we were putting this on dance floor we needed soft feet on the steel deck to ensure we didn't kink or damage the floor. This should be a general rule of thumb anyway but is important for dance floor.

CHAIR The chair/ Throne on the steel deck was one used form Cinderella 2021. Due to the action its used in, where the cast fight on the throne at certain points we had to secure this. As this was a double bill performance, it was decided that split pin hinges would be a good, fast and easy solution and so we attached 4 hinges to the legs of the chair to stabilize it but also make it quick to remove.

SNOW DROP The snow drop was to be used during the stormy weather moments, this was there as another way to create a large impact on stage. It however was cut from the show before tech, this was a bit of blessing in disguise, as Group C were to perform first, to clear the snow on top of striking the rest of group C's set and setting up Group D would have made the 20min turnaround quite tight for us. To create the effect the solution was to have 3 operators on the US catwalk that would sprinkle the snow down to the stage. Each operator would have a bucket cable tied to the cat walk in order to keep it safe and ensure the same drop spot each time.

Black Gauze The gauze was positioned Up Stage, it was positioned 1000mm Down Stage of the back wall. the reasoning was that a cast member would go behind it during some of the projection. the positioning was quite nice and as it was a black Gauze it disappeared into the background when it wasn't lit meaning it wasn't needed to be west coasted during the turnaround.

TSD Ground plan for Group C

TURNAROUND (C - D)

Going from group C - D wasn't too bad, Group C now didn't have the snow on stage, the hemp lines or the white sheets. to strike in the turnaround was 2 pieces of steel deck and a chair. This was a big bonus for us and gave us plenty of time to set up for Group D which had more to rig however some of it was already complete.

GROUP D

Group D's piece was set at an after party, it consisted of all the standard party pieces such as a piñata, balloons, streamers and confetti. The piece was a good one to end the evening on with a bang, lots of colours and effects. The show consisted of; a mirror ball, Centre stage streamers that would drop and hang from the Up stage catwalk pink confetti single balloon drops a large balloon drop with more confetti in it a pinata a sofa Up Stage right corner a TV used for AV in the Up Stage Left corner a dining table with 3 chairs

Mirror ball the mirror ball sat Centre stage hanging off the Down stage side of the Up Stage catwalk on a motor which is used during some of the karaoke songs throughout the performance.

streamer drop The streamer drop is something the Directors wanted to have a big reveal at the end of the first song. to create this I made a timber frame and stuck 2 100mm bolts on either end with ny-lock nuts on the ends, to rig it I used 2 swivel boom arms so that it could attach straight onto the catwalk rigging bar. To operate it, A line of paracord is attached to the underside of it that when pulled will flip the drop round and lower the streamers. Pink confetti The pink confetti was used during a karaoke version of 'Hopelessly devoted'. The drop happens through the 3 minute track of the song whilst one of the cast members lies down on the sofa and sings the song. One of the TSD crew members would take some of the pink confetti out of a bucket which was zip tied to the catwalks and would sprinkle it down to the stage above the sofa. This was a very simple solution but also very effective in the right lighting and looked stunning.

Balloon drops There were multiple balloon drops throughout this performance, one near the top of the show where 3 single balloons are dropped by 3 operators on the middle catwalk at the top of the show. a similar method was used for the next drop which consisted of 8 individual balloons being dropped in precise places one after another. To create this effect there were 2 operators per catwalk with 2 balloons each, the drop positions were marked and labelled with the number called by the SM. The final balloon drop was the biggest of the 3, it was a 3m x 2m piece of black tat which had 2 holes cut into the Down Stage corners for lines to run it through pulleys to drop. the Up Stage side was held up in 3 positions by, 3 cloth tensioners, 1T shackles and strops. This drop was large enough to hold between 75 and 100 balloons in total. the Drop was operated by 2 stage crew (one per line).

Pinata The pinata had to fly In during the performance and be pulled off the line by the cast on stage. In order to make this happen we used the same cleats as seen in Gloria with an IN dead tied off to the cleat. On the other end of the line was a barrel knot that was tightened around a pinched paracord line coming from the pinata.

TSD Ground plan for Group D