Much Ado About Nothing 2011
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Much Ado About Nothing Poster
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Cast
Borachio - David Bode
Claudio - Chris Fulton
Sexton - Will Gosnold
Leonato - Max Greig
Ursula/Verges - Jess Hardwick
Beatrice - Lucy Hollis
Don John - Ross Mann
Benedick - Martin McBride
Don Pedro - Mark Rowley
Friar Francis - Natalie Songer
Hero - Bobby Stewart
Margaret/Dogberry - Molly Vevers
Crew
Production Manager - Sandy McRobbie
Stage Manager - Hannah Nicol
Deputy Stage Manager - Samantha Burt
Assistant Stage Manager - Marian Sharkey
Lighting Designer - Alexander Ridgers
Sound Designer - Jonathan Towers
Production Electrician - Madeleine Hillmann
Deputy Production Electrician - Jonathan Towers
Technical Stage Manager - Fiona Nisbet
Lighting Operator - Fiona Findlater
Sound Operator - Rebecca Coull
Technical Crew - Alice McKay, Amber McClelland and Melissa MacDonald
Set
The set consists of mainly steeldeck, but also has a 2 red curtains on the back wall and two hard maskers either side of the stage.
The steeldeck is as pictured below, with the back row being at 500mm high and the rest being at 300mm high. The circle around the 300mm deck is a platform, also at 300mm, built in sections to fit around the steeldeck and make it rounded. The deck was then covered with painted sheets and routered to match the curve of the stage.
The large red curtain was cable tied onto the tab track upstage of the steeldeck, and then cut down the middle, to be tied to either side of the room. Fortunately there were eye screws all ready in the walls, so a truckers hitch was tied to hold them in place and make it very easy to adjust.
Two hard maskers were made by workshop for either side of the stage, and were held in place with a french brace on each one.
Technical Challenges
The only technical challenge that we came across was bolting the steeldeck together, as the sides of the extra curved pieces touched the ground and the 300mm deck was too short to fit underneath. Because of this the curves and deck were flipped upside down, bolted together and then flipped back over, in as few sections as possible, while still being manageable. The middle section was then bolted together, and the large pieces either side were cabled tied onto the row behind, and then the small front section slotted in.
Electrics
The rig was fairly basic, and went up fairly quickly. Bigger challenges were posed during the focusing of the back and front bars, due to the steeldeck and seating being in the way. The back bar was done using the talescope, the front with a ladder with the seating bank extended. Plotting was done by moving the desk to a case in front of the seating bank and running cables out the control room window over a bar.
4 Chroma Q scrollers were used on the upstage booms, with SL plates (which also fit S4jr zooms). The PSU was placed on Catwalk 3, and the whole system (including cabling) was extensively tested prior to rigging using the Strand.
Sound was trickier, due to having to undertake DPLX duties at the same time. Most effects were sourced from the BBC Sound Effects Library, some from previous shows undertaken by the designer, and some by the Assistant Director Andrew. Live sound was also used, a 50s mic was sourced for the 1st act song, and 2 DPA lavs were used in the Funeral song. These were secured in place using kirby grips in the actresses hair as headsets were decided to be too obtrusive, and the hairstyles allowed for easy concealment of the cable. Packs went on the thigh attached to garters.
Speakers were rigged on a T-Bar underneath the lantern prep area to simulate offstage music, these were cut as they did not match the actors entrances and exits. It was found using the USR speaker was sufficient.