Ballet Showcase 2012
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This is the first Ballet show in the Royal Conservatoire and although it has been a reasonably simple affair, it has had some interesting aspects.
The Masking
The masking that was decided upon was; three bays of 3500x6000mm hard maskers all flown (the behind each flat is crucial for ballet entrance, thus why braces can't be used), each set of legs was topped with a border trimmed at 5900mm. The width of the tormentor was set to 10m so the legs were set at a width to match.
The New Athenaeum theatre is a particularly hard place to mask due to the slips which are at extreme angles to the stage. Because of these seats a large proportion of the wings could be seen so a lateral fly bar was slung under the fly floors on which three 3000x7000mm legs were placed, masking the wings perfectly whilst still allowing adequate entrance space.
The large amount of side light in the show meant it was necessary to mask the pin rails of both fly floors which was achieved by tensioning a line between the most US an DS upright support beams of the Ath and hanging one of the Chandler's 5000x3000mm. The result of this was a very well masked show, even in the slips.
The Floor
The ballet floor has been borrowed from Scottish Ballet. It has been made up of four pieces of Harlaquin Cascade dance floor 12 metres by 2 metres laid lengthways across the stage. Then two pieces of Rosco dance floor along the sides to increase the overall width. Tim Plamer, the production manager for Scottish Ballet sent detail instructions of how to lay the floor which is now in the URE Book Laying Balletfloor.
The Screen
A brand new back projection screen was ordered for the show. It measures 14x7m, it has eyelets at the top (the centre one is marked with a sharpie mark and a piece of white LX tape) and is double folded at the sides. It's pocket at the bottom is large enough for a piece of scaff and when weighted down with scaff and left floating very slightly it does not need stretching. The fasterners for the top of the screen are made by Gerriets and are called G-Quick. There are 69 of them and one marked centre.
The screen is very prone to damage so care must be taken when putting it up and taking it down. Instructions for taking it down and folding it can be found here; Folding the BP screen. It should also be insured lighting is a suitable distance away from the screen.
Production Team
- Production Manager - Sandy McRobbie (staff)
- Stage Manager - Hannah Nicol
- Deputy Stage Manager - Siobhan MacIntyre
- Technical Stage Manager - Simon Legg
- Chief Production Electrician - James Gow
- Deputy Production Electrician - Ben Terry
- Lighting Operator and Programmer - Oliver Gorman
- Sound Designer and Operator - Oran O'Neill