On Saturday 24th November 17 members of the Stage Lighting and Sound Team travelled to Cambridge to the ADC student Theatre to see a production of the student pantomime, Once Upon a Time. But that wasn't all we got up to...

SLST members arrive in Cambridge on a rather cold November Saturday

The pantomime lighting designers were none other than former Lighting Team Prefects Alex Drofiak (2003/4) Chris Taylor and Graham Webb (2005) and they had invited us to not only see the pantomime, but also to have a behind the scenes view of their work on the show.

We arrived at the ADC Theatre at 11am and were treated to an "interactive workshop", led by Alex, Chris and Graham. We worked through various scenes and the boys were encouraged to contribute thoughts on how they might approach designing the lighting, bearing in mind the mood and effects required by the director. We built up each scene, observing the different effects of front, top, back and side light, as well as a myriad of special effects. We also played with a variety of colours to vary mood and create depth and interest. A pantomime lends itself rather nicely to creative use of colour!

The workshop session concluded with a 4 minute sound and light show intricately programmed by Alex, Chris and Graham, designed to show off the rig for the pantomime and various intelligent lighting units that they had hired in for the show, including the very latest in LED fixtures.

We then split up into three groups and were able to explore every nook and cranny in the theatre (well, almost!). A long ladder led to the hemp gallery, giving us a different perspective of the stage, then into the patching room, through the loft space, down into the sound and lighting boxes, then under the stage into the set building area. We really got a feel for the non-stop work that goes on at the ADC theatre, which has a constantly changing aray of shows - one out on Saturday, next one in on Monday.

After a break for lunch in Cambridge, (many excellent eateries there, although rumour has it, that the boys missed them ...), we enjoyed an excellent performance of Once Upon a Time, and were able to see in action what we had been looking at in the morning.

Our grateful thanks go to Alex, Chris and Graham for the hard work they put into their workshop and demonstration.

The following are a selection of photos which give a flavour of the day ...

A colour changing Lighting Curtain in action during the demonstration

 Four Mac 250 moving head lights in action on the stage of the ADC

Boys explore the high level hemp gallery above the stage

The patching panel up in the roof - pay attention!

Up in the loft space above the auditorium

The Lighting Console - this kit controls the lighting for the entire show

The Sound Console - microphones, radio microphones and special sound effects are operated from this box

Graham shows how the finished set is hoisted up onto the stage from the set dock beneath it

A close-up of one of the Mac 250 moving head lights above the stage

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