A jump from circus to theatre, I was able to remember Ali’s classical training advice. With a minimal, yet beautiful set designed by Bicat & Rigby, and an adaptable and stunning lighting design from Aideen Malone, my re-light and fit up worked superbly in the vastly different venues. The tour was long enough to sink my teeth into the changing venues from the tiny York Theatre Royal’s studio to the cavernous Harrogate Theatre.
The Peacock
Venue
The Peacock, Gluttony, Adelaide Fringe Festival
I worked closely with the house technician and together we managed the technical rehearsals, get ins and outs, and shows for The Peacock throughout the month of the Adelaide Fringe Festival. The Peacock was a 300 capacity tent housing a number of shows a night and with several changes of program throughout the season. As it was in Australia there were certainly extreme weather conditions to take into account over the course of the festival. Some days were baking heat and then huge amounts of rain and floods. Keeping the many shows running on time through tight change-overs and without disruption was paramount. We never let it slip and no show went up late once.
Testimonial
Sophie, you are an absolute dream to work with!
Strike
A world formed from hundreds of cardboard boxes. Literally. I am now an expert in anything cardboard – there is nothing I cannot do with the stuff. We toured several venues with this show, with its transforming set and unusual aerial equipment involving complicated rigging. Each venue gave us a new set of rigging challenges and therefore lighting challenges – as ever a learning curve. The tour continued throughout 2015 and finished in the autumn.
Photo Credit: Nic Mackey
Save The Arctic
VenueGlastonbury
Working with Sideways Arts we had a contract to organise all the entertainment on the Greenpeace field during the festival to the theme of ‘Save the Arctic’. This included a large scale spectacle as well as talks and roaming acts. For the spectacle, I was responsible for coordinating between the show team and the Greenpeace lighting crew, where we used solely equipment which was powered by solar and wind and all lights used were 12v and LEDs.
Brown Paper Packages
The set for this outdoor show was comprised of 3 large wooden boxes, dressed to look like postal packages, which opened up to reveal different worlds. I worked closely with the design team with wallpapering, painting, varnishing and treating these boxes to make them durable to extreme weather conditions. This show was performed outdoors at festivals including GDIF and as part of the 2012 Olympic Games, and included audience interaction with the set and performers. As well as usual stage management duties, the particulars of this project meant that I also needed to protect and maintain the set in the wet and windy weather we encountered, as well as other tasks associated with working with participatory audiences.
Testimonial
Sophie is a joy to work with and is always the first person we call when we need a production or stage manager. Her positive and creative approach makes her excellent at leading and uniting a team. Highly recommended!
Lakes Alive
Venue
Cumbrian towns, villages and hillsides
These were small festivals, usually a couple of consecutive days in a small village, town or hillside. We’d transform these picturesque, rural locations into bustling outdoor art meccas. I’d take care of the acts and companies working in a particular zone and manage that area. Whatever the weather, the festival and shows would still happen, we were in Cumbria where it rains, a lot.
I was also lucky enough to partake of the summer school for Street performance where we worked with already established companies from around Europe. We learnt their techniques and then performed their acts at Mint Fest.