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Serious Stages at International Festival of The Sea
Serious Stages supplied structures and stages to six areas of the 2005 International Festival of the Sea in Portsmouth. The event was a celebration uniting sailors, ships, musicians, artists and entertainers from all points of the compass.
This year’s event was boosted by being preceded by Trafalgar 200 – the bicentennial celebration of the Battle of Trafalgar – also staged in and around Portsmouth’s Naval Dockyard.
It was the second time Serious has been involved in IFOS – the first being at Leith Docks in Edinburgh in 2003. They were brought on board by production manager Dick Tee, with whom they have collaborated on numerous other projects.
A lively mix of music over the three days included reggae, salsa, bluegrass, European gypsy music and Celtic tunes alongside soul, jazz and big band sounds – as well as more traditional seafaring entertainment.
The largest Serious structure was the 15 metre Orbit ‘World Stage’ - constructed on the quay adjacent to the HMS Victory – Lord Nelson’s legendary battleship. This stage featured two bays and 5 metres of trim height onstage plus 4.8 metre square PA wings either side. Its busy daily schedule of bands and performers ran from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
The ‘Run Ashore’ stage was a 12 metre Serious Orbit, with one bay and PA wings similar to the World Stage. This was located right next to the waterfront on the end of a jetty on the other side of the 150 acre site to the Victory.
The ‘Sea Flavours’ stage part one featured a 10 metre Orbit, with a single bay but no PA wings, and was located on The Parade, one of the central walkways in the main Dockyard HQ area. Part two of the Sea Flavours stage featured 9.6 x 7.2 metres of Serious decking, positioned just beside the Orbit.
The ‘Shanty Folk’ stage consisted of a ‘Rapid-7’ stage, co-ordinated by Serious and supplied by 8 x 4 Hire Ltd. This featured an international programme of 'songs of the sea' and traditional music, sang out towards the visiting tall ships moored along the quayside.
In addition to all these, Serious built 12 scaffold structures in the Combat Arena. These were dressed and used for a military combat show, demonstrating various forms of combat in different environments - from the desert to the jungle - in mock battles and war scenes. Serious also supplied screen supports for a 7.2 x 5 metre LED screen plus eight others, measuring 10 and 18 metres square, five at 10 m2 and three at 18 m2 dotted around the zone.
Serious’s crew chief was Steve McConnell. Their 12 crew started the build on the Monday and finished on the Friday, in time for Trafalgar 200 to kick off. The Rapid 7 and decking stages were then added on the following Monday with IFOS kicking off that following Friday.
The biggest challenge was the vastness of the site and ensuring that the right parts for each stage got to the correct location at the right time
19th July 2005
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