Spring 2020Spring 2020SightlineSightline Journal of Theatre Technology and DesignJournal of Theatre Technology and DesignClimate Emergency – new initiatives:Climate Emergency – new initiatives: On Bear Ridge On Bear Ridge Green Adventures Green AdventuresThe Sondheim Theatre refurbishmentThe Sondheim Theatre refurbishmentDid the Earth Move? – The Prince of EgyptDid the Earth Move? – The Prince of EgyptDiversity in Sight?Diversity in Sight?COLLECTIVE STRENGTHIndustry Supporters’ GroupISG member 2020SILVERISG member 2020BRONZEISG member 2020GOLDISG member 2020PLATINUMNimax Theatres Ltd 020 7395 0780 | www.nimaxtheatres.com | general@nimaxtheatres.comSociety of London Theatre 020 7557 6700 | www.solt.co.uk | enquiries@soltukt.co.uk Steeldeck Industries Ltd 020 8692 9721 | www.steeldeckUK.com | sales@steeldeck.co.ukTheatreplan 020 7841 0440 | www.theatreplan.com | info@theatreplan.comTheatre Projects Consultants Ltd 020 7482 4224 | www.theatreprojects.com| uk@theatreprojects.comTheatres Trust 020 7836 8591 | www.theatrestrust.org.uk | info@theatrestrust.org.uk Torpedo Factory Group 01706 849 469 | www.tfg.com | sales@tfg.comTrail Systems +358 (0) 40 517 43 74 | www.trail.fi| contact@trail.fiTysers Entertainment & Sport (formerly Integro)0203 9150 0342 | www.tysersentertainment.com | andy.rudge@tysers.com UK Theatre 020 7557 6700 | www.uktheatre.org | ukt@soltukt.co.ukUnusual Rigging Ltd 01604 830 083 | www.unusual.co.uk | info@unusual.co.ukWhite Light Ltd 020 8254 4800 | www.whitelight.ltd.uk | info@whitelight.ltd.ukA.C. 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Ltd 01525 370 292 | www.mypowerdrive.com | info@mypowerdrive.comTotal Solutions Group 0121 772 5234 | www.trussing.com | info@trussing.com Trafalgar Entertainment Group 020 7321 5400 | www.trafalgarentertainment.com | trafalgarmanagement@trafalgarentertainment.comTriple E Ltd 01959 570 333 | www.3-eee.com | info@3-eee.comVari-Lite Strand +31 (0) 543 542 531 | www.vari-lite.com / www.strandlighting.com| entertainment.europe@signify.com Voluntary Arts 02920 395 395 | www.voluntaryarts.org | info@voluntaryarts.org Allies and MorrisonSILVER ISG MEMBERSISG member 2020SILVERISG member 2020BRONZEISG member 2020GOLDISG member 2020ORIGINALORIGINAL10K Used Gear Limited 020 8308 9566 | www.10Kused.com | info@10Kused.com 1stintheatre Ltd 0333 335 0374 | www.1stintheatre.co.uk | info@1stintheatre.co.uk AECOM 020 7061 7000 | www.aecom.com | John.burgess@aecom.comAedas Arts Team 020 7480 1500 | www.aedas.com/aedasartsteam | artsteam@aedas.comAnderson Bradshaw Ltd 07544 095620 | michael@abltd.orgArtistic Licence Engineering Ltd 020 8863 4515 | www.artisticlicence.com | sales@artisticlicence.comAudio Light Systems Ltd 0800 043 4600 | www.audiolightsystems.com | enquiry@audiolightsystems.comAvison Young 020 7911 2265 | www.avisonyoung.co.uk | mike.cook@avisonyoung.comAVW Controls Ltd 01379 898 340 | www.avw.co.uk | info@avw.co.ukBlack Cat Music & Acoustics 01892 619 719 | www.blackcatmusic.co.uk | sales@blackcatmusic.co.ukBlue Chilli Flying 01234 780 180 | www.bluechilliflying.com | info@bluechilliflying.comBuroHappold Engineering 01225 320 600 | www.burohappold.com | jennifer.phillips@BuroHappold.comBurrell Foley Fischer LLP 020 7620 6114 | www.bff-architects.com | mail@bff-architects.co.ukCamstage 01727 830 151| www.camstage.com | sales-team@camstage.com Carr & Angier 01225 446 664 | www.carrandangier.co.uk | info@carrandangier.co.ukCentral Theatre Supplies 0121 778 6400 | www.centraltheatresupplies.co.uk | enquiries@centraltheatresupplies.co.ukClark Door Ltd 01228 522 321 | www.clarkdoor.com | sales@clarkdoor.comConisbee 020 7700 6666 | www.conisbee.co.uk | design@conisbee.co.uk CWS Lifting and Safety Ltd0117 941 5306 | www.cwslifting.co.uk | sales@cwslifting.co.ukd&b audiotechnik GB Ltd 01453 835 884 | www.dbaudio.com | info.gb@dbaudio.comDrama By Design 0845 644 3846 | www.dramabydesign.com | info@dramabydesign.comDurham Scenic Workshops 0191 371 9238 | www.durhamscenicworkshops.co.uk | info@durhamscenicworkshops.co.ukEnlightened 01179 727 123 | www.enlx.co.uk | info@enlx.co.ukEquals 020 7580 3360 | www.equalsconsulting.com | mail@equalsconsulting.comeStage 020 7112 8903 | www.eStage.net | studio@eStage.netFinch Consulting (Health & Safety) 07527 002 689 | www.finch-consulting.com | Melvin.Sandell@finch-consulting.comFlashlight Ltd 01706 625 866 | www.flash-light.co.uk | sales@flash-light.co.ukFoster Wilson Architects 020 7354 1315 | www.fosterwilsonarchitects.com | mail@fosterwilsonarchitects.comGDS (Global Design Solutions) 0117 325 0063| www.gds.uk.com | sales@gds.uk.comGillieron Scott Acoustic Design 020 8671 2223 | www.gsacoustics.org | info@gsacoustics.orgGoboPlus 020 3603 1335 | www.goboplus.com | enquiries@goboplus.comGort Services 01706 849 295 | www.gorts.co.uk | sales@gorts.co.ukHarkness Screens (UK) Ltd 01438 725 200 | www.harkness-screens.com | sales@harkness-screens.comHarper Tackley Consultants 07976 279 701 | www.harpertackley.com | simon@harpertackley.comHaworth Tompkins 020 7250 3225 | www.haworthtompkins.com | info@haworthtompkins.comHayles and Howe Ltd 0117 972 7200 | www.haylesandhowe.co.uk | info@haylesandhowe.co.ukHOAC Schweisstechnik GmbH +49 (0) 2841 90828-0 | www.hoac.com | info@hoac.comHoward Eaton Lighting Ltd 01273 400 670 | www.helluk.com | info@helluk.comHSL Group Holdings Ltd 01254 698 808 | www.hslgroup.com | simon.stuart@hslgroup.comIDIBRI 024 7667 3645 | www.idibri.com | contact@idibri.comIlluminate Design 01206 709 694 | www.illuminatedesign.co.uk | info@illuminatedesign.co.ukJohn Young Creative Industries 01252 711816 | www.jyci.co.uk | johnyoung@jyci.co.ukJust Rigging & Inspections Ltd 01244 678 324 | www.just-rigging.com | enquiries@just-rigging.comLee Filters 01264 366 245 I www.leefilters.com | marketing@leefilters.comLevitt Bernstein 020 7275 7676 I www.levittbernstein.co.uk | hello@levittbernstein.co.ukLocker and Riley Fibrous Plastering Ltd 01245 322 022 | www.lockerandriley.com | enquiries@lockerandriley.comMayr Transmissions Ltd 01535 663 900 | www.mayr.com | sales@mayr.co.ukMDG FOG UK 01604 741 000 | www.mdgfoguk.com contact@mdgfoguk.comMultistage International Ltd 01284 750 474 | www.multistage.co.uk | info@multistage.co.ukMushroom Lighting 01604 790 900 | www.mushroomlighting.com | info@mushroomlighting.comNorthern Light 0131 622 9100 | www.northernlight.co.uk | info@northernlight.co.ukOtago Blue Ltd 01837 54059 | www.otagoblue.co.uk | info@otagoblue.co.ukPlann Ltd 020 3846 9230 | www.plann.co | Julia@plann.coPress Red Rentals Ltd 01952 587 049 | www.pressred.biz | rentals@pressred.bizProduction Safety Ltd 07973 159 402 | www.productionsafety.co.uk | mail@productionsafety.co.ukPulse Consult 0121 389 8658 | www.pulseconsult.co.uk | enquiries@pulseconsult.co.ukRB Health and Safety Solutions Ltd 0845 257 1489 | www.rbhealthandsafety.co.uk | admin@rbhealthandsafety.co.ukRigging Services Direct Ltd 0845 555 6575 | www.riggingservices.co.uk | info@riggingservices.co.ukRigging Team Ltd 020 3126 4040 | www.riggingteam.com | office@riggingteam.comRobolights Ltd 01392 823 040 | www.robolights.com | sales@robolights.comRoland International 01792 702 701 | www.proav.roland.com | Bharat.Kerai@roland.comRope Assemblies Ltd 01777 700714 | www.ropeassemblies.co.uk | sales@ropeassemblies.co.ukSansei Technologies Inc. 0081 6 6393 5621 | www.sansei-technologies.com/eng | www.sansei-technologies.com/eng/contactSlingco Ltd 01706 855 558 | www.thecablenet.net | sales@thecablenet.netSolutions on Stage 0117 244 8625 | www.solutionsonstage.co.uk | enquries@solutiononstage.co.ukSound Space Vision 020 8877 5860 | www.soundspacevision.com | SSV@soundspacevision.com Stage Electrics 03330 142 102 | www.stage-electrics.co.uk | sales@stage-electrics.co.uk Theatretech 01935 882 828 | www.theatretech.net | info@theatretech.netWe are Blueshed 01353 723750 | www.weareblueshed.co.uk | hire@weareblueshed.co.ukBRONZE ISG MEMBERSCOLLECTIVE STRENGTHIndustry Supporters’ Group Association of British Theatre Technicians55 Farringdon Road, London EC1M 3JBTel: 020 7242 9200 Fax: 020 7242 9303Email: office@abtt.org.uk Website: www.abtt.org.ukOFFICERS & COUNCILRichard Bunn ChairmanLouise Birchall Mig Burgess David Evans Andy Franks Matthew Freeman Co-optedDarren Joyce Peter Maccoy Paul Moore Co-optedAnette OllerearnshawTamykha Patterson Co-optedCaroline RouseNikki ScottEmma WilsonJohn YoungEX OFFICIO MEMBERS OF COUNCILMichael AndersonChairman, Safety CommitteeSebastian Barnes Chairman, Training & Education Comm.Tim FosterChairman, Theatre Design Comm.Roger FoxChairman, Historical Research Comm.Jean Shevelan Chairman, NorthNet – CommMark White Chairman, Communications and Publications CommitteeRoger Fox Company SecretaryMatthew Jones Honorary SecretaryLoretta Tomasi Honorary TreasurerSTAFFRobin Townley Chief Executive Officer (CEO)Elysia Moore Association Co-ordinatorStuart Roberts Financial ControllerCONSULTANTGeoffrey Joyce ABTT Training Co-ordinatorRegistered Charity 282069SightlineCONTENTSvol. 43 no. 1On Bear Ridge 8Green Adventures 12Brian Legge, 1933 - 2020 14Did the Earth Move? The Prince of Egypt 16Lighting Up 20Production Managers Forum AGM 24The Sondheim Theatre, London 26Diversity in Sight? 31Modern Theatres – Musiktheater, Gelsenkirchen, Germany 34Reflections on Candlelight 39School Theatre Support Group Conference 43 Stephen Joseph Association AGM & Seminar 44Young Associates page 45Technical Standards 47Members News 50Safety Matters 51Editor Rebecca MorlandPublisher John Offord Entertainment Technology Press Ltd The Studio, High Green, Great Shelford Cambridge, Cambs CB22 5EGTel: 01223 550805 Fax: 01223 550806Advertising enquiries should be sent to john@etnow.comSightline is published in March, June, September and December. Copies are sent to ABTT members as a benefit of membership. Current and past copies are also available via the ABTT website www.abtt.org.uk/shop at a cost of £5.00 (ABTT members) or £10.00 (non-Members).Opinions expressed in Sightline are not necessarily those of the Publisher or the Association of British Theatre Technicians. All rights are reserved and reproduction of any part in whatever form is prohibited without the prior permission of the ABTT and/or the Publisher. Information is published in good faith but no responsibility can be attached to the Publisher or to the Association or to any of their members or employees for the accuracy or for any liability arising therefrom. ISSN: 0265-9808 Sondheim Theatre. Auditorium dress circle, looking towards one of the reinstated side boxes. Photograph © Philip VileDims LED close to zero!For smooth fades with dimmable replacement LED, CFL or incandescent sourcesTrailing edge mains dimmersunDial quad yDMX512/RDM/Xicato controlled y4-channels, 1kW total yEditable dimming curve per output yAutomatic heat & current management yPreset, data loss and test modes yCAT III rated - install directly into DBs yGenerator tolerant design yDIN Rail or surface mountwww.ArtisticLicence.comSightline Spring 2020 7 EditorialWelcome to the spring edition of Sightline, which will be arriving on your doorsteps to herald the start of spring after a long damp winter.We’re increasingly aware that the climate emergency is starting to affect our lives and that everyone has a part in combatting this. There are already many great initiatives throughout our industry, and at Sightline I think one of our roles should be highlighting best practice, and therefore bringing these initiatives to wider attention. Otherwise we risk reinventing the same wheel in different parts of the county and different sections of the industry! This edition features two examples, and we would love to hear from anyone else who is doing great work in their own area at whatever scale. In the meantime, there’s lots to enjoy and learn from David Evans’ report about On Bear Ridge exploring the ways in which production design and delivery can be made more circular, and also from New Adventures where their award-winning initiative Green Adventures is bringing environmental sustainability to large-scale touring. I’m always very grateful (and interested) when someone takes the time to unpack the technical processes behind a production, and we have two nicely contrasting examples in this edition. John Young reports from the latest West End show Prince of Egypt and explains the detailed technical infrastructure that sits behind this biblical epic! At the time of writing this has yet to be reviewed, so I am looking forward to reading what reviewers think of such epic moments as the Parting of the Red Sea. In contrast James Laws explains the process he has gone through with students to explore the role that candlelight can play in theatre – an approach that is obviously still relevant in the light (sorry) of theatres such as the Sam Wanamaker.These technical processes rely on the skills and expertise of theatre technicians, who enter the industry through many different routes, and who improve their skills in many different ways. The ABTT obviously plays a key role in training, and Jonathan Brown in Lighting Up, highlights the pioneering work that ABTT did in the 1970s and from which he and others benefited. What his article also highlights is changes within the composition of the workforce, with the final cohort of students being considerably more diverse than earlier ones. Change is however, coming quite slowly, as the latest Arts Council report Equality, Diversity and the Creative Case demonstrates, and it is therefore quite timely that we return to one of the initiatives which is now making a difference, Stage Sight, previously featured in Autumn 2018 Sightline. It’s great to catch up with them, and we hope to return to other initiatives that we’ve featured over the last few years.The restoration of the Queens Theatre, now known as The Sondheim Theatre, attracted much publicity, as the building re-opened with the latest iteration of Les Miserables. Cameron Mackintosh’s commitment to the theatres he is responsible for is exceptional, and is estimated to have already cost him in the region of £125 million. We asked Julian Middleton, from Aedas Arts Team, whose team was responsible for the auditorium refurbishment, to explain the process, which he does in fascinating detail.There have been a lot of interesting events over the winter, and we manage to catch up on several here – in no particular order we hear back from the Production Managers Forum, the Stephen Joseph Association and the Schools Theatres Support Group. It is, of course, going to get even busier in the months ahead, with one of the highlights of the year – the ABTT Show – is coming up surprisingly soon. There’s a new commitment to sustainability at the show, which is highlighted in their recent blog, Review, Reimagine and Rethink abtttheatreshow.co.uk/review-reimagine-and-rethink/. Our next edition of Sightline comes out just before the show, so I’m sure we’ll be covering other related issues then.8 Sightline Spring 2020On Bear RidgeNational Theatre Wales and The Royal Court are two companies who strive to work sustainably, I think “strive” encompasses the duality of ambition and failure that is inevitable.In 2019 we co-produced Ed Thomas’ On Bear Ridge, the show opened and rehearsed in Cardiff so this is where the production process started and most of the decisions were made. When the set builders pulled out between the white card and the final model we were initially disturbed (understatement) but soon realised that this gave us an opportunity to rethink the build.Cai Dyfan’s set called for an almost four meter-tall rock upstage right. The obvious way to build this would have been a combination of frame work and polystyrene carving, but as we know polystyrene is non-recyclable, so a different solution needed to be found and this was part of the brief to Ridiculous Solutions who took on the build. “That will be interesting” responded the unflappable Richard of Ridiculous. The brief is key but so is the setting and On Bear Ridge sits in a world of desolation where a couple eke out a life in their old butcher’s shop. The Postman has stopped coming, their animals have disappeared, their once busy life has resolved itself into mere survival. If ever a world was created that required recycling and make do and mend this was it.The props were all recycled, recovered and repurposed, for which markets and ebay are perfect. There was no place for a shiny meat David Evans Head of Production, National Theatre Walesclever or a non-rusty chain – everything had to look old and used. The walls of the set were a palimpsest of the shop’s past, wall paper peeling off to revel old tiles, wooden planks over laying older planks, it was the shop’s history on display. One way to do this would have been to break down wallpaper, rough up vac form tiles, sand blast timber, stain and restain the wood until it acquired a patina of age and weathering. I have done this dozens of times, it is the tried and tested route. Instead Ridiculous Solutions went back to the intention of the design and hunted down old timber, old paper, old bits of chain. And working with Cai they composed the set, they created his vision from what they could find and by working with the designer his intentions were achieved. Working together they achieved the spirit of the design if not a slavish reproduction of the model.Changing our way of working must be a collaboration, the current hierarchy which places one role above another is not fertile ground for solutions to flourish, the designer must trust the Production Manager and the Production Manger must trust the Set construction company and the Set construction company must trust the designer etc … a circular relationship, not vertical. Most of the On Bear Ridge set was made from repurposed materials with the exception of some steel frame work, a cyc, the floor and some 2 x 1 timber (all from sustainable sources) – the steel can be recycled easily and the floor, despite being covered in various paints, can live again, if not on a stage and Model Box courtesy of National Theatre of WalesAutoCAD for Theatre Users – 4th edition David RipleyPrice: £32.00ISBN: 9781904031901From ‘Setting Up’ to ‘Drawing in Three Dimensions’ via ‘Drawings Within Drawings’, this compact and fully illustrated guide to AutoCAD covers everything from the basics to full colour rendering and remote 3D plotting. Fourth, completely revised edition, March 2018. Available from www.etbooks.co.uk or AmazonAlso now available:Health and Safety Management in the Live Music and Events Industy by Chris HannamWest End in Watercolour: a portrait of London theatre by John HigginsNext >