Every year, the most exciting theatre companies gather in the tunnels beneath Waterloo Station to take part in the VAULT Festival. The Festival allows artists from all backgrounds to showcase their work in some of London’s most adaptable theatre spaces. This year, there are more than 300 individual shows taking place across 11 performance spaces. Following its work on all of the previous VAULT Festivals, WL has returned once again to offer the complete technical solutions along with the support of its apprentices.
The Festival was founded in 2012 by Andy George, Tim Wilson and Mat Burt. Andy, the Festival’s Co-Director, comments: “The first VAULT Festival took place in 2012. The idea was to bring together artists who otherwise were struggling to find places they could perform fringe or experimental work and couldn’t afford the big rents of the traditional venues. VAULT wanted to provide a fair financial platform where artists could present creatively-risky shows and where the sum of the parts was bigger than the individual. To this day, we have always endeavoured to stick to our original ethos of putting the artists, our audience and our staff at the centre of everything we do”.
The 2018 Festival has grown considerably in comparison to 2012. Andy explains: “The 2012 Festival was three weeks long and showcased around 15 groups of artists. This year, we have over 340 groups of artists presenting work across 8 weeks. There are also 11 theatres, vehicles and pop-up immersive venues. Despite how much we’ve expanded as a festival, we want to ensure we remain true to our guiding principles of trust, opportunity, personability, equality and kindness”.
Another aspect of the Festival that has remained the same is WL’s involvement. Andy comments: “WL played a huge part in the Festival before the doors even first opened. This year they have provided all of the lighting, control, rigging and SFX for the 11 theatres and pop-up venues (as well as the five bars and Front of House areas). Their support and expertise in site specific and non-conventional spaces has allowed the festival to keep evolving and support the artists of today and tomorrow.
He adds: “We build all of our theatre venues and bars from scratch. From rigging and trussing, to cabling, to programming; we construct each venue to be able to handle the 340 shows that will take place in the site specific tunnels across the 8 weeks. Each of our theatres will host between 2 – 4 shows per evening, with 30 minute turnarounds between shows, so having the right technical setup means shows can achieve a lot with relatively little”.
Alongside providing the equipment, WL’s apprentices are once again providing the technical support for the various visiting companies, along with the building of our numerous theatres and venues. He comments: “The VAULT Festival was created with the ambition to provide opportunities; not just for our companies and audiences, but also for everyone we work with. Working with the WL apprentices is an opportunity for us to be able to work with the lighting technicians of the future; they come brimming with huge ambition and a hunger for learning”.
The Festival opened on 24th January and will run until 18th March.
Andy concludes: “The VAULT Festival continues to grow and grow year on year and we’re amazed at the stage it’s reached already. We’re hugely proud of our relationship with WL and their apprentices and really hope this will continue long into our future”.
Bryan Raven, WL’s Managing Director, adds: “We are delighted to once again be working on this year’s VAULT Festival. It is one of the few opportunities for up and coming artists to showcase their work and it allows us to play a role in supporting the next generation of theatre-makers”.
Photos courtesy of VAULT Festival.