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  1. White Light Supplies Gilded Balloon Venues at Edinburgh Fringe

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    White Light has returned to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe where it is supplying the lighting and rigging equipment for all of the Gilded Balloon venues for the sixth year running.

    Edinburgh Festival Fringe is the world’s single biggest celebration of arts and culture. Every August, the Scottish capital welcomes around 3,500 shows in over 300 venues, including theatre, comedy, dance, circus, opera and much more. As a leading lighting supplier to West End and UK touring theatre, WL is currently working with Gilded Balloon – one of the Big Four venue operators at the Fringe. 

    WL’s Customer Service Key Account Manager Dan Last comments: “We work closely with Gilded Balloon across their five buildings: Teviot (nine spaces), The Museum (auditorium space), Old Tolbooth Market (three spaces), Rose Theatre (three spaces) and the newly-acquired Patter Hoose (five spaces). Our role is to supply the lighting and rigging solutions in each of these, ensuring that they are well-equipped and able to host a range of performances throughout the Festival”.

    Prior to the Fringe, Dan and the WL team work closely with Gilded Balloon to decide on the equipment that will be used in each space. Dan explains: “We initially work with Karen and Katy Koren who each run Gilded Balloon, which is one of the only ‘Big Four’ producers who are Scottish based and operated. As we move closer to the Festival, we then liaise with Production Manager Meredith Rehburg and Technical Manager Simon Cook to finalise the specific technical requirements”.

    This year saw the Gilded Balloon take on a new venue: Patter Hoose. Unlike the other spaces which were utilised at previous festivals, the producers had to create the technical set-up completely from scratch. Dan explains: “With Patter Hoose, we were asked to go up in January to see the space, which at that time was essentially four blank rooms and one lecture theatre. We were shown round the different spaces and asked to give recommendations as to what was needed to transform them into areas suitable for performance”.  

    Dan and WL’s Project Manager Luke Hance travelled back to Edinburgh in mid-July, two weeks before the Festival opened. They spent the first week working at Patter Hoose, building the truss structures, installing the lighting and ensuring the whole set-up worked efficiently. The following week they moved onto Teviot and the other three venues. With the Teviot having nine spaces, this meant that WL had to oversee a large install in a short amount of time. As a result, Gilded Balloon brought in a crew of 30 technicians who were overseen by WL’s Production Technician Thomas Tomkins. 

    Dan explains: “Once the second week finishes, this is when the companies and technicians who will be there for the month start to arrive and tech their shows. As a result, we make sure we are on hand to offer them any guidance or assistant when using the equipment. This is something we also offer throughout the entire month”.

    Alongside the Gilded Balloon, WL is also supplying the lighting equipment for CanadaHub, a church which has been converted into a theatre space and showcases the very best of Canada’s contemporary performance scene.  Dan concludes: “It’s been fantastic working at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in its busiest year yet. When we first started working with the Gilded Balloon, they had one building and have since grown exponentially. What’s great is that, as a company, we’ve been able to support this growth every step of the way and ensure each of its spaces have the technical solutions  needed to host thousands of performances across a short space of time”. 

  2. White Light Returns to Edinburgh Fringe with Gilded Balloon

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    teviot_0001b_photo-steve-ullathorneThe Edinburgh Festival Fringe is the single biggest celebration of arts and culture on the planet. Every August, Scotland’s capital welcomes an explosion of creative work from across the globe, with this year marking the Fringe’s seventieth anniversary. 2017 is set to be the busiest festival yet, with more than 50,000 performances of 3,300 shows in over 300 venues. Gilded Balloon is one of the four largest venues at the Fringe and White Light is once again supplying the lighting equipment in all of its spaces.

    The Gilded Balloon has an international reputation for presenting a programme of theatre, comedy and cabaret.  The venue was established in 1986 and, in 2001, moved to Teviot Row House where it currently resides during the Fringe Festival. For over ten years, WL has supplied the venue with the latest lighting equipment and this year has proven to be no exception. Dan Last, WL’s Senior Hire Co-ordinator, comments: “The Gilded Balloon is one of the busiest venues during the Fringe. As a result, it is vital that we provide the latest lighting technology. Our brief was to supply equipment that was not only suitable for the numerous spaces but would offer lighting designers and their creative teams as many options as possible”.

    Gilded Balloon has over 14 spaces during the Fringe, including the Billiard Hall, Balcony, Dining Room, Turret and even the Wine Bar. Dan states: “Such is the nature of the Fringe that lots of spaces which are not traditionally considered to be ‘theatrical’ are transformed to accommodate the multitude of performances. Gilded is a great example of this and the spaces within Teviot Row House are each used to their full potential”.

    IMG_0305This year in the Gilded Balloon’s Nightclub space, there will be a range of comedy acts, including the Stephen K Amos Talk Show and Sean Hughes’s Blank Book, along with a Donald Trump satire and even a midnight rave party which lasts three hours. In the Nightclub, WL has supplied a range of Martin Professional MAC Aura LEDs, Mac Profiles, a range of Fresnels and ETC Source Fours along with Prolyte trussing.

    Alongside the Nightclub, the Debating Hall at Gilded Balloon also has an extremely busy programme, with children’s shows such as KID/DUB, a live stand up show by John Shuttleworth along with the grand final of So You Think You’re Funny?. For the Debating Hall, WL has supplied Martin MAC Aura Washlights, SGM LED Washlights, Unique 2 Haze Machines, Look Solutions Viper Smoke Machines along with DMX Splitters. Similarly, the Balcony space, which will host productions such as Ray Bradshaw’s BSL stand up show, is drawing on equipment such as ETC Source Four Lustr Profiles along with BB4 LED Washlights.

    Dan states: “Each space is of varying size, layout and caters for different types of show. Therefore we needed to ensure that what we supplied was perfectly suited for each one. As a result, we worked two weeks on the build of the various rigs, as well as oversaw the technical previews to ensure everything was in place and ready to go for the opening”.

    The Edinburgh Festival Fringe officially opened last week and will run until the end of August.

    Dan comments: “We’re delighted to be back at the Fringe again and supplying the lights to one of the busiest and most exciting venues in all of Edinburgh. As a company whose heritage is firmly rooted in theatre, we appreciate what a significant role that the Fringe plays in this, so it’s great to be at the heart of this”.

    Photos courtesy of Dan Last and Steve Ullathorne.