Tag Archive: Vaudeville Theatre

1. White Light Up to Mischief Movie Nights

   16 December 2020 10:40 Leave a Comment

   

   Created by the Olivier Award-winning Mischief Theatre, Mischief Movie Nights recently made its much-anticipated return to London’s West End. Opening at the Vaudeville Theatre, this fully improvised show sees audience members suggest a film genre, location and title, which the Mischief team then use to bring the ‘live movie’ to life before their eyes. The lighting designer is David Howe who approached White Light to supply the lighting equipment. 

   Mischief Theatre is one of the most prominent theatre companies in London’s West End, having created The Play That Goes Wrong, Peter Pan Goes Wrong, Magic Goes Wrong and The Comedy About A Bank Robbery. Mischief Movie Nights is the first of their productions to open following the Covid-19 outbreak. David comments: “We had initially hoped that Magic Goes Wrong, which has been playing at the Vaudeville since last December, would be able to re-open; albeit with a few tweaks for the current times we’re living in. That said, as the situation evolved, it was proving difficult to keep adapting the show to match the ever-changing guidelines. As such, it was decided that Mischief Movie Nights would be a better option as it is an improvised show, meaning less rehearsal time, along with the fact that it was much easier to make any last-minute changes if needed”.    

   Mischief Movie Nights was first performed back in 2009, under its original title of Lights! Camera! Improvise! at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. It has developed over the years and David joined the creative team when it made its West End debut at The Arts Theatre in 2017. He explains: “Movie Nights is essentially centred around a film director who asks the audience at the start of each performance what type of film they want to see. This is then performed by the cast who are ‘controlled’ by the Director’s remote control, meaning he is free to hit pause, comment on the action or rewind/fast forward to other sections. The improv possibilities are endless, and it’s even been known to jump to a ‘Director’s Cut’, behind-the-scenes documentary footage or even deleted scenes, such is the nature of the show.  

   

   As this is an improvised production which changes every single evening, this obviously impacts David’s design. He explains: “With the show having no set structure apart from the welcome to the audience, this means that the type of film they choose to watch dictates what design is required. As a company of actors, Mischief are an incredibly tight group and visual comedy is an important theme running through their work so it would have been hugely dissatisfying to present the show with a single ‘look’. Therefore, the rig I designed needed to have many options to add to their performance as well allow for bold, clear choices that clearly define space and location for everyone. Similarly, colour is important, and we have a Gauze Cyc that we can dial-up any variation of colour we need along with a range of gobo textures.  We also have a large range of specials focused around the set that the cast are aware of and often move scenes into these prepared areas, which then allows us to close the lighting down around them and focus the attention. 

   He continues: “It goes without saying that the operator is a key (not to mention busy!) member of the team as the programming has to allow for the director’s frequent pauses as well as have the ability to rewind, fast forward through action and then re-call a state that perhaps had been used a few minutes before. As such, the programming is intense and has many cross-referencing macros giving us the options and flexibility we need.  We use an ETC-Gio console with a customised Magic Sheet and a fully loaded sub-master fader wing for manual control. Production Electrician and Programmer Ed Locke has programmed the show since 2017 so it has evolved a great deal as we’ve seen more and more of the ‘films’ performed and added to our store of locations and choices”. 

   Once he discovered that Mischief Movie Nights was being revived at the Vaudeville, David approached the Hires Team at WL to achieve the exact fixtures he required. His rig includes a mixture of ETC Source Fours, ColorForce Battens, MAC Auras and MAC Encores. He explains: “The moving lights provide the intensity and impact I needed for the bold looks. There can’t be too much movement as there is no-knowing what might come next in the show and therefore nothing can be pre-set in advance. That said, I’m really pleased with the package we have and it’s great to see the operator and cast in total synchronicity, telling a story that uses the building blocks of light I’ve designed”. 

   

   As Mischief Movie Nights was taking place during a global pandemic, this obviously meant for a slightly surreal rehearsal and tech process for David and the team. He comments: “Mischief and our producer Kenny Wax with Nimax Theatres spent a lot of time and effort in making sure that the theatre felt like a place we could all be in at the same time for long periods; something which we were incredibly appreciate of. The cast and crew were also all having regular Covid tests with quick results within 15 minutes, so we all knew we were safe to work. The turnaround was fast: we loaded-in on Monday morning, focused mid-afternoon and had a few states in the desk by the end of Monday night. Tuesday morning, we were all sent for Covid tests and then back to the theatre for a lighting and tech session. Since the opening three minutes of the show are really the only fixed point, it was then a matter of giving Helen, our Operator, the console and letting her rehearse with the cast as they refined their timings and I was able to make adjustments to focuses, colour palettes and timings. Helen has worked with us before on this show, so I watched in amazement as looks came and went with great panache. She deservedly gets a Bow in the curtain call”.

   The show opened earlier this month and was originally intended to run until 31^st January 2021. However, with London having now entered Tier 3, Nimax Theatres have announced that all shows within its venues will be suspended from today until 8^th January 2021. 

   David concludes: “It was a fantastic experience to be in a theatre once again, working with some brilliant individuals and creating a truly unique and equally hilarious show. It’s a shame that we find ourselves in this situation once again; particularly as everyone was so safe and cautious and the appropriate measures were all in place. It’s a scary and unpredictable time for so many of us in our industry and I am just hopeful that in the new year, we can return to some sort of normality and get back to entertaining audiences and doing what we love”.  

   Photos courtesy of Pamela Raith.
   
   

2. Leading Light with…Charlie Morgan Jones – Part 1

   5 April 2018 10:38 Comments Off on Leading Light with…Charlie Morgan Jones – Part 1

   

   Lighting Designer Charlie Morgan Jones

   This month’s Leading Light is Charlie Morgan Jones. A previous nominee for the WhatsOnStage Best Lighting Design Award, his work spans the full theatrical spectrum, from multiple musical productions to the West End to immersive theatre to international operas. He’s currently at the Royal Court Theatre in Liverpool with Derren Brown Underground and has taken the time out to speak to us about his story so far.

   As always with Leading Light, we go back to the very beginning and for Charlie this is Barry, Vale of Glamorgan, which is in South Wales. He comments: “I was born and raised in Barry and lived there till I was 18. It’ll always be home for me. It’s very much a quiet town where the people are nice and everyone knows who you are. My bedroom window opened out onto the Bristol Channel and it really was a blissful place to grow up”. Charlie was an only child and lived with his mum and dad. He explains: “Mum is an English teacher and always took me to the theatre throughout my childhood. Dad is a photographer and my Grandparents loved classical music and I remember going to the Symphony Hall in Birmingham. Therefore I was certainly raised in a very ‘artsy’ family”.

   Having attended theatre from the point where he admits to being “the screaming baby at the back”, Charlie’s personal first memory of theatre comes from when he was aged four. He recalls: “The first thing I remember seeing was a production of Turandot at the Welsh National Opera. It was just incredible. I remember this corrugated set which featured hundreds of heads all across the stage. It was lit by a woman called Heather Carson and I randomly looked back at the production shots a couple of years ago and it still looked spectacular”.

   

   Charlie in his Cathedral School Llandaff uniform

   Despite his mum being an English teacher, Charlie is the first to admit that he was far from academic. He comments: “I went to a lovely school in Llandaff which was about eight miles away in Cardiff. The teachers there were great and really pushed me. That said, I didn’t push back. I literally just wanted to spend every day larking around and making people laugh. I didn’t really put in the energy to apply myself to anything”.

   During his schooldays, Charlie continued to see a lot of shows. He comments: “With the New Theatre being based in Cardiff, this meant that they had a different show each week and whether it was am dram, musical, farce or panto, mum and dad would always take me”. Charlie also took part in the school plays which were held every summer and Christmas. His first ‘theatrical credit’ was his unforgettable portrayal of a Rabbit in Wind in the Willows at the age of 7. Yet school was to further Charlie’s passion for theatre when a new state-of-the-art theatre was built. Charlie recalls: “I was 13 years old and for some unknown reason, my parents had bought me a smoke machine. I told my Drama teacher who asked me if she could borrow it for a show. I said yes and then she asked if I wanted to light it as well. I didn’t really know what I was agreeing to but I just said yes!”. Charlie ended up making his lighting debut on what he describes as “Stars in Their Eyes extravangza”. He recalls: “I lit the show on a two scene desk so it was literally on off, on off. That said, I had a blast and my teacher let me light lots of other shows. I think I became the only designer in history to light Joseph without any colour! Then again I was just having a good time and enjoyed the whole lighting process”.

   

   Concorde would actually have a big influence on Charlie’s career choice.

   Yet Charlie didn’t want to be a designer just yet. Rather, he had other ambitions: “I wanted to be a pilot – something I wanted to be for as long as I can remember”. And there was one particular plane that Charlie has a somewhat unhealthy obsession with: “I was madly obsessed with Concorde. My aunt lived in Reading which was on the flightpath to Heathrow and at 5:30pm every evening, I would run into the garden as soon as I heard the plane up ahead. I was so obsessed that, when I was ten, I wrote to British Airways saying I love Concorde and they needed to help me. To my amazement, a chap called Claude Freeman wrote back who was then Head of British Airways Maintenance. He asked if I wanted to spend a day at our maintenance facility and I, of course, said yes! I spent the whole day on a Concorde but not just any Concorde – the flagship plane named G-BOAC. I even received a Blue Peter badge”.

   However, Charlie’s dream of flying Concorde was to be quickly dashed when he was just 15. He recalls: “They decommissioned Concorde which was a genuine blow to my piloting dreams. It felt like there was no end goal now as my ultimate ambition was to fly that plane”.

   

   Charlie during his work experience days at Wales Millennium Centre. 

   While his Concorde dream was coming to an end, Charlie was still busy lighting shows at school. He recalls: “My Drama teacher, Claire Morgan, was very supportive. She would let me stand on chairs to rig lights and I even had a key to the drama studio (something I would use when I wanted to skip Chemistry). I used to spend all my time in there, playing with levels and cue timings. It was a very basic desk with 24 channels on top and 24 on bottom but it was my be all and end all”. Charlie soon became the school’s go to lighting designer and began to explore lighting outside of the drama studio. He recalls: “When I was 16, my mum introduced me to Perryn Leech, Welsh National Opera’s Technical Director. I soon embarked on work Experience on WNO Max’s Candide which was a fantastic experience. Perryn would also prove to be extremely supportive of me and introduced me to Dorset Opera – where I did two seasons as Assistant Lighting Designer. I was lucky enough to return in 2014 to light their 40th anniversary season as the fully fledged LD”.

   Charlie passed his GCSEs and continued with his A Levels, which included Drama, Physics, Maths Statistics and Geography. He comments: “I went to a college that was different to my high school and really didn’t enjoy it. The only fond memory I have is spending time in the theatre! I also used to host a show on the local radio station called Spotlight which was all about theatre”.

   During this time, Charlie continued his work experience at the Wales Millennium Centre, which included Acorn Antiques – the Musical.  It was here he met Technical Director Dicky Burgess who said if Charlie wanted a job as a followspotter, he should email Dicky when he was 18. Charlie comments: “The day after my 18^th birthday I emailed him and was offered a job as a followspotter: something I did for five years. The first show I worked on there was White Christmas where I was lucky enough to meet Lighting Designer Ken Billington. I remember he told me: ‘Kid, if they walk and talk, they get a light'”.

   

   Rose Bruford was a life-changing experience for Charlie.

   Yet all this focus on theatre meant Charlie’s studies were neglected and he failed his exams. However, he wasn’t giving up on education just yet: “Whilst I was working at the WMC, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was visiting and the Chief LX was a chap called Chris Vaughn. He told me to apply to drama school as he felt it would be a great experience for me. So, I applied to Rose Bruford in secret – mainly as I didn’t think I’d get in. I was then invited to interview with Rachel Nicholson and to my complete and utter surprise, she offered me a place!”. Charlie soon left Barry and made his way to London; something he describes as “terrifying and great”. And it seems that Rose Bruford was the one educational institution where Charlie really felt at home. He comments: “I had the most incredible three years at Rose Bruford and really honed my craft. The Programme Director Hansjorg Schmidt was the most nurturing man and gave me some incredible support. I took the Lighting Design course although not everyone taking it wanted to be an LD (one is now a Royal Navy Officer!). That said, I knew for a fact that this was what I was going to do and that marked me out slightly”.

   During his time at Rose Bruford, Charlie began to work at the Vaudeville as a Board Operator. He recalls: “Working at the Vaudeville was also an education in itself as I got to see a new lighting designer’s work on a new show every three months. Peter Mumford lit the first show I worked on there (you can read Peter’s Leading Light here) whereas Mark Henderson lit the second one. You essentially had the dons of lighting design coming in and I was behind them in a dress rehearsal. It was at that point when I thought – I could be this guy”.

   Click here to read Part Two.