Italia Conti is the leading performing arts college institution in Great Britain. Founded in 1911, it has since became a global leader in delivering a wide range of disciplines, with many of its graduates becoming household names. The college’s extremely high standards need to be reflected not only in its teachings but also its facilities. As a result, it recently decided to upgrade its Avondale Theatre space and approached WL to provide a range of new fixtures.
The Production and Stage Manager at Italia Conti is Amy Stevenson. She comments: “My role at the college is to work on the numerous productions across the academy; whether it’s a large-scale musical to a small studio drama. I also deal with the maintenance of our two in-house theatres, including the Avondale which seats 150 and is a great, versatile space. That said, it hadn’t been upgraded in a very long time and was struggling to keep up with the higher demands of the shows we were producing”.
Not only that but the lack of upgrade also proved to be extremely costly. Amy adds: “Due to the equipment we had being inadequate for the productions we were working on, this meant we were constantly hiring in equipment for each show; whether it was a desk, dimmers or moving lights. We reached the point where we knew we needed a more permanent arrangement as we knew the shows would simply continue to grow in ambition”.
As a result, Amy approached WL having worked with them before. She comments: “I had numerous discussions with our in-house lighting designer to discuss what we needed within the space. I then spoke to WL’s Business Development Manager Jonathan Haynes who offered his advice as to what fixtures he believed would fulfil our needs as well as fall within out budget”.
WL’s Business Development Manager Jonathan Haynes.
Jonathan explains: “I met with Amy to discuss her requirements for the new lighting system, and worked on a proposal to offer the most flexibility and value for money. I suggested the ETC ColorSource range as a high end yet affordable solution and we loaned some to Amy and the team to see how they responded within the space. We also suggested an electrical inspection to ensure that the theatre was completely safe prior to us providing any new fixtures”.
Following the electrical inspection, WL supplied brand-new distribution boards along with a new dimming system and hot power racks. They also supplied a range of ETC ColorSource Pars along with an ETC Ion console. Amy states: “We decided to invest in the ColorSource Pars after Jonathan demonstrated them and we were impressed by their output. Similarly, we decided to purchase the ETC Ion as we know this is industry standard; which is exactly what we want for our students”.
WL has now supplied the equipment and the space has been utilised for numerous end-of-year productions. Amy states: “The new fixtures have made an incredible difference; especially as we’re no longer limited to 200 cues for one show! The equipment has made the productions run much smoother and more efficiently, not to mention losing the lengths of socapex running from the desk to the dimmers has allowed for tidier cable runs. We are delighted with the new set-up and are extremely grateful to WL for being so helpful throughout”.
Jonathan adds: “A lot of colleges, such as Italia Conti, are training the next generation of theatre professionals so it’s important they have the latest technology; both for those on stage and behind-the-scenes. We have vast experience of working with organisations of all sizes, whether it’s Rose Bruford, Latymer Upper School or Kingston University. In each instance, we were able to work closely with the client to provide a solution bespoke to their needs; just as we’ve done on this occasion”.
Photos courtesy of Italia Conti.