Wales Part 5

Venue Notes from Theatre Tour Tregaron 28 November Very small audience, maybe 14 people, not very responsive but laughing at Tregaron jokes School children are very excited to be participating though, so that adds a new energy to the production First time putting up the lighting truss in a space that will be used for an actual performance, good to have every set piece marked in place so they don’t move between focusing lights and the performance Center neutral Fresnel has no focusing knob, can’t spot down the lantern, creates a lot of spill onto the audience’s heads Lot of spill onto audience members, especially front rows, back wall behind the set, ceiling, sides of stage not as well lit Way to fix spill?: Higher stands give the fresnels more of a downward angle for focus, focus more on the floor instead of the wall behind it, generally can clear audience’s heads→only good if I have a ceiling tall enough to accommodate a truss of that height Dyffryn Banw 29 November Weird being in a gym->sound carried strangely, levels had to be adjusted from Tregaron space Larger, more receptive audience, mainly of school children More space to crank up the truss stands, still got a lot of spill on the audience front rows->would be useful to have people sitting in front rows while I focus in order to see if I can clear their heads Very useful having people on set while I’m focusing to make sure I get an even coverage of the space and not get any hot spots Potential problems with putting the truss higher->no ladder tall enough for me or any of the other actors/crew to reach, except for Lurch, if having to rely on Lurch for focusing may not get everything correctly focused on time Gower College 1 December Audience of college kids, not as receptive, kind of surly, but very interested in the elephant Stairs! Load in was exercise! Sprained wrist made helping out difficult, felt kind of useless as I couldn’t carry anything substantial, mainly just had to direct where lights and things were going, lighting team was really helpful->they’re getting comfortable in their roles and know what to do, not always asking me what to do next but taking the initiative to remember what has to be done and do it themselves, still have to go behind them and correct some things but they are doing really well Lampeter 2 December Audience was receptive, fascinated with the elephant, a good amount of people despite the weather, kept having to add chairs beyond the ones we had set up, couple of students from the Trinity Lampeter campus Definitely the best-looking community theatre space Amazing amount of space for the set and lights, balcony was really cool, ceiling was really high, but couldn’t crank the truss up as high as it would go in order to clear the balcony Blackout curtains on the windows were awesome Acoustics were lovely, sound carried well, levels were good Problem with the profiles->since there was more space, the lighting truss was further away from the set→making the profile spots very large, couldn’t spot them down smaller so they just covered the entire rostra Problem somewhat fixed with shutters on one profile, only one actual “spotlight” on set, other light just for highlight and clearing directional shadows Coleg Sir Gar 5 December Lantern burned out right as I was finishing focusing and we had no spare bulbs, so I had to de-rig the lantern and create my wash with only 4 lanterns Had to refocus half of my lights in order to fix the problem Shows how my technical skills in lighting have increased since the beginning, as I was able to adapt to the situation and fix the problem at hand quickly and still put on a production of the same quality we had at the other venues DEFINITELY GET MORE SPARE BULBS Didn’t have a full blackout during the focus, so it was a little difficult to see exactly how things would work Was nice having a couple of other hands to help carry things, especially since we had to carry it a pretty far distance The black drapes around the room kind of deadened the sound, but made a nice backdrop for the set, so there wasn’t that much an issue of spill on the back wall Llansteffan 5 December Such a long day, two performances/load-ins and -outs in one day is really difficult Awesome audience with the cast and crew from the 2 other shows, community was really excited as well Had to work around Holiday 53 with light placement and load out, but was fun working with the other cast and crew Still haven’t fixed the broken focusing knob so the light was completely flooded out and spilled way onto the ceiling and walls, need to get it fixed asap Speakers are being turned towards each other underneath the rostra, so the sound is only carrying in the small space, need to be turned out to the audience for optimum acoustics, would help with levels as well Brynaman 6 December Tiny audience, but enjoyed it Light placement was difficult as the ceiling was low and the space was very small, bright side not much audience to cast a spill on Broken focusing knob lantern was replaced for lantern that can be focused, made focusing easier, took production photos that can be used in my portfolio Still didn’t have a spare bulb, so focusing with 4 lanterns on neutral wash instead of 5 lanterns, office says the bulbs will be in tomorrow Halliwell 7 December best venue to light in, awesome audience, professional theatre space, tech issues right before house opened Definitely best venue technically speaking, so much space, actual stage, enough height to properly focus lights Audience was awesome, consisted of friends and peers who were very supportive and receptive, biggest audience to date Professional theatre space a blessing to work in during tour Had issues figuring out where to hang lights, was going to hang them off the front of house bar, but ended up setting up the lighting truss in the balcony, had to adjust truss stands to fit them in the seats, kind of stabilized truss, balcony offered proper height to light the stage and completely clear the audience with the light Minor technical issues during the production of incorrect cue taken Issues right before house opened-light burned out during focus, switched for a dead bulb, had to find another spare bulb in order to fix problem, happened right before house opened In addition, speakers came unplugged so minor panic getting those fixed RIGHT BEFORE HOUSE OPENED Favorite space to light in, speakers also in correct place so acoustics were good, tech table right on side of stage so I got to watch the audience’s reactions Swansea Waterfront 8 December Worst performance both technically and artistically, audience non-responsive and a little rude, actors felt off, sound was a major issue, lights were barely visible Walls entirely glass, so the neutral wash couldn’t even be seen, spotlight mainly just a highlight, straw wash was barely visible but added a different enough tint to make a transition noticeable Sound carried very weirdly, echoed a lot but stayed dead, had to crank up the levels a lot because the sound just disappeared before reaching the back of the audience Mynydd-y-Garreg 9 December Definitely the best community theatre feel, audience was so responsive and welcoming, most sense of community with the raffle and caroling, food, pub after Shadows cast by decorations hanging from the ceiling were really interesting and added depth to the set and lighting Issue with the spots because they weren’t tightened far enough and dipped after being focused, Liz’s head wasn’t fully in the spotlight

Link to Facebook: Wales Part 11 Touring Pictures

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Link to Facebook: Wales Part 10 London

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LONDON

LONDON WAS AWESOME. We spent 3 days there, after a friggin 7 hour drive there. It was only supposed to take 3 hours, but we got stuck in traffic. Our hostel was a dump, and the guys lounging around the doorway literally sniffed us as we walked in. It was a little disconcerting and we were hella tired, but a quick walk down to the street to a diner for some hamburgers quickly made us feel more at home. Bright and early Saturday morning and accompanied by Costa coffee, we made it to 21 Baker Street for the Sherlock Holmes museum, took multiple pictures in fancy hats, and then headed to the Beatles store. Was unimpressed at the inflated prices, so we took the Tube to the park and joined a free tour group. The tour took us all over the place, including Buckingham Palace for changing of the guard, Big Ben, Westminster, Churchill's war room, Trefalgar Square, etc. After eating lunch across from Big Ben and signing up for the tour-led pub crawl, we split up and headed for The Globe Theatre and the Millennium Bridge, which was epic. Sarah and I ended up at St. Paul's Cathedral for evensong and managed to catch a glimpse of Occupy London camped outside. We rushed back through the Tube, stopped at Platform 9 and 3/4, and made it back in time for dinner and getting ready to go out. The night was shenanigans, most of which shouldn't be posted on this blog, though I'm pretty sure we ended up in a crack den at the end of it. Catching a taxi was impossible and the Tube was closed, so we didn't get back to the hostel until 4am. Most of us were too tired to get up in the morning like we were going to, so we only managed to fit in passing by Tower of London and London Bridge before catching the bus back to Carmarthen. The trip was really fun and really hectic, so I wish we could have stayed longer and seen more of the city. I really want to come back someday when I have more time (and money) to experience all the museums and sightseeing things. Everything costs way too much money for me to afford admission to all of them.

Link to Facebook: Wales Part 9 Tregaron and Skanda Vale

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Wales Part 4

Visit to Tregaron Cute little pub Fire->warming up Cozy tables, chairs with cushions Warm food Good conversation Feels timeless Can imagine 1848 inhabitans sitting around the fire talking & enjoying a pint Kind of dark inside->stones, dark wood, still cozy Raining outside, but warm & inviting inside Tiny town, not much going on, mainly houses Very friendly people Butcher going about his business Landlady at Talbot->proud about elephant dig Made it on TV! Wants to share, talk about it, make sure we know about the elephant Shows us where the stone is Bartenders Speaking Welsh Friendly, welcoming Joking with each other Rhiannon Shopkeeper Helpful, warm, friendly Older Most people seem older, been there all their lives Some younger generation, but very few Church graveyard with lots of gravestones Older stones->sense of history Some in Welsh, can’t read them but can kind of understand the gist of it Raining so much! Quaint typically UK houses Sheep pastures going up the hill Pretty place, sometimes blue sky Lots of pub looking places Lots of banks! Pretty stream Crazy country roads make it hard to get to/out of Town square, statue of Henry Richard 1848 important Very quiet, not busy at all Only sounds quiet talking, birds, rain, cars-no planes, different from America Can sort of hear river/stream Man with his dog, not on leash, well behaved Talbot Hotel sort of center of town “Where is Tregaron? Outside the Talbot.” Trip to Skanda Vale Very quiet, picturesque place, I really like the view over the mountains Can hear the bells, call to worship? The woods are nice, not a lot of people around, mainly just animals, the monk (?) leading us around is wearing typically British wear, trousers, jumper, wellies, not at all what I expected from an ashram Buildings are kind of modern looking, none of them really look like Hindu temples, except for the shrine, very different from what Western religions are used to expecting at their places of worship So many animals, donkeys, deer, turkeys, llamas/alpacas, peacocks, ducks, geese, rabbits, fish etc. Elephant is so big! The pen is kind of small though, glad they’re making her a much larger area to live in Seems to have a good relationship with her handlers, they definitely talk about her with affection, have both been working with her for years, youngest one says he grew up with her so has to have some sort of bond with Vali Moves around in her space a lot, moves more and quicker than I’d expect, lot of trunk movement and blowing noises, shuffling back and forth and swaying from side to side, obviously interested in the newcomers, can’t hear much movement though because she’s very silent Walking with the elephant is an experience as you can barely hear her behind or ahead of you, some trunk noises, but feet are padded and muffle any footsteps, some noise of leaves and eating, but otherwise silent, no trumpeting or loud vocalizations, maybe most elephant communication is between other elephants and is too low for humans to hear Went to Tregaron (the town our play is based in) last week. It's a tiny town and there's really nothing there. The only thing that puts Tregaron on the map is the local legend. In 1889, a traveling menagerie came through Tregaron with a young elephant. She drank from the river that was downstream from the lead mine, got sick, and died. She was buried behind the Talbot, which is the local tavern, and became the local legend. As time went by, people forgot where she was actually buried. They had an archeological dig last year, but couldn't find her, so now she's pretty much just lost. We went to Skanda Vale today, which is an ashram (In South-west Wales of all places), where the only elephant in Wales is housed. We got to go on a walk with the elephant, which was really cool, as she was literally 10 feet from us. We went to puja (worship) and ate lunch with them, and then saw the rest of the animals they keep there. They have rabbits, koi, peacocks, all sorts of birds, sheep, llamas, donkeys, deer, and the elephant. Rehearsals will get pretty intense from here on out, so blogging might lag a bit.

Link to Facebook: Wales Part 7 & 8 Random Carmarthen and Design Principles

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