Kim Hollamby | The anchor swallowed » sainsbury singers

Beauty and the Beast

Kim Hollamby — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 22:34:59 +0000

Sainsbury Singers' recent production of Beauty and the Beast represented something of a new record for me in terms of the length of time invested to rig, focus and plot the show - around four long days or so. But given really excellent reviews and a great cast performance it was all worthwhile.

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Let there be light

Kim Hollamby — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 23:19:22 +0000

Iolanthe, performed by Reading Operatic Society at the Salvation Army hall, Reading Central

I must confess to not being exactly on top form when it came to designing and rigging the lighting for Reading Operatic Society‘s performance of Iolanthe at the Reading Central Salvation Army hall. A throat infection was not a good overture

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Squaring the circle

Kim — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 08:34:38 +0000

I'd always wanted an excuse to use square focusing of theatre lanterns in a lighting design and Chess The Musical gave me a very good reason. All of the downstage specials were focused in a grid of two rows of five squares using 10 SL 15/32s from front of house. My hat is off to Martin Pretty of the Hexagon staff who did all of the hard work on Bridge 2 getting the SLs in place first time. This kind of focus meant the cast had to be well forward (pretty much on the front edge) of the box to be lit and there was a distinct but tiny shadow at the edge if they moved sideways between boxes. So accuracy in hitting marks (and explaining them) was needed. But the effort was worth it with a lot of encouraging comments.

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Chess The Musical 27-31 October

Kim — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 23:08:29 +0000

And so to rehearsals for Sainsburys Singers' performance of Chess The Musical at The Hexagon, Reading on 27-31 October. Having just got home from the first run-through I must say I am impressed by the quality of the singing of what is a very difficult score. Soloists are strong and the cast at full bore nearly took the roof off the rehearsal venue. Exciting!

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Lionel Bart’s Blitz 5-9 May

Kim — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 06:31:56 +0000

My next show is looming large and to maintain a 2009 theme it is one that I have not seen or worked on before. Lionel Bart is, in the eyes of many, a bit of a one-hit wonder and Oliver! appears to have as much appeal today as it ever did. It is often forgotten that the original London production of Blitz ran for nearly 600 performances and set some new benchmarks for musicals including massive staging (Broadway baulked at it) and the much more obvious use of lighting than was currently in vogue. The score was subsequently lost for many years but the show is now enjoying something of a mini-renaissance, at least with amateur companies.

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