C stages the biggest of the C venues productions across four floors of its Chambers Street building, which is normally used as an examination hall for Edinburgh University. C +3 on the third floor and C -1 in the basement are used for most of the larger shows and musicals on C venue's busy schedule.
HSL first became involved in Edinburgh Fringe last year, when they kitted out four stages at the C venues' C electric site. Production manager Richard Williamson was so impressed with their performance that he invited them back this year to work on the main site.
"HSL has a great attitude," he says, "They provided two excellent technicians -Rupert Reynolds and Chris Cunningham - for the get-in and tech period. They communicated with and worked alongside our own technical staff, some of whom were relatively inexperienced, having joined the crew to improve their technical knowledge and practical experience."
Equipment supplied includes 12 Robe 250AT moving light fixtures - six washes and six spots; 48 ways of Avolites ART2000 dimming for three of the 'C' theatres; over 150K of fresnels across the four theatres, 20 Source Four Juniors, 50 Source Four PARs and a wide selection of PAR 64s. These are controlled by ETC Expression and Strand 300 consoles.
Six Robes were used in the two largest spaces - three washes at the back and three Spots at the front. In C, all the lights are rigged onto scaff pipes fixed to the building's existing rigging points. For C central, another of the other C venues sites, HSL supplied trussing for the three studios. Rupert Reynold's designed a special trussing system in one space that follows the contours of the roof, maximising the low headroom. Also for C central, HSL bought three brand new Zero 88 Jester consoles, and supplied them, together with one of their stock Fat Frogs.
Over at C3 (an atmospheric Masonic Temple), HSL supplied and rigged two goal post trussing structures.
The site-wide lighting design across all C venues was a collaborative effort by director Hartley Kemp, James Whiteside, Phil Bentley and Richard Williamson. Everywhere was designed to be as comprehensive and flexible as possible. With up to 10 shows a day, 5 - 10 minute changeovers and each venue staging about 20 different productions across the festival - lighting had to work for every type of performance - from a monologue to a 40-cast musical.
Head of lighting Dom Martin is co-ordinating the department across all C venues and overseeing its day-to-day running. He says: "Much of the gear HSL has supplied was brand new, and all of it was exceptionally well prepped. It's proving extremely reliable and their service is excellent."
Above the Princes Street Mall shopping centre in town, HSL designed and commissioned a trussing structure that was supplied and installed by Lite Structures to accommodate branding and banners from sponsors Microsoft for the festival fringe society.
(Chris Henry)
