Room on the Broom Technical Requirements

TALL STORIES CONTACT DETAILS

Tall Stories Head Office - +44 (0) 20 8348 0080

Company Stage Manager - TBC

Company: A cast of 4 performers (2 male & 2 female) and one stage manager.

Running Time: Approx. 1 hour, no intermission. Latecomers can be admitted but only at a point to be determined by the Company Stage Manager who will liaise with the FOH Manager.

Physical Requirements

Ideal dimensions: 25’ wide x 25’ deep x 17’ high. Orchestra pit up.
Minimum dimensions: 20’ wide x 20’ deep, 12’ high
Dressing Room
Two dressing rooms for 4 people. They should be clean, lit, lockable and ready for the performers upon their arrival. The performers also need washrooms easily accessible to the stage.
Coffee, tea, juice, water, fruit and a light snack should be made available backstage for the set-up and duration of the show.
Access
Set up: Four hours minimum
Take out: two hours.
The above times assume that the venue’s lighting is pre-hung, gelled and focused.
We require a minimum of 4 persons for load in/load out plus deck work, once the van is unloaded 1 person will stay with set building (approx. 1 hour), one person will work with sound and/or set and 2 people with lighting. This crew must be a professional technical crew and not students or volunteers. A student must not operate the lighting board during the show.
Masking
(Please have hung prior to the company’s arrival) Legs and borders, ballet hung, preferably black.
Upstage traveller or full stage black: The company will use the theatre’s full stage black U.S. of the set (approx. 27’ US from start of playing area).
Set
We play downstage as far as possible – allowing the cast to have more contact with the audience.

Please sweep the floor prior to the company’s arrival so the set can be brought in immediately.

The set consists of:

  • One dismountable light box, 3m tall by 2.8m wide constructed in six pieces which pin together, with a black serge covering and gauze front. We require 2 x Thomas battens to sit inside the light box and will require a dimmable feed.
  • One small wooden bush with plastazote leaf details attached
  • Downstage right and left there is a pair of self-supporting trees of timber and plastazote construction between 2m and 3m tall, we will require the use of several stage weights for these.
  • 3 small, movable tree stumps, approximately one foot high.
  • The set is of timber construction meeting current H&S regulations.

Sound

All sound equipment is to be supplied by the theatre. This is a musical.
It is important that all sound be set up and operational before the company arrives.
Sound will be operated and mixed by our CSM from an available operating position front of house but not in a position that would interfere with audience members as the CSM will also be calling the LX cues on cans. Please advise if a front of house mixing position is not available, it may be possible to run the show from prompt side with a monitor to see the stage but this is not ideal.

The company stage manager will run the show from an apple mac laptop using Qlab. Please ensure this is compatible with your sound system and that you have all relevant cables. A back up of the show will also be provided on CD.

Voice communication will be required between the sound and lighting operating positions and backstage. A sound technician from the venue should be present side of stage to assist with any possible mic/sound issues.

Speakers The playback will be run through the front of house speakers.

Monitors Please have 2 monitors placed in either corner of the theatre in the Downstage corners of the stage.Please have 2 monitor speakers placed in the downstage corners of the stage, levels to be controlled separate from the main mix (i.e. in an auxiliary channel)

MicrophonesIn house’s over 300 seats the company will need to use 4 wireless mics. The company tours mic belts for each actor but body packs/headsets/receivers are to be provided by the venue.We would ideally like to double mic each actor where possible.

Please note that the company does not travel with any mics

Lighting

Please see lighting plot provided at in the ‘Room on the Broom’ technical section.

If the lighting plan needs to be adapted then please alert us at the earliest opportunity.
Please note that when rigging we would like to play as far downstage as possible allowing us as much contact with the audience as possible.

Q-lites/Coms

Voice communication is required between the DSM position and the LX board operator and the DSM position and on stage.

Costume and Laundry:
Once the production has begun the performers never leave the stage area; all costume changes happen on stage. We do not need on stage assistance.
Please have washing facilities available and an iron/steamer and ironing board set up in dressing room or equivalent.

Misc.
The cast will be in the auditorium for about five minutes before the show begins interacting with the audience. If tread etc. are needed to access the stage from the auditorium could they be provided. Only one set should be needed and we can be flexible over the positioning.

The show plays for approximately one hour, with no interval.

Once the show has started the cast do not leave the stage.

We use a small battery powered ‘Tiny Fogger’ smoke machine once during the performance, for approximately 15 seconds and it is triggered by an actor. This is toured with the company. If it will not be possible for us to use this please alert us at the earliest opportunity.