Following successful seasons in Sydney and Melbourne, and after the scheduled 2020 QPAC season was unable to open due to the pandemic, Queensland audiences finally got to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
The musical opened on September 9th after a mammoth effort by all involved especially by Associate Lighting Designer Trudy Dalgleish who left Sydney on June the 21st for a meeting in Brisbane with an overnight bag thinking she would stay for a few days. Three days later QLD closed its borders and Trudy ended up afraid to leave the State.
“I stayed in Airbnbs for the next two weeks to be able to do Creative Gen in Brisbane – which I did after Brisbane had a four-day lockdown,” she said. “I was then going straight to Melbourne to do Voss for the Victorian Opera but Melbourne was locked down the day before I was due to leave! I stayed in QLD for five weeks in Airbnbs (ten of those days in lockdown) to be able to do Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.”
After Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Trudy was due to go to SA to do two operas which have now been postponed, then she was to come back to do We Will Rock You in Brisbane – now also postponed.
“Now I will stay in QLD until Charlie and the Chocolate Factory transfers to Perth,” she added. “Then there are two weeks of self-isolation before a two week production period. I should finally arrive home on the 5th of November! A huge shout out to all the shows for covering my accommodation between engagements so I could stay and work. It’s exhausting trying to stay ahead of Delta and everything can change in just hours. Please get vaccinated so we can all work and I for one can’t wait for open state borders.”
All cast and crew had to quarantine for two weeks in QLD and, once out of quarantine, QLD went into lockdown so the first two weeks of rehearsal were done via zoom. Other than that it was just like any other bump in period, except people were a little more stressed that lockdown could happen at any moment and of course everyone had to wear masks.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is designed by Japhy Weideman who has also designed many other Broadway shows including Dear Evan Hanson. He is one of the younger designers on Broadway and is originally from North Carolina, USA.
“He is also an avid surfer so he loved his time in Sydney,” added Trudy. “It was a pleasure to work with him, a true southern gentleman.”
Japhy’s design is groundbreaking in that it doesn’t have any FOH units; no movers, no conventionals something Trudy has never seen before in a Broadway design.
The rig is supplied by PRG, but has a lot of equipment that was sub hired from Chameleon as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory has very specific requirements in its equipment list, which makes swapping units out almost impossible. There are a number of ‘rovers’ that are basically moving lights in mobile boxes that can be moved to different positions during the show.
“Only a Martin MAC Encore Performance will fit in this box and be able to do a hot re-strike as they are unplugged anytime they are moved,” commented Trudy. “Also the lights need to be able to fit in custom made ladders and overhead trusses.”
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a huge show with lots of set electrics in each scene. It’s a real struggle for the show crew to keep it running and takes a lot of prep time before each show. The show crew come in an hour before they usually would for a show like this, just to get it ready. There are a lot of tricks that are all set lx – the set electrics bid sheet is 18 pages long!
The show is all about the symbolic relationship between lighting and LED. The whole set including the legs are LED panels, if you saw David Atkins production of Hairspray in 2010, then it’s the same as that. For the first act, the video is used very sparingly and it only comes into its full potential when it gets to Wonker’s factory.
The rig includes 44 x Martin MAC Viper Performance, 5 x MAC Encore Performance Cold, 8 x MAC Viper Wash DX, 16 x Vari-Lite 3500 Wash, 20 x Claypaky Sharpy and 18 GLP X4 Bar 20.
Added to that are 16 x ETC Source 4 PAR WFL, 20 x ETC Color Source PAR, 3 x Altman 703 UV Fixtures, 3 x MDG Atmospheres ATMe, 3 x Look Solutions Viper NT, 3 x Look Solutions Unique, 5 x JEM AF-1 MkII DMX Fan and 2 x Big Shot Confetti Cannons. Control is an ETC EOS Ti.
If all goes to plan, Trudy has a few shows on the horizon including a piece for Sydney Festival called Queen Lear and then an arena show of We Will Rock You in January. Everything else, except the transfer into Perth of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory has been cancelled because of Covid.
“I think we were all lulled into a false sense of it’s over earlier in the year and shows started up again but with Delta that soon stopped,” lamented Trudy. “However, I think that it will be OK once we open again. Think of all those thousands of people that attended big musicals and there was no Covid transmission, as opposed to sport. I think our protocols are among the best that any industry has to offer. It also showed that the public still wants to come to the theatre and are not afraid to, I think there is real hope.”
Photos: Darren Thomas
