So my Jubilee weekend was spent down at Temple Meads in a fantastic Big Top working with Invisible CIrcus on their God Save The Dream project.

Lighting any circus event is slightly more complex than some other events and needs to be treated as being in the round, but add limited power to the mix you have a weekend of fun.

We had the use of traditional 6 lamp par bars and some Robe 575's and 700's to give us some spot effects and make a swinging DJ room for after hours.

All the traditional acts were there with us including, jugglers, highwire, silk and hoop ariealists to name but a few.

Having just finished 42nd Street with BAOS and working with Fluer Darkin at Circomedia at the end of March, April turned out to be an unexpected busy month, but I'm not complaining at all!

It started off well with Keynham Youth Theatre's production of Guys & Dolls. Sound was once again required and with the introduction of a digital desk, the week got interesting. It's not that I'm against the digital age, it's just I find they haven't yet been refined enough to work with the ever changing youth voice. I find that some of the buttons are not in the right place for easy access when the poor 12 year old male opens his mouth and the squeek begins unexpectedly for him and the engineer!

Next a pre-birthday trip to Birmingham Mac with Derek Lee Lighting for another go at Fluer's Blake. This was then followed promptly with a post-birthday trip to Chichester but this time for DisGo.

The month finished with a DisGo at the fabulous Leicester Curve (I would really love to visit this theatre again as it is turely an amazing space) and then Footloose, at Saltford Hall with the glamous set designed by David Baxter of KLOGs.

During the end of March I took the opportunity to design and operate Lighting for Merrimen's Minimen. They performed an amazingly confident version of Jungle Book to two sold out performances of proud watchers. (Pictures to follow) Performing in a school hall always presents problems but the most common issue is the lack of power. I resorted to using Imax's LED par cans which proved to be a great sucess. Not only did they provide many colour options with RGBW colour mixing, they are 13amp powered.

The company were incredible for their age range (6-9) as they performed with much maturity, giving me a hard task to create their jungle! 

Whats been happening this week? A long day trip to London for an Installation Performance of Fluer Darkin's DisGo and rehearsals galore!

London - the Salmon Centre ,SE London to be precise. An amazing Youth Centre for all young people of a variety of ages. They have access to a smal performance space equiped with lighting, sound and audio visual ready for use. We arrived, had a well earned coffee and then un-packed the van. Show started at 8pm and the audience started to gather. We had all been on tender hooks until this moment as we were appealling to a different side of today' youth culture. We had to eat our words as many cultural barriers were broken down as the audience began to join in. A good show from the company , the audience enjoyed their evening out and us technician were a little exhausted as we arrived back in Bristol at 1am, weary from our 6am start that morning.

On Saturday I popped into Midsomer Norton to see the Merrriman, Minimen (ages 6 - 9) rehearse their version of Jungle Book in preparation for their first show on Saturday 17th March. They certainly have been working hard and now it's for me to create their Jungle through the use of light. Some split gels through gobo's should help me along. Power is an issue at the performance space so a string of LED parcans will provide the colour washes that the show requires.

No rest for the Technican as I'm up and raring to go for 42nd Street rehearsals in Horfield with BAOS on Sunday. The tap dancers were certainly earning their Sunday roasts, as this show is non stop. The cast clearly have been working hard and I can't wait until the end of the month when I start to install the sound for them. A 14 piece orchestra will accompany the company, with MD Matt Ramplin leading them and I will be running around backstage ensuring that the right cast have the right mics.