This has been my desk for the last two evenings, as I am running the lighting for the first four shows of the Finn-Brit Players' production of Les Liaisons Dangereuses at the Q-Teatteri in Töölö. It's the story on which the 1988 film Dangerous Liasons was based and our talented director and cast have created a very watchable performance.
It's my second time on the lighting desk, back at the same theatre, so it feels very familiar. In the picture you see the ADB Tango 48 control desk, which is hooked up to the various lights within the theatre. During the rigging process, the levels for each light for each change, together with the transition time, from zero seconds for a fast blackout to seven seconds for bringing the house lights up or down, are set and then programmed into the desk's memory. Altogether, there are more than seventy changes during the play.
During the show, it is theoretically straightforward to move to the next scene by press the red button, outlined in yellow tape on the picture. On top of the deck are my notes, which tell me when during the action to make the next change. And most of the time it works, though sometimes pressing the button doesn't actually seem to work. It doesn't happen often, but just enough to keep me at a high level of tension throughout the 3 hours that the show runs (including an interval).
However, the cast and director are being kind and have only made gentle suggestions on how I could improve things, there has been no shouting so far! It has been great to be involved with this production, though it has fired my desire to get back on stage; I have not done so since I moved to Finland three years ago. Perhaps I will try my hand at the next auditions.
1 comment:
Papers on my desk during weekends makes me dizzy. Weekends are supposed to be rest days, you know.
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