CAPITAL PROJECT NEWS NOV 15
STUDIO SPACE FOR ALL PLUS PRIDE OF POOLE
www.lighthousepoole.co.uk
Welcome If there’s a single space that best embodies the spirit of what Lighthouse is about it’s our Studio Theatre. Created as part of the 2002 refurbishment, it has provided a ready home for diverse and innovative national touring work, primarily in theatre, comedy, music, and children’s theatre, as well as for developing emerging artists in the areas of small scale theatre, and circus arts. Crucially it has also enabled our associate artists – Angel Exit, Platform 4, Forest Forge and Dramatic Productions – as well as a range of local artists and companies to develop their practice. The continued success of the Studio is the foundation of our ambitious 80/20 artistic strategy – to have 20% of the work seen at Lighthouse made or produced here as well. But in order to create a fully flexible creation space we need to transform the Studio so that the space that can be adapted and configured to suit a range of needs. Doing so will see Lighthouse able to offer industry-leading facilities to companies and groups from our region, as well as a high quality performance area to attract the best touring artists. The local, regional and national success of The Ballad of Martha Brown, which was partly created and developed here by Angel Exit is one such new work that we are proud to have had a part in enabling and the new Studio will allow emerging artists to create even more home grown work at Lighthouse that can then be taken out across the UK and internationally. All of which carries the Lighthouse name and its association with the very highest quality productions further afield than ever. And that is something worth getting very excited about indeed.
Elspeth McBain, Chief Executive, Lighthouse
A space for all reasons The redesign of the Studio is a stand-alone element of the overall project to refresh Lighthouse and will create a fully flexible space that can be adapted to accommodate a range of uses from rehearsal and creation space to, public venue and screening room. At the heart of the transformation is a new seating system which will improve audience comfort significantly, and provide an even more intimate experience for both artists and audiences. The improved technical facilities will include a new control room, improved lighting and sound equipment, along with film screening capability. The emergence of such an adaptable and flexible creative space at the heart of Lighthouse was warmly welcomed by Josie Rourke, Artistic Director of the Donmar Warehouse, at the recent launch of the Love Lighthouse appeal. Introducing a screening of her acclaimed version of Coriolanus, which starred Tom Hiddlestone, Deborah Findley and Mark Gatiss, she recognised the importance of regional screenings in giving work made at venues like the Donmar a reach beyond the capital, but also highlighted their value as an introduction to live theatre.
Proposed Studio Plans (subject to change)
“As much as live screenings are a valid and valuable way to experience theatre there is no substitute for live entertainment and we must be careful not to send the message they could replace live theatre,” she said. “Art that is from and for the place in which it is made is every bit as exciting and crucial as work being made and seen in London and the Studio is a wonderful gift to Lighthouse in which work can be made that’s from and for Poole.” As well as new work made in Poole and the best touring productions, audiences will find getting in and out of the new Studio is easier and less mobile users will benefit from a new disabled access route and twice the current number of wheelchair spaces in the auditorium. What’s more, an improved induction loop system will also ensure hearing-impaired audience members will be able to follow productions wherever they sit in future. The improvements to the Studio have been made possible by the very generous support of Clive and Sally Sherling and will be known as The Sherling Studio.
Proud of being made in Poole Growing up in Dorset, Poole was where I went in order to see live theatre, but I always thought it was a shame that there didn’t seem to be any professional work being made in my home county. I felt I had to go to London to be an actor and make work that I was proud of and that would be seen. Having come back it is enormously important to me to be able to make good work in Dorset and to then take that work out on tour and fly the flag a bit for Dorset in general and Angel Exit’s associate venues such as Lighthouse in particular. Creating the work in a professional theatre is vital to us – it makes a world of difference to be able to have a few stage lights up, or use the float machine. We also have the technical support on hand at Lighthouse and we can get together with the marketing team or the programmers and talk about our ideas. It’s impossible not to overstate how much it means to us to have a kitchen with a kettle and a fridge that work and facilities close to hand that make working in a venue so much more comfortable.
for an audience of under-eights and again the support and encouragement of Lighthouse has been vital in that we’ve been given the space in which to work on it. We did a week’s R&D in April at Lighthouse and some more at the Marine Theatre in Lyme Regis. We’ll be back in the Studio at Lighthouse on 25 November and the show runs from 8 December until Christmas Eve. It’s the story of an incredibly shy man called Otto who lives in the Dorset village of Piddle under Puddle and every year he tries to summon up the courage to go to the village Christmas party, but he never does. There’s a woman called Maggie, the baker, who remembers him from school and wants him to come to the party as they used to make music together. One day a robin flies in through Otto’s window and gradually befriends Otto teaching him that he needs to go out and meet people because the robin won’t always be there.
The Ballad of Martha Brown was the fourth show we toured nationally and was really well received. It was also the first show we took into the main house at Lighthouse, which was a great experience. We had some lovely feedback from the audience and some really good reviews. Long term, it’s our aim to make more work in Poole that we can take out and play in mid-scale venues. Although we’ve made family-friendly shows before Otto and the Robin is the first piece we’ve made that is specifically
We’re making a seasonal version specifically for Lighthouse, but then we’ll go on tour next year with a non-seasonal version as well. I did my work experience at Lighthouse at the age of 16 so it’s a special place for me in lots of ways and I’m enormously proud to be making work there. Tamsin Fessey, Co-Artistic Director, Angel Exit Theatre
LIGHTHOUSE SHOWS THE WAY WITH STUDIO PLAN The benefits of the renewed Studio will be felt well beyond the confines of Lighthouse as any scheme to enhance artist-led space for developing new work can only invigorate the entire region’s creative community. The refresh will provide greater possibilities for companies to create work and share it as part of Lighthouse’s 80/20 vision to receive 80% of what goes on at Lighthouse already made, but to create or facilitate the remaining 20% in-house. “Unlike what is seen in the other performance spaces, which to some extent is limited by what’s on tour at any one time, the work that is shown in the Studio is curated by Lighthouse is carefully made to fit,” says Chief Executive Elspeth McBain. By investing further in our Studio we will enable regional artists to create home-grown work at Lighthouse that can then be taken out across the UK and internationally; a tangible outcome of our role as a cultural leader in the South West committed to supporting artistic development.”
For that to happen, the work goes hand-in-hand with the creation of a new third function room and improvements to the others with enhanced soundproofing, modernised toilets and a new kitchen area as well as updated technical facilities including the induction loop system for the hearing impaired. “The expansion of the function rooms for rehearsals and arts workshops will mean the Studio is freed up to allow for more artists-in-residence commissions and more productions,” says Elspeth. “The improvements will increase our capacity for more people to engage with and participate in the arts as well as improving facilities for commercial meeting space, which is absolutely vital to our financial sustainability. Work will take place over the summer and planned closure of Lighthouse will be kept to a minimum; June to October. Works will see entrance updated and the venue made considerably more energy efficient with improvements to the main foyer, function rooms and Concert Hall, as well as the update of the backstage area, dressing rooms and creation of a new Green Room.
Why I Love Lighthouse LYNNE FORBES, CO-ARTISTIC DIRECTOR, ANGEL EXIT THEATRE
As associate artists, Angel Exit receives support in kind from Lighthouse in the form of rehearsal space so that we can make new work from scratch. The support is really important to us because first and foremost it roots us firmly in the region and in the county – this is work made in Dorset. It sends a clear message about the relationship between Lighthouse and Angel Exit that also helps the development of our relationship with the Arts Council and with the audience as well.
People are genuinely fascinated to learn that work is being made in the building where they’ll be able to come and see it. We have terrific support from Lighthouse staff that came down to see us in rehearsals and that experience feeds into the marketing of the show. It’s important that people feel a connection to the work – if I lived in Poole and was used to seeing big touring shows in my local theatre and then found out a company was actually making new work there I think I’d be far more likely to take a risk and go to see the show.
Donation makes life safer for techs State of the art Ion wireless remote controls are making life safer and easier for Lighthouse technical crews. The new remotes have been bought as a direct result of the first major donation made in the recently launched public phase of the Love Lighthouse capital appeal and mark a significant step forward in the bid to make Lighthouse fit for the future. “The remotes are used to focus the lights in the Theatre and the Concert Hall,” explains theatre technician Lawrence Mizen. “We had been using cabled remotes to bring lights up and focus the lamps, which meant trailing long cables through the backstage areas and sometimes the sets. They were good, but the new wireless remotes are a lot safer and mean that a lighting engineer can use them from anywhere in the venue.” Previously, if lighting crew were high up in the gantry bridges over the audience they couldn’t operate the lights above the stage with the remote. “We never took the old remotes up there, although there is a remote point. It’s much better now we have wireless technology – it makes a huge difference to the way we work.” The Love Lighthouse donors, who are regulars at BSO and jazz concerts, asked to remain anonymous, but were very keen to learn more about how shows are put on at Lighthouse. Poole-born Lawrence, who completed a two-year technical apprenticeship at Lighthouse, was only too happy to take the donors on a backstage tour. “They were really interested in everything,” he says. “There’s something special about being backstage at a theatre, it’s something that everyone who loves the theatre seems to have, so to be able to take our donors backstage and share some of that with them was great. They loved it.” Visit www.lovelighthouse.co.uk to show how you Love Lighthouse.
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october launch
£400k appeal target
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