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Garsington Opera comes of age At 21, Garsington Opera Festival has come of age and, like all things grown up, it’s flying the family nest for pastures new. For the founders it marks the end of a family chapter, but for the long-term staff, the final season has been a bittersweet experience, heralding the beginning of something new. Sarah Rushton-Read reports for L&SI . . .
Garsington Opera’s departure from Garsington Manor after 21 years will mark the end of an era in British Opera. However, while there’s much to be sad about, equally there’s much to delight in. During its two-decade evolution, Garsington Opera has incubated and nurtured some of the world’s most illustrious opera and theatre talent; both on the stage and off. In 2011 the company will take charge of an impressive new site at the Getty-owned Wormsley Estate, on the Oxfordshire / Buckinghamshire borders. With its first ever purpose-designed venue on the drawing board, for better or worse, the whole company is about to take an evolutionary leap into uncharted territory. Founder, and Garsington Manor owner, the late Leonard Ingrams and his wife Rosalind originally conceived Garsington Festival as a private summer music event in 1989. For the past 10 years or so it has run three operas in rep and has established a reputation for specialising in producing the oftneglected works of composers such as Haydn, Rossini, Richard Strauss and more latterly those of Russian and Czech composers - often to great critical acclaim.
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This clear artistic policy has set Garsington apart from many other opera festivals and seen it flourish. In the earliest days, the Manor’s stone terrace formed the stage and the lawns its auditorium; in 2010 it comprised a permanent stage and orchestra pit plus a 516-capacity raked seating stand, all covered by a high-tensile canopy. Nonetheless, most would agree that its final incarnation was neither an elegant nor a practical solution. Production manager for the Festival Andrew Quick discusses: “We started out with pretty basic arena seating for around 450. This was later replaced with more comfortable seats and since then additional seats have been added. By 2010 the auditorium could seat 516. Actually, that was as much capacity as we could muster without destroying sightlines or the nearby trees, which already have to be brailed back to accommodate what we have!”
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A Moving Prospect Step in architect Snell Associates, theatre consultant Ian Mackintosh and acoustician Bob Essert. All have collaborated to create a collapsible venue that promises to be considerably more aesthetically pleasing than the old. Although still a temporary structure, to be built annually, it will be technically sophisticated and functional. However, as it’s still in the final planning permission stages, the finer details of its design, layout and technical capability have not yet been released. What we do know is that its physical appearance has been inspired by a Japanese Pavilion design. Also, just like the old Garsington it will feature strong physical and visual connections with the outdoors and with natural light. To that end, the space will command an elevated position on its new site. Sliding transparent screens, verandas, bridges and extended platforms will ensure the interior remains intrinsically linked with the surrounding landscape. It also promises to offer improved comfort and weather protection for the audience and performers. Sounds exciting, but no matter how exciting the future may be, leaving a familiar and comfortable place is always tinged with apprehension and sadness. For many of the staff, Garsington had become a date in their working calendar they looked forward to with relish. So what exactly is the company leaving behind that makes it so precious? What will they be glad to see the back of and what will they ultimately take with them to the new venue? Garsington, like many other opera festivals is characterised by a powerful sense of family, camaraderie and belonging. That feeling spreads far beyond the founding family to all those who have been involved in the festival - staff, audience or local community. Quick, who himself started as an ASM and returned some years later as crew chief, before becoming production manager in 2002, says: “Many of the tech and backstage staff have been working for Garsington for many years. Every year the same people and a few new ones arrive on site mid-to-late
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Photo: Sarah Rushton-Read
April and leave early July. People either live on site at Home Farm or in one of a number of shared houses or rented rooms in Garsington Village itself. Although the operas rehearse in London, most of us are on site for two to three months, so a strong sense of community develops amongst us.”
Set designers have had to be mindful of all these issues, and Quick issued guidelines on how big and heavy each set piece could be. “Scenery had to break down so that each piece was physically manageable. It also has to fit through the gaps in the stone wall which is just under four feet wide.”
Quintessentially English, Garsington oozed an engaging atmosphere of bohemian decadence and bonhomie that made it one of the most alluring gigs on the opera calendar.
Working at Garsington has, therefore, demanded an enduring resourcefulness and ability to think on ones feet. In terms of build, fit up and day-to-day operations, Garsington has probably had more in common with Glastonbury than Glyndebourne!
At Garsington there is no stage machinery to help with fit-up and breakdown; scene docks and kit storage are a distance away and if something breaks or needs replacing there is no handy theatrical supplier just down the road or a night crew to sort it out later. In terms of practical logistics, trucks and deliveries have no easy access to the stage site. Every piece of staging, truss, scaff and seating platform has to be physically manhandled by the crew, across an obstacle course of precious hedges, trees and flowers. Quick elaborates: “The scenery for all three operas was stored outside. Scaffolders came in every year to build a temporary structure outside the stables. This would generally contain one production; one would be on the stage and the last outside covered with plastic sheeting and tarpaulins. Props were stored in the stable block behind, which conveniently had three bays - one for each show! Scenery had to be carried by the crew from behind the stage through an opening in the wall, then across the formal gardens, then lifted five feet onto the stage.”
The physical structure itself was built by Unusual Rigging and comprised a number of steel masts, which in turn supported a tensioned wire roof over the auditorium and stage. In addition to this, Unusual erected and rigged four large sails or baffles, to reduce noise emission into Garsington village and also built the auditorium seating system, orchestra pit and control and dimmer rooms behind it. Quick says: “It took us three weeks, full-time, to build the site from scratch. That is with eight of our own crew and six Unusual Rigging crew. One of the most taxing issues at Garsington was the restriction in the hours we could work on site because of noise issues; this is something I hope will change at the new venue.” Workshops, wardrobe and engineering, along with crew rest areas and dressing rooms, inhabited a higgledy-piggledy configuration of tents, stone outbuildings, stables and garages. So, while opera production values have always been of the highest standard, behind it is a strong tradition of clever invention and make-do-and-mend. The very nature of Garsington’s setting meant that the issues that stage and lighting designers, technicians, crew and backstage workers faced were distinct and challenging. For example, it was not a space that easily accommodated technical or control positions. The DSM’s prompt desk was sited within the house, at the portal of a busy thoroughfare, rather incongruously next to an imposing stone fireplace and surrounded by the furnishings of any normal family home.
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The Demands of Garsington That’s not to say it was all play and no hard work, far from it. Garsington Opera Festival has to be one of the toughest festivals to build and run in the UK, not simply because of the physical hard work and long hours. The festival is entirely privately funded; staff levels were relatively low for opera, yet over the years set, lighting, costume and prop designs have become increasingly ambitious and technologically more complex.
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The lighting crew at Pimms o’clock in the gardens! L-R: Matt Peel, Jane Dutton, Simon Fulford, Bruno Poet, Darren Male, Richard Ducker and Sam Floyd.
Photo: Darren Male
That’s not least because at least 50% of the performance took place in daylight.
License restrictions also meant the majority of stage rehearsals had to happen during the day to avoid the sound of the music disrupting the village for too many evenings. Lighting programmer Jane Dutton explains: “We have four stage and pianos and four stage and orchestras before the public dress rehearsal. However, we only get one session (the last stage and orchestra) with the cast in almost the right level of daylight. The public dress is the first time we see it with proper light levels (daylight and stage light). It’s not much lighting time for an opera, so it can be quite pressured!”
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All the stage lighting, site lighting, power and distribution for stage, catering and temporary structures was supplied by White Light, Garsington chief electrician Daren Male discusses: “It usually takes a team of four electricians around three weeks to get all the electrics, comms etc run in and the lights rigged. Jane Dutton comes in to programme lighting and is around for the first night of each opera; after that we take over and operate the show. For the season we just go down to two on electrics.” Power and communications cables were run through pipes that had, more often that not, filled up with mud, silt and creepy crawlies since the last season. The weather is unpredictable yet the tight schedule demands to be adhered to. Equipment had to be protected from the elements and the only way the team could be sure that had been achieved was with the help of the elements themselves. Male elaborates: “Over time we’ve learned exactly how water runs down cables and into connections and we’ve learned how best to avoid that happening! We actually look forward to the first downpour of the season, as it’s the only chance we get to test everything and make sure it’s suitably protected. To be honest, rain before the first
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night comes as a relief, because then we know everything’s watertight.” No easy ride then. However, the payoff for the technical and backstage staff has always been that, for a couple of months, they escape the dark confines of conventional theatre and spend their summer on a country estate, living and working with like-minded folk, listening to opera, occasionally drinking champagne and eating strawberries and cream - and all surrounded by some of the most stunning countryside, gardens and villages that England has to offer. It’s perhaps because of this convivial atmosphere that many of the same people returned to work at Garsington year after year. And it’s this continuity that has allowed the festival to grow and develop in a way it would not otherwise have been able to do. Light Challenges Respected lighting designer Bruno Poet began his association with the company in 1992 and very quickly became resident LD. To date, he’s lit over 30 separate productions at Garsington. He says: “I first started as crew when I was a student in Oxford and I’ve been LD here since 1998. It’s been an amazing privilege and it’s taken my career on a journey I could never have predicted. It’s a fantastic place to work and a weird place to light!”
Photo: Sarah Rushton-Read
Lighting control was at the rear of the orchestra pit and afforded a letterbox view of the musician’s heads, instruments and through the gaps the stage. Not ideal when you’re using intelligent fixtures!
Poet discusses: “It is surprising how well the lighting can read, even in daylight. The first half is plotted mainly for illumination, to enhance the costumes and the set. You obviously cannot close in to a soloist with a special, but shifts of colour can read well. Of course on a grey day, or if it is raining the lighting can be seen very clearly. I tend to overlight the first half, so the lights read on a bright day, but on a miserable rainy day they give a brightness and vibrancy to the performance. Essential as there is no way for singers to get onstage without getting wet.” In addition, the nature of the structure means useful lighting positions were few and far between. Poet elaborates: “None of the conventional lighting positions were available, there was no overhead rig, just a couple of bars FOH. When Leonard first employed me as lighting designer he made it very clear that he didn’t want huge truss structures obscuring the views of the gardens - I completely understood his point. We hid side lights where we could, behind pillars, in hedges, bolted to trees and shining through the windows of the house. We built two low box boom type positions either side of the orchestra pit, rigged with MAC 600s and 5ks. These are probably the busiest lights. There was no back light bar and side lighting was limited by the set design for each individual show. Needless to say, I designed in a very different way at Garsington than anywhere else; Often the simplest ideas were the most effective, footlights, practicals and backlight shots through the arches of the loggia are firm favourites of mine.”
The Macs are particularly good for whites and steel blues, we can choose to balance them to match the daylight, so a scene can feel naturally lit, or we can cool them down to give a steely opera quality. Lighting night-time scenes on a sunny day, is always a challenge. We can never dominate the daylight, but we can alter the quality of light on performers faces to give a steely quality in their eyes and on the set
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This fulfils the need to give strong, directional key light to every show. Achieving the right colour temperature and balance is also fundamental, as Poet explains: “Nothing really works better that tungsten when you’re battling with daylight. 5k fresnels for key light are a great tool. Whether I’m working with or against the natural light, as it fades, Tungsten always gives the stage lighting a theatrical quality.” Of course, the new site will undoubtedly iron out many of these challenges. Poet discusses his views: “When the move was first mooted I initially thought ‘fantastic, we can build a proper opera house with blackout facilities!’ Since then, however, my personal feelings have changed. Much of the original Garsington magic comes from its connection with the outdoors; I now believe we should try and keep the new venue as open to the elements as we can.”
From top: The auditorium being built; Inside the finished auditorium; The set of A Midsummer’s Night Dream.
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Poet’s rig primarily comprises plenty of James Thomas and ETC Source Four Pars, and Mac 600s from the front and sides, a number of 5k fresnels for key. “We first used the Mac 600s in 1998 and they have become a fantastic workhorse for us. The moving lights meant that we could give the three operas different looks without having to try and refocus in between shows during daylight changeovers. They are amazingly resilient to the elements, continuing to work through rain, wind, hail and mud. The biggest problem is when insects get fried in their heat and die on the sensors!”
and costumes. The limited rig means we do a lot of live colour fades, and I have always liked the smooth transitions the Mac 600 can achieve. White Light are always very good about supplying them with new lamps which are nicely aligned at the beginning of the season, so the consistency of colour from unit to unit is very good.”
Photos: Darren Male
Nonetheless, when the sun starts to set and the lights begin to register on stage it’s always a magical moment. Poet continues: “This is when you can really start to have some fun with the lighting. The fading daylight turns the stage from a garden to a theatre and the lighting comes into its own.”
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Roll Call: Production Manager: Andrew Quick Assistant Production Manager: Stuart Relph Site Supervisor: Angus Boyd-Heron Chief Electrician: Darren Male LD / Programmer: Jane Dutton Production Electrician: Sam Floyd Electrician: Richard Ducker Master Carpenter: Jeremy Wingham Deputy Master Carpenter: John Curry
The new venue will bring new challenges for Poet, not least the kind of fixtures he and possibly other designers might employ. “It’s really hard to say how we will deal with this until we know what the theatre is going to be like - we don’t know how enclosed it will be, whether it will have a dark roof or a light roof, whether the sides will be open or enclosed, or if it will be changed at the interval. There are so many options which we’re only just beginning to discuss.” The Final Curtain The final opera of the final Garsington season was Benjamin Britten’s A Midsummer’s Night Dream. For this show, the creative team made the very best of the stage and its surroundings.
Props Maker: Cristiana Aureggi Props Buyer: Robin Morgan Assistant Props Makers: Patrick Anwyl, Ginette Hughes Scenic Artists: Frances Waddington, Charlotte Lane Scenery: Rupert Blakeley
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Stage Crew: Tim Ash, Robin Smith, Nicci Spalding, Jennifer Squire, Chris Tindall, Ben Walker
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Set designer Francis O’Connor created a striking, site-specific set that embraced the manor house as its backdrop; director Daniel Slater allowed the action to spill out into the fabulous Italian Gardens on more than one occasion and, as the opera came to its delightful and enchanting conclusion, Poet’s lighting shifted from the stage to the Garden. In a spine-tingling moment all the trees and hedges magically lit up all with hundreds upon hundreds of white fairy lights which remained on as the audience filtered out of the space for the very last time.
Yes, there will be a fair few who say that Garsington cannot be the same somewhere else; that what made it unique and wonderful was its site and of course, to a degree, they are right. Nevertheless, as the old saying has it, a ship in port is safe, but that is not what ships are built for. For all the reasons discussed, the good ship Garsington is about to set sail into open waters and it’s a brave but exciting move. The new performance space will provide the Company with many of the practical facilities that, as it has expanded, it’s so far either done without or cleverly compensated for. Garsington Opera will inevitably become something else. It will grow and mature. Technically, Wormsley will offer easier stage access, allow the crew to bring scenery and props stores closer to hand, reduce manual handling and feature dedicated control areas for stage management and technical positions along with fit-for-purpose technical infrastructure. Although it may not all be plain sailing, Wormsley will provide the necessary space for the company to evolve and open the doors to new levels of creative freedom and expression. > www.garsingtonopera.org