SITE SPECIFIC - legal and practical (GC2)

Conditions and restrictions?

This is some of the conditions and restricted that are included in the contract between Worthing college and Brighton Open Air Theatre,

• Worthing college are required to submit a detailed risk assessment and proof of public liability insurance.
• Brighton open air theatre will be credited in all promotional information with the supplied logo and address.
• Any alterations or amendments to the agreement are to be agrees between parties and confirmed in writing.

Event details

• Venue:  Auditorium
• Date and Time Performances: Date Monday 8th May 2017 Doors 6pm Start 7pm
• Get In Date 8.5.17 Time 9am
• Interval tba 
• Show Finish tba 
• Get out By 10pm 
• Nature of the Event PUBLIC
•  Seated Unreserved
• Category of the Event Theatre / Education
• No of seats where applicable 425 

Services and faculty provided by B.O.A.T

• Front of house staffing and dressing room.
• One duty manager for up to 10 ours of company access.
• Stewards at a ratio of 1 per 100 members of audience.
• Lighting and sound equipment as well as stage manager provided by the promoter (Worthing college)

Promotions and ticket availability

• Number of tickets allocated to B.O.A.T - 10
• Company and crew required backstage access during production period - 40
• Tickets allocated to promoter for guest list - 10
• Tickets allocated to sell directly by worthing college/brighton fringe - 425
• Total ticket allocation - 485 (B.O.A.T capacity)

Invoice form B.O.A.T.

My opinions on this... 

I think that all of these terms and conditions are very reasonable, the venue provided lots of information about the day that we may need. In another letter they provided information on public toilets, where to buy food and where to find the nearest medical help if needed. There was not a section of the contract that wasn't covered, additionally all of the information was very clear and easy to read. There was no legal jargon that made it difficult to understand the terms and conditions. The number of tickets available to sell is more than enough so we do not have to worry about not having enough space to equip everyone, additionally there is enough time before and after the show to make sure that all of our set is set up and taken down effectively and safely, before we need to get out of the venue. 

Public and wildlife

Because this venue is a public space we had to make sure that we respect everyone in the space, especially members that we do not know, this is so we leave a good impression and in years to come worthing college will be able to return back to the venue without any issues. One example of this is to get our set into the venue, we had to drive through a park, we needed to ensure that this was okay with park rangers and drive especially slow to avoid any collisions with members of the public and pets. It was also important to know where we were allowed to park that would avoid getting parking tickets or upsetting any members of the public. Furthermore we need to make sure that we do not disturb or harm any wildlife that is inside the space. There was one issue when setting up our lighting and sound equipment, we found a hedgehog, to make sure that non of our equipment would harm the animal we asked the park ranger to replace him in another area where there was no dangers for him.

Weather  

This year when we went to Brighton open air theatre it was significantly colder than when we went last year, because we were there for a prolonged period of time we all had to make sure we had enough layers to keep us warm. For example everyone in the cast had to bring extra jumpers and coats and blankets for when we were not being active, to ensure that we did not get too cold as this could have negatively affected us and our performance/rehearsals. This was very different to the weather last year when we went to the same venue, the weather was extremely hot and we had to make sure that we didn't have too many layers on that would make us overheat and exhausted as well as keeping more hydrated than usual and regularly applying sun cream. Doing a site specific performance especially outside, it is very important to be prepared for all types of weather that may affect performances and rehearsals. We would have to have been prepared for other weather conditions such as rain or strong wind, this would have meant clothes suitable for rain or umbrellas and things to protect the set from disintegrating. We also used stage weight to weigh down the tree in case of winds that could blow the set over and damage or even hurt cast or audience members.

Trenches

There are trenches at the bottom of the stage with gravel and stones in them, surrounded by wood, although they are not deep, if someone were to trip and fall into one they could injure themselves. The materials could break the skin but no serious injury would occur.

Licencing 

Because we were using a Shakespeare play we didn't have to pay for rights to perform it in different venues such as Brighton open air theatre and Shoreham Shakespeare festival. Additionally with some of the characters we changed the genders and names, such as Sebastian and Prospero changed to  Bastiana and Prospera as the genders changed from male to female. If we had to pay and apply for rights to this play we would have had to discussed these changes with the licencee company and perhaps the playwright, and even after discussing the changes may not have been allowed, this would have delayed the rehearsal process.

Email correspondence between the Brighton open air theatre manager and our performing arts co-ordinator...

"16/1/17

Hi All

 

I have just been to a Brighton Fringe Venue Managers meeting and wanted to pass on some updated information to you all! Apologies for this list but if you would like more details on any of the items then drop me a line … here goes! 

 

Dates: Fringe goes on sale for ‘fringe friends scheme’ on Wednesday 22nd Feb then on to general sale on 3rd March … PLEASE go on to their website and copy the link to your own events and email them out to your friends / followers … lets get the shows sold out! 

 

They are now taking applications for Fringe City so if you haven’t already applied please do if you think this would be good exposure for you … remember if you do Fringe City to have a person with you who can ‘leaflet’ whilst you are performing. Remember if your flyer has the Brighton Fringe Logo on it then you can flyer without a permit in the centre of town. If it doesn’t you will have to pick up a special permit from the Fringe office … (something to bear in mind if you haven’t completed your design yet!)

 

If you applied to be a ‘Window' event you should have heard by now … if you were successful please let me know. (Fingers crossed)

 

FEU - If you are coming from overseas you will need to register on the FEU form (for Tax purposes) in advance of you coming (this means it will not hold up your settlement) more info on this when they send the link through in a couple of weeks. 

 

BOAT will be attending a ‘Meet the Press’ event on your behalf on 27th February… If you have any posters / flyers / images / copy / sample CD's you would like me to take with you or turn into a press pack ready for then … please either pop something in the post to me at 

81 Dudley Road, Brighton, BN1 7GL or email something over….

 

Please check out the Fringe Website for a section about ‘Awards’ … there are about 18 different awards that have different criteria … please take a look at them and see if your show is a ‘fit’ and nominate yourself … it’s good exposure and there are a variety of prizes you could win including the Gemini Award for best artwork which comes with Free entry for next year plus £500 worth of print!! 

 

Take a look around the Fringe site for other useful sections like Fringe Academy .. I think in March they will have sessions on Health and Safety (ooh!) and Insurance (ahhhh) and even Tax (yay!!!)

 

Do let me know if you have any more questions / comments etc. 

 

Really looking forward to this year kicking off in style! 

 

Best Wishes 

 

Anne-Marie Williams

BOAT Manager

07802 299 267 "

"7/5/17

Hi Kim

 

I’m really looking forward to seeing you all tomorrow morning up at BOAT at 9am.

 

I just have a few quick questions for you:

Please could you send me through a copy of your PLI.

Please could you also send me a risk assessment covering the show. 

and finally do you have any idea of ticket numbers / likely audience. I can see the tickets sold through the Fringe Office but wonder if you have sold more through the college / directly. 

If you could let me know so I can set up the theatre appropriately that would be a huge help! 

 

Best Wishes 

 

Anne-Marie Williams

BOAT Manager

07802 299 267"