White Light has returned to the

Edinburgh Festival Fringe where it is supplying the lighting and rigging

equipment for all of the Gilded Balloon venues for the sixth year running.

Edinburgh Festival Fringe is the

world’s single biggest celebration of arts and culture. Every August, the

Scottish capital welcomes around 3,500 shows in over 300 venues, including

theatre, comedy, dance, circus, opera and much more. As a leading lighting

supplier to West End and UK touring theatre, WL is currently working with

Gilded Balloon – one of the Big Four venue operators at the Fringe. 

WL’s Customer Service Key Account

Manager Dan Last comments: “We work closely with Gilded Balloon across their

five buildings: Teviot (nine spaces), The Museum (auditorium space), Old

Tolbooth Market (three spaces), Rose Theatre (three spaces) and the newly-acquired

Patter Hoose (five spaces). Our role is to supply the lighting and rigging

solutions in each of these, ensuring that they are well-equipped and able to

host a range of performances throughout the Festival”.

Prior to the Fringe, Dan and the

WL team work closely with Gilded Balloon to decide on the equipment that will

be used in each space. Dan explains: “We initially work with Karen and Katy

Koren who each run Gilded Balloon, which is one of the only ‘Big Four’

producers who are Scottish based and operated. As we move closer to the

Festival, we then liaise with Production Manager Meredith Rehburg and Technical

Manager Simon Cook to finalise the specific technical requirements”.

This year saw the Gilded Balloon

take on a new venue: Patter Hoose. Unlike the other spaces which were utilised

at previous festivals, the producers had to create the technical set-up

completely from scratch. Dan explains: “With Patter Hoose, we were asked to go

up in January to see the space, which at that time was essentially four blank

rooms and one lecture theatre. We were shown round the different spaces and

asked to give recommendations as to what was needed to transform them into

areas suitable for performance”.  

Dan and WL’s Project Manager Luke

Hance travelled back to Edinburgh in mid-July, two weeks before the Festival

opened. They spent the first week working at Patter Hoose, building the truss

structures, installing the lighting and ensuring the whole set-up worked

efficiently. The following week they moved onto Teviot and the other three

venues. With the Teviot having nine spaces, this meant that WL had to oversee a

large install in a short amount of time. As a result, Gilded Balloon brought in

a crew of 30 technicians who were overseen by WL’s Production Technician Thomas

Tomkins. 

Dan explains: “Once the second

week finishes, this is when the companies and technicians who will be there for

the month start to arrive and tech their shows. As a result, we make sure we

are on hand to offer them any guidance or assistant when using the equipment.

This is something we also offer throughout the entire month”.

Alongside the Gilded Balloon, WL

is also supplying the lighting equipment for CanadaHub, a church which has been

converted into a theatre space and showcases the very best of Canada’s

contemporary performance scene. 

Dan concludes: “It’s been

fantastic working at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in its busiest year yet.

When we first started working with the Gilded Balloon, they had one building

and have since grown exponentially. What’s great is that, as a company, we’ve

been able to support this growth every step of the way and ensure each of its

spaces have the technical solutions  needed to host thousands of

performances across a short space of time”. 

The post White Light Supplies Gilded Balloon Venues at Edinburgh Fringe appeared first on White Light.