LOUISE GREGORY
+44 (0) 7711 700693
louise@illuminationtheatreservices.co.uk
PRODUCTION & STAGE MANAGER
LIGHTING & SOUND DESIGNER
PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT
Selina Thompson in salt. Photo by The Other Richard. Directed by Dawn Walton. Written & Performed by: Selina Thompson. Designer: Kat Radeva; Lighting Designer: Cassie Mitchell; Sound Designer: Tanuja Amarasuriya.
salt.; Race Cards; Sortition - Selina Thompson
I worked with Selina Thompson for 3 years, and production managed her award-winning show salt. During salt. Selina breaks a 25kg lump of rock salt with a sledgehammer. I was responsible for sourcing the rock salt and managing the health and safety implications. The show originally included a wall made of salt bricks, making a total of one tonne of salt being toured. Both salt. and Race Cards have toured internationally, and so I have become something of an expert on the locations of international salt mines!
The Believers are but Brothers
- Javaad Alipoor
I joined Javaad's team as a Relighter for their Edinburgh Fringe performances. I then became their Production Manager, taking this award-winning show around the UK, to Vancouver and Gothenburg. 2019 saw more UK dates, as well as a three-week tour of Australia, and we also toured this to Ann Arbor, US in 2020.
The show is technically quite complex, involving a large QLab file with over 1000 cues, webcams, projection, video mapping, multiple audio outputs and a dedicated WhatsApp group in which the audience participate during the show. A key element of preparation for the show is to ensure a suitable internet connection in the venue before we arrive.
In 2020, we brought this show to HOME, Manchester for a socially-distanced live performance and two live-streamed shows.
Javaad Alipoor and Luke Emery in The Believers are but Brothers. Photo by The Other Richard. Directed by Javaad Alipoor & Kirsty Housley. Written & Performed by Javaad Alipoor. Designer & Lighting Designer: Ben Pacey; Sound Designer: Simon McCorry; Video Designer: Jack Offord & Limbic Cinema
The Inherited Cities
cast, from Birley Academy, High Storrs, Handsworth Grange, Silverdale and Sheffield College. Photo by Joseph Priestley. Devised by the company. Directed by Rachael Walton. Workshop Leaders: Lucie Dowling, Sally Proctor, Stacey Sampson & Rachael Walton. Stage Design: Alexander Kelly & Rachael Walton. Lighting Designer: Louise Gregory. Original Music: Melody Ash, Ewan Fellows, Jack Godfrey & Daniel Raynes.
Partus; Inherited Cities; The Department of Distractions - Third Angel
I have worked with Third Angel on three productions, including Inherited Cities. More than sixty 13-19 year olds from schools and colleges around Sheffield co-created the show in workshops with Third Angel and collaborating artists. The show began with the cast performing in Tudor Square outside the theatre, before bringing the company and audience inside to the Studio Theatre. I was responsible for the health and safety aspects of the show, ensuring all the technical elements ran smoothly, and creating a lighting design for a fast-moving rapidly developing piece of theatre.
I have also toured Partus with Third Angel, and in 2019-20 I toured their latest production, The Department of Distractions.
The Claim - Mark Maughan
As Production Manager, I sourced all the scenic elements of the show, set up sound in each each venue and relit the show on tour. I also built the lighting posts which can be seen in this image, which were designed to imitate fluorescent tubes but which contained white and RGB LED strips, allowing colour changes during the production.
The central section of the rostra rolled forward on wheels, which was a particular challenge when the venue floor was not completely level. I developed a guide system to allow one actor easily to move it forward and back during the show.
I also worked on the remount of this production which appeared as part of MITsp 2020 in São Paulo, Brazil.
Yusra Warsama, Ncuti Gatwa and Nick Blakeley in The Claim. Photo by Tristram Kenton. Directed by Mark Maughan. Written by Tim Cowbury. Designer: Emma Bailey. Lighting Designer: Joshua Pharo. Sound Designer: Lewis Gibson.
Grainne Flynn as Nutcracker in The Siege of Christmas. Photo by Joel Chester-Fildes. Devised by CYC. Directed by Alan Lane. Set and Costume Design: Louise Gregory. Sound Design: Matt Angove.
The Siege of Christmas
- CYC & Slung Low
This Christmas show was devised by the Contact Young Company, and directed by Alan Lane. It took the audience on a journey through Contact Theatre in Manchester, utilising some of the backstage areas as well as the foyers and theatre spaces. The audience heard all the dialogue through headphones, and were guided on their journey by the 'Front of House Manager' and secret agent 'The Nutcracker'.
As part of my role as Production Manager I also designed the set and costumes, which included several elves and fairies, a giant snowman in a snow globe, an enormous cracker and a rapping wrapping paper!
Miracle: An Opera in Two Halves; Whistle Down the Wind - Music in the Minster
This award-winning production involved a professional cast of opera singers alongside 36 local singers aged between 12-70, performing a specially-written new opera. I was responsible for sourcing the set and technical elements of the show, a particular challenge since the production was staged in Sunderland Minster, so the set had to be moved whenever there was a church service! We transformed the space with lighting and set, creating a football pitch on the altar, projecting video from the chancel, and seating an orchestra in one half of the transept. As the venue is not a traditional theatrical space, electrical power was restricted, so we made the decision to use plenty of low-power LED lanterns. Rigging points were also limited, so we built lighting bars and booms in the choir stalls and behind the audience.
During this production, I also found myself having to call the lighting and video cues at short notice. I quickly discovered that my school music lessons had left me with the ability to read a score!
The Chorus of Miracle: An Opera in Two Halves in Sunderland Minster. Photo by Mark Savage Photography. Directed by Annie Rigby. Libretto by David Almond. Composed by Marcos Fernandez. Designer: Gayle Playford. Lighting Designer: Michael Morgan. Video: Andy Playford.
Stick Man, written by Julia Donaldson. Directed by Sally Cookson. Associate Director: Mark Kane. Composer: Benji Bower. Designer: Katie Sykes. Lighting Designer: Elanor Higgins. Musical Director: Alex Tosh.
Stick Man - Scamp Theatre/Freckle Productions
I was Company Stage Manager for Scamp Theatre's production of Stick Man which toured the UK in Autumn 2016. As well as looking after the company on tour, I also set up sound, relit the show in each venue, and maintained the set, props and costumes. As is common with children's theatre, we had just 4 hours to set everything up before each first performance, so the challenge was to work quickly but thoroughly to ensure we maintained a good quality show in each venue.
I subsequently toured the show to Hong Kong and Singapore as part of a children's theatre festival.
In 2017 I also covered at short notice Freckle Productions' version of Stick Man for dates at the Lowry and Tyne Theatre, Newcastle.
