BELFAST — Production Services Ireland (PSI) supplied all lighting and crew to the White Sapphire Ball, a gala charity fundraiser for the Northern Ireland Children’s Hospice. The event was staged at the Europa Hotel in Belfast. Asked onboard by event organizer, actress Séainín Brennan, PSI was asked to create something original for the occasion, which featured entertainment from the cast of Riverdance and other theatrical productions for the 400 audience members.
PSI’s Sean Pagel presented a production design which involved wrapping the end of the Europa’s Grand Ballroom in a combination of high and low resolution ColorWeb LED surface.
This added to the visual interest of the backdrop while also allowing for text, sponsors logos and other video content sent via a Hippotizer Express media server.
The ColorWeb feature also enabled the room to be extended out from the 10-meter stage width to include an additional five meters on either side, adding depth and dimension to the performance area.
A major technical challenge was the six meters of headroom, reduced to five meters with the one-meter-high stage. The PSI crew used the in-house flying facilities over the stage and also built ground-supported trussing goal posts to provide left and right side wings.
They flew a rear truss, and used an existing front house bar for front-of-stage lighting positions.
Due to the limited stage space, 10 Robe ColorWash 250 moving lights were selected, partly for their compact size, and hung on the back truss to give beam and movement effects. Eight Martin Professional MAC 250s were chosen for the same reason.
Another six MAC 250s were positioned on the floor upstage, with another six Robe ColorWash 250s on the front house bar, used for stage washes. Four ETC Source Fours provided front key lighting.
The dinner tables and audience were illuminated with 6-way PAR bars overhead, all hooked into the stage lighting system.
Joe Byrne operated show lighting using a Jands Vista T2 console. He worked alongside Alan Clarke, who operated the Hippo in stand-alone mode.
Outside the Europa, PSI placed four Studio Due 3Kw Space Flowers on both sides of the red carpet to add visual interest for arriving guests.
Time and access was exceptionally tight — the load-in was at 3 a.m. on the day of the event, to be ready for 6 p.m. doors. All the equipment had to be moved up to the first floor Ballroom via a small service lift.
“It was great to be involved in this event,” said Pagel. “Séainín approached me early on, so I had a good deal of input from the start. It is a very worthy cause about which Séainín is totally passionate, so we were all well aware of needing to maximize the money raising potential by providing top class event production at a good price.”
For more information, please visit www.productionireland.com.
