Shedding light on stars and stages (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Shedding light on stars and stages

9:01am Thursday 20th August 2009 in

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Most people with stars in their eyes dream of a career on stage or screen.

Jezz Hellens and Peter Hargreaves are a bit different. They specialise in putting the infrastructure in place that allows stage-struck dreamers to be starry-eyed.

Jezz, 39, has been doing that for 15 years. Peter, 25, who trained as a performer in drama and dance, left his part-time technician’s job with Bradford Theatres 12 months ago to link up with Jezz.

Their Bingley-based sound and lighting rigging Stage Management Company has been doing well, despite the credit crunch.

Peter said: “The recession has hit the financial sector. The entertainment sector has done well because people have not given in; they are still going out to theatres and shows.”

Their clients include Bingley Little Theatre, Bradford Council and Harrogate International Conference Centre. They do weddings and bar mitzvahs, pop concerts and conferences. They don’t do one-night pub shows. Over the past 12 months they have worked all over the UK as well as Dublin.

Jezz and Peter are booked up with work until the New Year and yet have spent nothing on marketing. In their business, personal contacts and word of mouth count far more than making extravagant claims.

Their biggest recent contract, for Manchester International Festival, was worth £250,000. Working with Punchdrunk Theatre and BBC Television, their remit was to build a maze and a promenade in a seven-storey building for groups of people to walk through.

The maze comprised a series of rooms and other urban spaces of the 1950s. Ambient music was provided by Damon Albarn of Blur, in addition to a soundtrack of 1950s songs.

Jezz said: “We had six weeks to put it in, three weeks to run it and two weeks to take it out. We supplied our own sound system and transport; we rented a lighting system from White Lights in London. They sent a huge trailer of equipment. I got an audio-visual company from York to supply that equipment.

“The technical budget was £95,000. The design was £95,000. Then there was the accommodation and wages.

“We were commissioned by the festival’s technical director, Jack Thompson. I have worked with him over the past ten years. If you work well with a client, are honest and trustworthy, they come back to you.

“People like Jack don’t just ring you on a whim. If they ask you to do a job, they trust you to pull it through. If things go wrong, they expect you to sort it out. Trust and reliability will get you through a recession like this.

“If you want to be a millionaire, this industry isn’t for you. I have survived for 15 years. You might only work two weeks out of every four. Manchester International Festival was three months without a day off.

Peter said the company had a database listing sound engineers, designers, technicians and riggers.

“We keep to people we trust. We had a team of five for Manchester.

“For the Carnegie event at Leeds Metropolitan University, we employed 16,” he added.

He says he is happier and financially better off working for himself.

“I know a lot of companies that have gone under because they turned a blind eye to the fact that they might be in trouble. Being sensible means if you are in trouble, deal with it.”

Peter and Jezz can be contacted via the website stagemanagementcompany.

co.uk