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Olivier Awards 2018

By April 11, 2018July 26th, 2018No Comments

Pirate Crew at The Olivier Awards 2018

And the Winners are……

As a crewing company with a specialism in theatre and large scale entertainment events our multi skilled crew work on hundreds of shows every year in venues all over London and around the country, working long hours and sometimes travelling long distances to help bring these productions to life.

So when the most prestigious theatre award show – The Olivier Awards comes around each year it is always a compliment and a pleasure to be one of the main technical crew suppliers for the event. Olivier Awards Royal Albert Hall Auditorium

For the second year in a row it has been hosted by The Royal Albert Hall, a magnificent venue that we regularly supply crew to for other events and an ideal home for a celebration of all things theatre and entertainment. Personal knowledge of the building and the awards ceremony itself gave us a massive advantage before we had even arrived for the first build day.

And what a first day it was, especially for our heroic first team who traveled from Milton Keynes to arrive at 03.45am for a 04.00am start, wading straight into the task at hand and helping all departments on the show to start to get into the building and begin the task of building an award show worthy of Royalty. 

Throughout the first day, 3 separate teams (of up to 14 crew per team) of Pirates worked diligently to aid every different department and company, from unloading to building, hanging, cabling and rigging, with a continuous focus on quality which is a core value for all our crews that really shines on events like this. Working closely with Steel Monkey, Deltasound, Unusual Rigging, TAIT, and White Light to name but a few is always a pleasure and most of our crews were well aquatinted from previous jobs over the years so it made for a friendly and cohesive work environment for all.Olivier Awards Royal Albert Hall Auditorium & Crew

As the first day came to a close the production had already began to take shape in such good time that all involved were able to leave an hour earlier than planned safe in the knowledge we were on target thanks to a sterling days work. 

Starting bright and early at 08.00 the next morning another 10 man crew of Pirates sprung in to action continuing the good work that had gone on the day before. One of the key strengths consistent with the crew we have is the ability to work across all departments and this certainly showed, with all Pirates working on staging, lights, sound, rigging and front of house displays. Olivier Awards Royal Albert Hall Final Adjustments

 

All crew were able to move seamlessly between disciplines working together sharing knowledge and skills to complete all tasks set. Props and scenery from major theatre productions began to arrive as the day drew to a close adding to the anticipation for the following days celebration. 4 more crew began that evening as the day shift came to a close to put the finishing touches in place, once again finishing earlier than expected and giving piece of mind to the production as a whole that everything was on schedule.

Our Show Crew arrived early on the final day, a team of Pirates who were added into the production stage management team to help the show run smoothly. Each member with a wealth of experience working on shows and a real credit to our company.Olivier Awards Royal Albert Hall Stage Nearly Ready

From the footage of the show that was broadcast on social media, the day was a storming success. And as the celebrities and dignitaries left to party that evening the final mammoth task began. The get out!

37 pirates (most of which had been involved on various shifts on the build from start to finish throughout the 3 long days and nights) came together with the unified task of aiding all departments to dismantle and load out the show. Once again, having a good orientation of the venue, strong work ethic and bags of stamina meant that every single Pirate moved through each task set like locusts in a swarm, devouring lists of jobs and waiving goodbye to other companies in record time with a big smile on all faces present. 

And as if is was fated, all of the hard work was finished an hour earlier than the year before at 04.00am early on Monday morning, the same start time Pirates had began with 3 days earlier. We could not be prouder of the commitment and hard work all crew contributed and look forward to more of the same when we work on this wonderful event again in 2019.

Ben Reeves – Crew Manager

 

 

Thanks to all the Olivier Awards Management team for allowing us to share in this event’s ongoing success.

Special thanks to Lee Batty for his relentless support for Pirate Crew.


If you’d like to know how Pirate Crew can help to make your event a success please contact us on enquiries@piratecrew.co.uk or 0333 123 4401.