Blackout worked alongside production manager Jon Howes, within a team of contractors, who year on year collaborate with the venue's management and sponsors. The team work to facilitate both events and aid Somerset House's transformation into a concert setting and then an open air cinema.
This is the eleventh year running Blackout has worked on the Summer Series concerts, supporting promoters Metropolis Music. This year the concert featured performances from Passenger, George Ezra and Jessie J and attracted crowds of up to 3,000 people.
Blackout provided all of the stage rigging as well as two truss wings, which flanked either side of the stage, to hang the PA systems and branding, negating the need for separate towers.
Following the concerts, the space was transformed by the production team to host the Film4 Summer Screen open air cinema. The installation of the giant 17.5 x 7.5m projection screen utilised a 23m high x 20m wide ground support system, designed to sit adjacently to this historic building.
The structure starts several metres below the ground level of the courtyard, with legs in narrow channels braced off the building to protect Somerset House's historic façade. Blackout also provided four PA towers, all the drapes on the arched entrances of the courtyard and beige velour in the private VIP area inside the building.
Film4 Summer Screen consists of 14 nights of classic, cult and contemporary films plus new premieres, including, West Side Story, The Graduate and the The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
Kevin Monks, Blackout's director commented, "We have been lucky enough to return to Somerset House yearly for over a decade. It's always a privilege and an interesting challenge to work with historical venues, and this is one we know well. The Summer Series and Film4 Summer Screen are two great events, and we are very happy we get to be a part of them."
(Jim Evans)
