One of the first clients to take advantage of this new service was Philip Wright, technical manager with Chelmsford Theatre Workshop who hired two GAM Torches from Le Mark for Chelmsford Theatre Workshops production of King Lear at the Old Court Theatre. Wright commented: "It’s an excellent product - the Crew and Cast found them very easy to use. Gloucester’s entrance searching for the King was spectacular! The fact that the fuel pellets are virtually smokeless and odourless was very important as the production was in the round in our small Theatre [120 seats]."
Mark Gibbons, who has both developed and overseen the rental project, commented. "It’s been a strange story. We entered the rental market with reluctance, so many customers saw our show demo’s and then asked ‘where can we rent the GAM Torch?’. Our own Dealer network was reluctant to put such an unusual item in its hire stock. To prove we had confidence and it would be viable for a Dealer - we did it ourselves! We felt that it was such a waste to have a unique product like the GAM Torch ‘on the shelf ‘ and not be able to make it available to clients that wanted to use it.
Le Mark plans to launch full GAM equipment rental details during the ABTT Show next month.
(Lee Baldock)
