Caroline Rouse
Associate Director
Caroline consults on all elements of theatre design, with a specialism in the design of stage engineering and other technical systems.
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A Royal Albert Hall alum, Caroline began as Assistant Technical Show Manager and was promoted to Technical Show Manager within a year. She soon progressed to the role of resident Rigging Manager. She joined Charcoalblue in 2013, bringing with her considerable experience in stage engineering.
Caroline has also been a freelance rigger and lighting technician and has lent her services to establishments such as PRG Europe, TSL Lighting, SFL Group, KRS Rigging and PTG Productions Ltd. She is currently Director and Trustee of the Association of British Theatre Technicians (ABTT), a charity and membership organisation which ‘provide technical advice, consultations, training and are a vital resource to those working in the technical theatre industry.’
Her consultancy work with Charcoalblue includes The Rotondes, Luxembourg; The Peter Hall PAC, Perse School, Cambridge; Alexandra Palace, London; Chateau d’Hardelot, France; Storyhouse, Chester; Royal Albert Hall, London; The Boulevard Theatre, London; Massey Hall, Toronto; Eton College School Hall, Berkshire.
What's the greatest lesson you've learnt as a Theatre Consultant?
There is no one size fits all! Every space is unique and requires its own personalised, innovative technical systems. The correct engineering solution will allow every production to use the space to its full potential.
What first sparked your love of theatre or performing arts?
It’s probably as far back as my first ballet performance, age three, dancing to Teddy Bear’s Picnic. I spent most of my time waving to the audience but the memory of how dazzling and fantastic the stage and theatre were has always stayed with me. I worked on Swarovski Fashion Rocks at the Royal Albert Hall in 2007 and after a very long and difficult load-in shoe-horning the show into the building watching a half-naked Iggy Pop singing I Wanna Be your Dog to a parade of super models is still a bizarre career highlight!
You spent a long time working at the Royal Albert Hall, do you have a standout production you worked on there?
It’s so hard to pick one as there was such a large quantity and variety of shows and they all had something special. I particularly loved working on the Cirque Du Soleil shows and as the rigging manager I was always heavily involved. The sheer scale and uniqueness of each production made them a challenge to fit and work in a Grade 1 listed building. Invariably there was a technical idiosyncrasy requiring an inventive solution and the result was always nothing short of spectacular.
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