LIVE EVENTs Show Report Photos by Kobus Loubser
That’s entertainment – Bidvest style
By Louise Stickland
International conglomerate Bidvest’s Annual Awards Gala Dinner in Johannesburg is one of SA’s biggest and highest profile corporate events of the year. We have the behind-the-scenes lowdown for this year’s event.
The three-night Bidvest awards event features a specially created extravaganza stage show and accommodates 1 100 guests per session, including Bidvest’s top executives and managers who travel from all corners of the brand’s impressive global trading empire. Pressure on the production team led by executive producers Debbie Rakusin and co-producer David Bloch is intense, and the expectations always high to produce something innovative, unique and completely different to the previous year. They come up with a series of initial concepts which are presented to Bidvest CEO Brian Joffe, and developed from there into a storyboard for the show. Joffe always has some ideas of his own, explains Rakusin, and he also gives her and Bloch the space to evolve the elements they think will work best to have most impact and entertainment value.
Variety This year’s theme was ‘That’s Entertainment’. Rakusin and Bloch sourced a cast of around 50, including dancers, five principal singers and a series of other performers – from Italian impressionists to members of the Chinese Imperial Circus. They commissioned musical director Bryan Schimmel who also amassed the live band. The budget was reasonable but not bottomless and the logistics of creating a world-class show with a true international flavour in the current economic climate and bringing it in bang on target are still: “A major challenge,” affirms Rakusin, adding: “It’s a massive collaboration which results in some incredible teamwork. ”With the results as rewarding as the whole thing is nerve-wracking at times!
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Design For the past few years Tim Dunn from Gearhouse South Africa has designed the event’s lighting, visuals and set the technical parameters, working closely with Pieter Joubert from sister company and set / scenic specialists, SDS. Bidvest is also the largest corporate show for which Gearhouse currently supplies full technical production. The company’s ability to deliver all the required technical disciplines enables a highly cost-effective solution and helps make planning and communications a smooth, efficient process as it all slots together like a giant jigsaw puzzle. The first meetings for the upcoming Bidvest show start about nine months in advance. Once on site in the week immediately ahead of the show, the schedule is absolutely gruelling for all departments. Resembling a West End blockbuster meets stadium rock show in attitude, scale and achievement; it’s no mean feat to transform a large stark room into a cosy, highly visual live entertainment experience that wows the crowds in a molten mix of drama, colour and excitement. Dunn is renowned for always ‘pushing the envelope’ on his shows in terms of aesthetics, imagination and technical ambition. He utilises the available equipment to produce the very best end results in a blend of experience, original ideas and he has the balls to take some risks! When Brian Joffe is involved, absolutely anything less than the best is not on the agenda. Says Dunn: “The show stretches everyone to the limits to produce in a very short time-frame. I enjoy working at this pace, it keeps your mind totally alive, energises people and the end results are a great tribute to the dedication and commitment of all involved.”