WHAT A GIG!

This summer, Technical Director of Gary Beestone Associates (GBA), Gary Beestone (RGS 1994-1999) wowed audiences by orchestrating the opening and closing ceremonies for the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.

Briefly tell us about your journey from RGS to producing largescale events (is there any truth in the rumour that you wrote a fake leaving letter from the Headmaster?).

Ha! It is possible that, after my exams, I may have been involved (with others!) in distributing a letter via staff pigeonholes stating that the Headmaster was leaving and that I, and some of my peers, were taking over the school!

Seriously though, my interest in theatre started by being in RGS school productions and then further developed – inspired by then Drama teacher, Jim Grant, who used to take us to see loads of different shows alongside my A Level Theatre Studies course. From there I went to the Central

School of Speech and Drama to study Theatre Practice.

Having originally wanted to be a lighting designer, I fell into technical and production management and toured internationally. In 2010, I established Gary Beestone Associates with my business partner Zoe Snow and have been very fortunate to work on some incredible theatrical productions and world class events.

How did your involvement with the Commonwealth Games come about and how long did you have to prepare?

During the pandemic, when we had a lot of time on our hands, we were able to successfully write a bid to win the contract to deliver the opening and closing ceremonies. With our broadcast partners, Done and Dusted, we set up a joint venture ‘Birmingham Ceremonies’ about 18 months before the event itself. The company went from the three of us to just over 300 full-time employees and back to the three of us again in just two years!

Walk us through the creative decision-making process.

The organising committee engaged a creative team including Director, Iqbal Khan, who is from Birmingham, and we set about developing a concept for the show. We created a pre-visualisation and scale model of Misty Buckley’s design to present the concept to the many stakeholders, including the then Culture Secretary, Oliver Dowden, to sign off the required budget.

Once we had the green light in December 2021, it was a race against time to finalise the show and get the technical infrastructure (aerial system, lighting, sound, pyro) designed and ordered with just eight months to go!

How do you deliver for both a global broadcast audience, and a 30,000-strong live crowd?

We were fortunate to be working with the incredible TV Director Hamish Hamilton, who made sure that the show was always being thought about through the camera lens. Stadium shows are about scale, so we had to make sure everything read and worked well for the spectators in the stands whilst always checking the camera shots. During rehearsals we had a full camera set up and would review footage and make changes to the show each night to improve the broadcast output.

You worked to make the Games’ ceremonies carbon neutral – what did this involve?

The organising committee set some ambitious social values and environmental requirements and we integrated those into our planning, and even the show’s design, from the very beginning. We had to make sure everything we used was able to be re-used or recycled and made plans for what would happen to every part of the ceremony after the Games before we even started making them. We tracked all of our carbon footprint using specialist software, including every single workforce and supplier journey to and from the stadium and rehearsal site so that where we couldn’t eliminate carbon completely, we could off-set our carbon footprint with a regulated provider.

“My interest in theatre started by being in RGS school productions and then further developed – inspired by then Drama teacher, Jim Grant, who used to take us to see loads of different shows alongside my A Level Theatre Studies course.”

What were the greatest challenges?

We faced unprecedented challenges given that we were coming out of a pandemic (we started planning via Zoom while in full lockdown!), and then we were hit with supply-chain issues and workforce shortages alongside the busiest summer of events experienced in the UK! So, we had to be incredibly flexible and do the best with what we had to avoid being de-railed by the issues.

Is there a particular element you are most proud of pulling off?

We created a 10m-high animatronic bull that became the star of the show. When the Designer, Misty, first had the idea, I genuinely had no idea how we were going to make it happen! We went through a few different ideas before we found a fabricator who could produce it, we even had to buy a telehandler off Ebay to deliver it. Since the show, the bull has been displayed in the city centre and has now been seen by more than four million visitors!

In addition to the content for this article, we want to extend our thanks to Gary for judging Fifth Form enterprise activity day on Friday 7 October.

AMY WICKHAM (RGS 2013-2020)

Throughout the Games, Amy worked as a Team Liaison Officer (TLO) for the South Africa Women’s Cricket team.

What are you currently doing?

I am currently in my final year at the University of Birmingham, studying BSc Sport and Exercise Health Sciences. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the course and have been lucky enough to learn both the physiological aspects of sport, but also the more commercial/business side of sport (an area I find myself more and more interested in!).

How did this opportunity come about?

After finishing my A Levels, picking a university seemed extremely daunting, however, Birmingham was an obvious choice. The Sport and Exercise Science course is ranked highly in the world and the Women’s Hockey 1st team play in the Premier League – both two huge reasons to choose Birmingham. However, I was also attracted by the fact that Birmingham was hosting the Commonwealth Games (at the end of my second year of study). Having played high-level sport myself,

I knew I wanted to be part of this environment. When summer 2022 finally arrived, my course lead encouraged students to apply to work at the games as the experience would be invaluable. So, I filled out my application form and applied to be a TLO as I wanted to be directly involved with a team. I received an email telling me my application had been successful and quickly attended two stages of interviews. They went well and I was offered the TLO role for South Africa Women’s Cricket throughout the duration of the games.

What new skills have you learnt?

Through the Games, I’ve learnt what it’s really like to work in an elite-performance environment and it’s confirmed that this is what I would love to do in the future! I’ve also developed my skillset as I was required to be organised, have efficient time management, and proactively solve problems.

You’ve worked on some amazing projects, but is there one contract that you would love to land?

Of course, it would be amazing to produce the Olympics opening ceremony, but I would want to do it in the UK and sadly I don’t think it’s coming here any time soon!

What’s your next adventure?

We have lots of different projects in pre-production, all of which are confidential at the moment, but include a new West-End show, three new immersive productions and a show in a theme park – all to be delivered next year!

Any highlights?

A personal highlight for me was hearing South Africa sing their winning song when they beat Sri Lanka in the final group game of the tournament to end on a high. I had an absolute blast throughout the tournament and formed some great friendships with the girls – it truly felt like a big family that I was so glad to be a part of. I’ve even been invited out to visit them in South Africa for the World Cup next year!