A Jem of a Christmas Carol

Adrian Hull, a student and lighting designer at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA), also known as the Paul McCartney Fame School, was looking for a reliable low fog effect for the school’s holiday production of A Christmas Carol that ran from December 12 - 14.

“We’re looking for a smoke effect that will need to run for approximately 15 minutes,” he explained. “Our stage trap door will be open as well and I would like people to be able to breath in our sub stage area, especially with this effect running for so long.”

So Adrian turned to Martin Professional and the Jem Glaciator. “The first thing a lot of the production crew and I noticed was when we plugged it in,” he explains. “It was a lot quieter than we all thought it would be. People had warned me that they could be noisy machines. After we let it warm up and chill down, we tested it on our stage. We got all the production crew and the director posed to see if it would work. Surely enough, it started to fog and the effect was brilliant. Furthermore it was the effect the director wanted. This was a great relief. We then tested it with the trap door open and the fog did not all disappear down the trap as we thought it would but glided over the open stage. You could stand below and see this blanket of smoke just glide over your head. At the end of the effect we all thought that the fog would linger around the theatre, and we again were glad that it hung to the floor and disappeared quickly when we stopped the effect.”

“The authentic costumes and ‘falling snow’ added to the seasonal effect, and the musical direction was first class. Having now seen three productions in the last 12 months we all considered them to be on a par with any West End show. The Paul McCartney Auditorium at LIPA must surely be one of the finest small theatres in the country and I would recommend any Merseysiders who have not yet visited the beautifully restored historic building to do so, as it must be one of the jewels in Liverpool.”