Hawthorn gears up for record-breaking Fringe
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Celebrating 70 years since its inception, the world’s largest arts festival returns to Edinburgh this August for another celebration of creative freedom. Attracting thousands of artists and many more spectators, the festival’s programme is jam packed with theatre, comedy, dance, music and cabaret performances.
Heading to the festival for the 28th time, Hawthorn will this year be working with new client, Summer Hall as their full technical supplier providing lighting, sound, rigging, power and drapes. Describing itself as a vibrant cultural village in the heart of Edinburgh, Summer Hall will host 140 shows over the course of the festival, gathering a unique array of international creative talent.
The company will also once again be supporting Assembly Festival - the longest running of the multi-venue operators – as well as continuing their collaboration with Paradise Green and New Town Theatre.
With decades of experience in working with large and small venues alike, Hawthorn’s Hire team are well placed to provide the technical support for the vast array of performances that will be relying on their equipment. With technical kit running nearly 24 hours a day over the course of the 25-day long festival, reliability is paramount. Having a strict maintenance policy, where every item is tested and checked after every hire, Hawthorn have a glowing reputation for reliable equipment, one of the many reasons venues chose to work with them again and again.
Pete McCabe, technical manager at Assembly Festival, said: “With shows running throughout the day and into the early hours, the kit really gets put through its paces but we know we can rely on Hawthorn as our technical partner. The equipment is always in tip-top condition and the level of customer service we receive from their team is second to none.”
With over 15 trucks of the company’s kit heading north of the border, this year’s festival sees Hawthorn continue to strengthen their position within the dry hire sector. David Slater, Hawthorn’s group director of hire, said, “This year is definitely our busiest Fringe Festival to date and we’re absolutely over the moon to be working with so many fabulous venues again, both new and old. Summer Hall is a new client for us this year and with such a unique and diverse programme, it will be very exciting to see our equipment supporting their performances.
“We have great relationships with the teams at Assembly Festival, Paradise Green and New Town Theatre so we can’t wait to get our kit back into their venues for another action packed August. After nearly three decades working on the iconic festival, it’s still a huge buzz for us to be asked to supply the equipment and service these key venues need to put on their unique range of performances.”
(Jim Evans)
