Fisherman’s Friends: The Musical  is a brand-new show based on the true story of Cornwall’s favourite singing sea-shanty sensations, as well as the smash-hit 2019 Universal Pictures film. It focuses on a group of Cornish fisherman who often meet to sing their traditional working songs in the hope to raise a few quid for charity. But when they are spotted by a holidaying music manager from London, none of them expect the whirlwind journey they are about to embark on… The show recently reopened the newly-renovated Hall for Cornwall and, having supplied the lighting fixtures to the venue itself, WL was also asked to supply the lighting for this production.  

The lighting designer for the show is Johanna Town, who also serves as the Chair of the ALPD. She comments: “It’s strange because the Fisherman’s Friends film has been on my watch list for some time now and I just never got round to doing so. When I was asked to light this show, I actually made the conscious decision not to watch it as I wanted to enter the production with a ‘fresh’ pair of eyes and not be influenced in anyway”.  

Working closely with the creative team, which included director James Grieve and Set Designer Lucy Osborne, Johanna’s brief was to create a lighting design that would propel the stories, the music and the overall feel of the piece, but keep it grounded in the reality of the world they lived in and the beauty of Cornwall. She explains: “Despite this being a musical, the songs included aren’t your typically large 11 o’clock numbers. Instead, the shanty songs are there to help tell the story of these characters and the journeys they are on. As such, we wanted to create a show that was earthy and felt very real, where we could believe we were out on the port side at 5am! That said, I also had to create a world that was often out at sea, which needed to be stylised in some theatrical way”.  

Following these initial creative discussions, Jo approached WL’s Customer Service team to draw on the fixtures she needed. She explains: “The set design consisted of a large U-shaped Port created from 3m upper landing areas on three sides. There was a cyc upstage which was very important for the telling of time and to capture the feeling of the beautiful skies of Cornwall. However, there were only around two feet of stage between the cyc and the back wall of the venue! I knew I wanted the Chroma Q ColourForce units to do this job as they are a great unit when there is no throw available. With no bars left up stage of the cloth, we had to negotiate the rigging of some extra hemp bars which was quite a heave/ho with the weight of the ColourForce units. I also knew that the lighting would play a significant role in taking us out to sea and the need for units that could create good water effects was equally important. As such, I requested the Mac Vipers, as their brightness when used with multiple gobos and animation made them an ideal unit.   

Johanna continues: “When the characters are singing their shanty songs, many often chart an entire day. So, within those four minutes, I knew we needed to shift the feel of the lighting from morning to afternoon to evening again. This meant there was a need for several good flexible sources of colour changing units within the rig and so I choose the bright Mac Quantum washes for key and backlight and the ETC Colour Source profiles as general cover. This was rounded of with some Mac Auras on side ladders for side-shaping washes, with this whole rig allowing me to capture the various tones required. Lastly, I needed a bit of eye candy and a strong musical key look for the Glastonbury concert scene and another involving a trip to a gay bar in London, so drew on the GLP X Bars to help create that rock festival look”. 

Unlike a lot of theatre shows, the rig used in Fisherman’s Friends: The Musical was left visible for the entirety of the show. Jo explains: “With the set being a series of 3m high walls built on three sides, this involves a lot of the actors climbing up and down the various levels and talking across the spaces to each other. There were also the live musicians positioned around on all levels who also needed lighting. With that in mind, the rig needed to be in view and as flexible as possible so that we could access the moving lights for all the upper areas. Aesthetically, it works really well and simply becomes an additional part of the set; especially for the later concert scenes”. 

The show reopened the Hall for Cornwall theatre which has been closed since June 2018 in order to undergo a £26 million refurbishment. Following this initial run last month, Fisherman’s Friends: The Musical plans to tour the UK throughout 2022. 

Tom de Keyser, CEO of Royo Entertainment who produced the show, comments: “After the past 18 months of turmoil for the sector, it’s been incredibly exciting to open a new British musical in a new British theatre. As a producer, it would be impossible to create high quality new work without the incredible support of suppliers like WL and the personal care that Bryan and the team bring to all their projects, regardless of scale. The Hall for Cornwall has always been intended as the beginning of the life of this show, with a big future planned over the next few years, in the UK and beyond. Suppliers like WL play an integral part in the development of new shows, supporting them from their early stages and going on to remain part of them, hopefully for years to come”.

Johanna concludes: “As with any show that reopens a venue, there is always a very tight turnaround and I’m proud of the amazing team who were completely focused, worked hard and managed to tech the whole thing in four days (some feat for a 40 scene show!). I need to thank Darren Curtis, the Production Electrician, his team JP Christian and Jack Hathaway as well as my very trusted Programmer Dan Street, I also want to say a huge thanks to WL, in particular Jedd Hamilton, who were an enormous help throughout and managed to supply me with the rig I needed at very short notice”.  

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