The Alternative Miss World - a beauty contest like no other – ricocheted back into the limelight on Saturday 2 May 2009 as Drive Productions brought their creative production expertise to premiere London venue, the Roundhouse.

Running since 1972, this infamous event is part beauty contest, part stage show and is renowned for its celebration of what its founder, the feted artist and designer Andrew Logan, calls ‘creative free-reign’. Entry to the competition is open to all, but based on one important proviso: no one is allowed to rehearse. Oh – and in the words of Logan himself, self styled ‘Wizard of Odd’ - ’anything goes’. With the role of show production company, we knew we were in for an interesting night. We not only needed to retain the event’s trademark chaos that is now part and parcel of the Logan brand, but also to facilitate the filming of the occasion by Living Cinema, a film unit making a feature length documentary about this anarchic event and its turbulent history.

Still thriving after all these years, the Alternative Miss World is ‘not about beauty but about transformation’ -  a vivid and colourful reminder that the ordinary can indeed become extraordinary. The event needed to embody this unconventional artistic approach. So our priority was to deliver a visually spectacular show to an 1800 capacity audience that could capture the nature of the event while running on schedule.

We also needed to seamlessly manage the interaction between the show itself and the film production team in a live event scenario – delivering a compelling and theatrical live event that was also suitable to shoot on high definition film. 

Effective management of twenty contestants and their teams, along with a large film crew – a cast and crew in excess of 400 – was crucial to the success of the event in order to allow it to stay true to its roots. An imaginative floor plan ensured that technicians, cameras and the judges’ enclosure were all incorporated into a creative front of house design, with a backstage area providing makeup, dressing and green room space for over 200 performers, contestants and helpers all with a multitude of unusual requirements.

Inventive use of rigging, ramps and lighting created the multifarious backdrop to this punk parade and with numerous categories – day, swim and evening wear – to get through, timing was vital. Careful planning was also needed to provide a workable platform that could allow for the spontaneous flare of the performers – a baroque-costumed 14-piece orchestra The Irrepressibles, Bishi and Moscow’s Aquaaerobika – and to cater to the diverse technical needs of contestants themselves. And these were no ordinary beauty queens. ‘Little Miss Sustainable’ required watering facilities for her 8ft wide topiary and floral hat; ‘Miss Flotsam’s’ costume was made entirely from recycled waste and needed 10m2 of clearance backstage, while ‘Miss Fancy Chance’ had some serious rigging requirements to be lifted from her dress by her hair.

The show went down a storm. Hosted by Andrew Logan himself, along with Ruby Wax and a selection of celebrity judges including Julian Clary, Jonny Woo, Zandra Rhodes, Time Out publisher Tony Elliott and actor Richard O’Brien it could hardly be anything but.

Happy client. Happy venue. Happy twelfth birthday to Alternative Miss World.

The footage taken on the night is now in the edit suite as we speak, so look out for The British Guide to Showing Off at a cinema near you.

Drive productions did a fabulous job and I would recommend you to anybody and everybody.  You were marvelous.
Andrew Logan

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