Standing Ovation!

Friday night and Saturday night!

The show went amazingly, nothing went wrong and yes, we had all the audience standing in the last two nights. 


On the last day I had come down with something or another and was feeling terrible, so on Saturday night my Stage Manager let me sit at the top of the auditorium with the spotlight operators (including Tom the technician from The Windmill in Blatch) and watch the very last show. I'm incredibly grateful  to my SM for letting me do that, as seeing the show from the front, instead of from the wings is very interesting as you can see your work in progress. Although it was odd seeing people do my job even if they did do it perfectly.


The show was featured in the local newspaper the Argus: Link to Article
Also, while I was standing in the box office, a punter came up and asked the Ticket Collector next to me where the show was touring to next, she assumed we were the professional Touring Hairspray!


A lesson learned today:
Always try to see the show you're working on from the audiences point of view at some point. It's a completely different experience.

It's been a long few days...

Get in - Technical Rehearsal - Dress Rehearsal - Opening Night!

• Get In - During this I mainly had to paint all the trucks a dark grey colour so they would match the stage. The trucks were originally black, which is a normal colour for a stage. Think of it like a camouflage
• Technical Rehearsal - This was almost a smooth run through! Other than when the crew and I had to mark up/out or even 'Spike' the stage; which is a process of placing pieces of coloured tape on the stage at the base of set pieces so we know where they go during scene changes. "How to spike a stage!"
• Dress Rehearsal - The dress run went very well, the only times we had to stop was when the choreographer wanted to change a couple of dance moves.
• Opening night! - The audience was great, laughing at every joke, and even booing the baddies when they came on stage. Only one slip up on our part, when we were pulling one of the trucks out from the wings during a non-blackout scene change it got caught up with the black tabs (curtains). So I was on stage for much longer than anticipated trying to untangle the blacks from a very small wheel.

There's another evening performance tonight, then matinees and evenings until Saturday night. I've been wearing jeans and a pink shirt because the director wanted us to fit in with the cast and the 60s theme during scene changes, it's a nice change from blacks.
A lesson learned today:
Always check the colour of the stage floor before building the scenery onto your trucks, you might be in for a surprise.

Hairspray starts tomorrow!

Tomorrow is the get-in (building the set) for Hairspray. Not much to report today, other than I'm looking forward to getting my hands dirty tomorrow. I love influencing the Artistic Director during the get-in, so throughout the show I can point at a certain piece of set and say: "That was my idea!"

Lesson I've learned today:
If you're working on a show, make sure you have enough clothes for the entire week (or however long you are working on it for). You can't wear the same outfit all week, however it has to look the same throughout.
Make a clothes schedule?

Some more on "The Wiz"

I've been doing a little research...

The Wiz is BASICALLY "The Wizard of Oz" but with a completely different soundtrack and slightly more modern dialogue. The story line is almost exactly the same, which personally I find a little frustrating. I would have loved to have worked on The Wizard Of Oz, however I have to cope with a terrible compromise, and so do the rest of the team I work with. No doubt though, we'll all be singing the songs by the end of it and know every line by heart.


I think I'll give you guys some links, that can explain this ghastly musical properly:


The trailer for the motion picture, not very good quality but I think the actual film wasn't very good quality not just this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZC_sdHwBAQ


The "Official" site: http://www.broadwaymusicalhome.com/shows/wiz.htm


And the Wikipedia site, mainly because they have the more information than any other site that I can find: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wiz


Lesson I've learnt today:
The Wizard of Oz / Wicked / The Wiz are all one musical!! 
How can they manage to stretch one storyline so far?

The Wiz!

Ever heard of it? Because I haven't!

It's the next production to be performed at The Windmill. Lower school from Blatchington Mill are going to stage it, which'll be interesting because I've never worked on a Lower School production before, and I can't wait to find out what raw talent we have at Blatchington Mill.


I hope to be given the role of Stage Manager on this next show, mainly because I want to be able to show my communication skills to the teachers and technicians working around the theatre. I really believe I could get things done!


I'm going to do some research on The Wiz, and give you a little run down on it in tomorrows post!


Lesson learned today:
Never underestimate Blatchington Mill's ability to find the least well known musicals ever.

Being Tracked Down...

Guess what?
I've been tracked down by the Stage Manager from Les Miserables (who I previously worked with) and now I'm going to be working as part of the crew on a local production of Hairspray all half-term week!

I knew that the show would be running during half-term, because Tom the technician from The Windmill is going to be working the follow-spot during the performances. I had asked him if he could get me in on it, but he said there was no chance! I guess I was just lucky to have past experiences with the crew - they must have liked me.


I've done a little research on Hairspray, and did you know that Matthew Morrison (Will Schuester from Glee) was the original Link from the Broadway performance of Hairspray!


It's being performed at Roedean Theatre, and I'm ecstatic about working there, mainly because I performed there when I was little and can't wait for the nostalgia to kick in once I'm behind the wings again.


Here's a link to the show: http://www.brightontg.com/hairspray/
I promise it'll be a show worth seeing!


A lesson learnt today:
Always give people with connections your contact details, including your Mobile Number and Email... Although, never give out your address until you know and trust the person fully.

Billy The Musical

BILLY THE MUSICAL (Based on Billy Liar) see Billy The Musical Wiki Page

Which was performed at: The Windmill Theatre, Blatchington Mill School:

My Role within Billy was to organise and design the lighting, then to operate the cues during the performances.


The specials (Lighting on stage) included:

An old lamp on a stand:
Found on a prop sourcing trip to Emmaus, the standard lamp had a nondescript cream lampshade on which I decided to paint a brown stripe, so it would fit in with our all round brown and beige theme.

A fireplace:
Within the fireplace, we set 2 erratic flashing bulbs with red gels, and 1
constantly lit orange gelled bulb, we then put a little tin foil around it and covered it with logs, it was very effective, if a little ‘rave like’.

A window:
 At the very beginning of Billy Liar, dawn breaks over the stage and you become aware of a dimly lit figure in bed. I decided to light this through a net curtained window with the use of a birdie light. The director didn’t use this light as much as I would have liked, however the effect it gave when it was being used I thought worked well and was realistic.

Many times during the play Billy snaps from reality to his own fantasy world, and this is mainly indicated through an obvious lighting change. When Billy is in the real world, it is dreary Yorkshire in the 1960s. I wanted to give the cast and set during these scenes an old sepia look. However, this was harder to achieve than I expected, especially as I didn't get any input into what the cast  would be wearing. Some of them were wearing reds and other bright colours that didn’t fit in with my sepia idea. To overcome this problem I decided to use brown gels in six Frasnels across the lighting bar located at the front of the stage. This gave the cast and set a brown, almost dirty tinge which was close to my original idea.

I was quite pleased with the look I created in the end. The fantasy scenes consisted of down light from centre stage so you could only really see the cast's silhouettes, and a deep pink back wash to the entire set. This gave an other-worldly feel to the scenes. The Director did however want some front light, so that the faces of the cast would be visible. I felt this made sense, even if it did dilute the fantasy look that I created and loved.

Rope/cable light:
We used this on the set during a nightclub scene. I was slightly concerned that this was a mistake. Rope light has a bit of a cheesy reputation, I wasn't sure that it was really appropriate for a nightclub in 1960s Yorkshire. In my opinion it gives a 1970s or 80s look. Don't get me wrong, personally I love the stuff, but I worried that it wouldn't fit what we were aiming to achieve.
I'm happy to report that despite my worries the rope light did work. It helped create a totally new scene without any major set changes.

Propping:
Our main technician Tom, sourced 200 Friday Ads (free local advertising paper). These were for the calendars needed to play a significant part in the play. Myself  and others spent a good part of an hour sticking covers onto them so they resembled calendars.

I had a plan that when the lighting changed from reality to fantasy, the cast would quickly whip out colourful props, in place of the plain ones they had been using, this would include multicoloured feather dusters in place of  old yellow dusting cloths, and crochet blankets could quickly be thrown over the drab furniture. Sadly this didn't happen  - it didn't work time-wise as the cue changes were meant to take only a split second, and this isn't possible when an actor is trying to tug a blanket from under an armchair five minutes in.

A lesson learned today:
When operating the specific lighting programme at the Windmill during performances:
Don't be nervous - shaking hands can cause double clicks when single ones are intended. This happened to me, and confused the actors terribly because we went from nightclub to blackout, instead of fantasy like rehearsed. Luckily my nervous shakes made the double clicks so fast that the audience didn’t notice, and it seemed as if the blackout was meant to be there.

All in all, the performances went amazingly!

Les Miserables (Day One)

What ever happened to carpenters?

7.30am

My alarm goes off. It's one of those alarms when the longer you ignore it the faster and the louder the beeping gets. Basically, one of those alarms that everyone hates, including me. I pull out the clothing I’m supposed to wear, even though I am a little confused about whether to wear blacks or not, I decide on wearing mainly black but not entirely. This is because the SM told me to wear black clothing (which I expected) but I knew we were building today, so I wasn’t sure, I didn’t want to get the black jeans I was going to have to wear in the week covered in paint.

9.00am

It is raining. Almost freezing cold, and I am stuck outside the main entrance of the Sallis Benny Theatre with the ‘Master Joiner’ and a guy called Derrick and a fellow crewmember Martin. They are both telling me about their years in the world of show business, even if it is behind the wings.

Finally, after about 10 minuets, someone from lighting comes to let us in. Telling us in the process that “everyone else is round the back and unloading stuff from the van.” I swiftly walk into the stage area, trying to look like I know what I am doing, and that I am completely confident. This is ruined a few seconds later when I lose my way to a dressing room, and find myself outside, only having to return to the SM to ask for a second set of directions. Turns out HE got stage right and left mixed up.

9.30am

Right in the middle of unloading a nice mixture of wooden planks, flats, music stands, old lighting boxes, old wagon wheels (not the chocolate biscuits ACTUAL wagon wheels) and a few other odd bits and pieces.

I’m being given a little less to carry from the man unloading the truck than any of the other ‘men’ who are to be honest all over 45 except one 31 year old. But still, I’m no weakling! I could have carried about the same as nearly all of the people there. However they were all still very lovely about it “Don’t take more than you can handle my sweetest.”

11.00am

8 flats, all about 12 foot high and 5 foot wide, are now joined together and standing across the back of the stage, to give a backdrop to the set we are about to construct. Only after the SM goes and makes some tea, it’s about time, people have been hollering for it.

1.00pm

Okay, I want to be able to explain how the set looks like, BUT I will not be able to tell it to its true glory (I’m proud of it yes). So, I will post a picture:

Well, by 11 we had about half of the entire structure sound, and the separate parts coming off the sides.

Time for lunch, they all head off for a pint, I have a cheap sandwiches in the park/ old stein, unfair? I think so.

5.00pm

The Barricades are done, as is the set, all that is left is sorting the odd bit and bobs out across the stage. I’m given a large bucket, full of a very assorted mixture of rusty screw, and a few other bits. After about an hour I’ve sorted them all into about 20 different piles and I’m free to go home, happy in the knowledge that I’ve done a hard days work.

6.30pm

Sat down, in front of Doctor Who, with a nice plate of beans on toast. The perfect dinner for a long day.

Before Les Miserables!

To build or not to build?

That is the question.

On Sunday (This was about a month ago now) I’ve been given the privilege to decide whether or not I want to go in to The Sallis Benny Theatre in Brighton, to build the set for Les Miserables… I assume it will be the Barricades. I am quite sure I’ll go along, as I don’t have any other plans for Sunday. However, I’m worried after the SM Nigel, said that I may “Get bored easily” that I might be sitting around doing nothing. I’m really hoping to get my hands stuck in to some serious ‘barricade building’ but I don’t want to just be sat in the wings for 6 hours doing nothing and feeling awkward.

I’m sure that my worries are completely silly, and I should show up and demand a job, if its from de-tangling cables to helping design the barricades themselves.

To build it is!

The First Few Weeks into SM Lessons

The Beginnning


Having not taken part in any productions (as of yet, Les Miserables the whole of next week, which you should hear a lot about) I do not have much to write about in the context of being backstage or working the lights etc. However, I have taken part in 5 and a half Stage Management ‘lessons’ with the ultimate Mark Shayle.

Upon meeting this new tutor, having heard the odd description from friends within the year above me, who had been with Mark for a whole extra year, he was basically what I expected, a typical laid back, but at the same time pretty full on ‘Tutor’, he definitely gave off the whole “Stage Management” aura. Anyhow, back to the content of these lessons:
The first session was spent going over the basics of the stage. We had the basic outline of a ‘Proscenium Arch’ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proscenium) and were asked to name it, instinctively we all chorused “it’s a stage!” Which was unusual for our normally tired, sleepy Monday morning class. After a few more guesses, hand gestures and clues Mark finally gave in and told us the name of the box-shaped image on the board.

Over the next few weeks we learnt a few more names and tricks of the trade of Stage Management, for example, Typical jobs of SMs, DSMs and ASMs. To watch out not to flick the wrong switch or pull the wrong lever, which would either lead to making a complete idiot of yourself and chatting to a half full auditorium or covering the audience in a couple gallons of water. However, at the moment we are only skimming the surface of what is yet to be learnt about the life of a stage manager, and I am yearning for more.

I never though that there could be so much information packed into one of the many jobs in a theatre, for now I don’t know nearly enough, but in time, I hope I’ll have most of the help I need tucked under my hat so I can set off and work behind the wings of a proper stage, not just the Windmill Theatre.