Another long day following a short night. Dreamed I was building the set several times last night and I should have been exhausted by this morning, but no, the adrenaline kicked in and I was awake before my alarm.
First job for me this morning was to take advantage of the dry weather and fill the front boxes. By the time I’d finished the build had started and Sally Norman (Production Secretary) was suggesting a tea break. This was very welcome. I’d got cold outside. Even the blu-tack was so hard it wouldn’t stick.
Owing to his previous experience on the set of Kes, Tony Maisey constructed the forestage that goes out to Row A and in the centre across the first two rows. On stage, Helen Critchley was considering how to fix the organza to the back of the ‘ingots’ without causing a run in the material.
Next Martin Oakes (Lighting) needed to drop the lighting bars over the stage for rigging. We helped where we could but generally looked on admiringly. Once the back bar was up we could start to lay the platforms and put the ‘ingots’ in place. By now we had a huge crew – thank you folks – and the set build was powering along.
Keith Swinford (Prompt) was trying to decide where to sit during the performances. A prompt needs to be able to see the panicked or blank look on the actors’ faces and feed them the line swiftly and loudly to minimise the impact. In the end, he decided to sit at the front of the auditorium as opposed to up in the balcony.
By the second tea break at 12:30 both lighting bars had been rigged and hoisted back up and the stage was clear so that the rest of the set could go up and then the boxes could then be covered with hardboard.
By the time the actors turned up for their rehearsal with Keith and the cardboard set, the build was almost complete. Martin and his team were rigging bars over the auditorium; Adam Bottomley was hanging the legs – long thin pieces of black cloth to hide offstage activity from the audience; I was putting tape to hide joins in the set and Sally was painting the stage and boxes their first coat of black.
During the later afternoon Glenn Burns (Sound) took me through the various effects, lead-in music and pre-performance and interval music. It sounded great but he won’t be able to fine-tune it until the Technical Rehearsal on Monday evening.
By now we had largely finished and Martin and the Lighting Crew needed the stage clear to focus (aim) the lights. Once the rehearsal finished the actors had a walk round on the stage and then we all left the Lighting Team in peace.
It was a hugely successful build. A big thank you to Alan Compton (Stage Manager) and everybody who gave up their Sunday to help make it so quick and easy.
First job for me this morning was to take advantage of the dry weather and fill the front boxes. By the time I’d finished the build had started and Sally Norman (Production Secretary) was suggesting a tea break. This was very welcome. I’d got cold outside. Even the blu-tack was so hard it wouldn’t stick.
Owing to his previous experience on the set of Kes, Tony Maisey constructed the forestage that goes out to Row A and in the centre across the first two rows. On stage, Helen Critchley was considering how to fix the organza to the back of the ‘ingots’ without causing a run in the material.
Next Martin Oakes (Lighting) needed to drop the lighting bars over the stage for rigging. We helped where we could but generally looked on admiringly. Once the back bar was up we could start to lay the platforms and put the ‘ingots’ in place. By now we had a huge crew – thank you folks – and the set build was powering along.
Keith Swinford (Prompt) was trying to decide where to sit during the performances. A prompt needs to be able to see the panicked or blank look on the actors’ faces and feed them the line swiftly and loudly to minimise the impact. In the end, he decided to sit at the front of the auditorium as opposed to up in the balcony.
By the second tea break at 12:30 both lighting bars had been rigged and hoisted back up and the stage was clear so that the rest of the set could go up and then the boxes could then be covered with hardboard.
By the time the actors turned up for their rehearsal with Keith and the cardboard set, the build was almost complete. Martin and his team were rigging bars over the auditorium; Adam Bottomley was hanging the legs – long thin pieces of black cloth to hide offstage activity from the audience; I was putting tape to hide joins in the set and Sally was painting the stage and boxes their first coat of black.
During the later afternoon Glenn Burns (Sound) took me through the various effects, lead-in music and pre-performance and interval music. It sounded great but he won’t be able to fine-tune it until the Technical Rehearsal on Monday evening.
By now we had largely finished and Martin and the Lighting Crew needed the stage clear to focus (aim) the lights. Once the rehearsal finished the actors had a walk round on the stage and then we all left the Lighting Team in peace.It was a hugely successful build. A big thank you to Alan Compton (Stage Manager) and everybody who gave up their Sunday to help make it so quick and easy.
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