Hey everyone, we had a tech rehearsal!
I’d like to think it went quite well. As we would like to have an intimate atmosphere for The Truth About Bedtime…, our staging required to reflect that intimacy. So, our director requested we do not perform in proscenium arch and have our audience closer to the performance area. As stage manager, I am responsible for ensuring that any production ideas can come to life on stage so I had to confirm with Martin, LPAC stage manager, that flattening the auditorium would be possible in order to achieve an intimate atmosphere. This was confirmed, with fair warning that it would take up to two hours out of our scheduled time in the LPAC auditorium. I’m sure you can imagine that this was quite daunting as we only had four hours scheduled for a tech rehearsal, so we liaised that we would flatten the back end of the auditorium seating as that doesn’t take long at all, and we would still be able to fulfil our technical requirements in the space for our tech rehearsal.
Based on this information, I then created a schedule for tech day so I could ensure that our time in the space was used productively, and so that everyone knew what they were doing. Take a look at the schedule on the link below:
Sherbet Lemon Theatre Tech Schedule
When we first arrived I reaffirmed the staging requirements of the production with the technicians that we were working with. I was then advised that the previous vision of the audience facing the back of the auditorium would take even more unnecessary time out of tech rehearsal as we would have refocus all of the lights when we could still have the same intimate feel if we were positioned on the stage. The more I work as stage manager the more I realise that “communication is the main focus of the stage manager’s role” (Maccoy, 2014, 39). Therefore, I discussed this with our director and set designer and we decided it would be for the best to switch the position of our original staging as it would still have the same desired effect, and would be easier to tech.
The entirety of the tech rehearsal ran smoothly, all company members sticking to their assigned tasks for the duration. Earlier in the week, I organised a meeting with our set designer, Amanda, to ensure the assembling of the set can run as smoothly as possible. We decided it would be best to assign three people to assemble and dissemble the set. Upon discussion, we decided that Amanda would do it as she has designed the set and knows it very well, and Ellie (dramaturg) and Hayley (producer) as they are some of the company members who do not have specific duties on tech day and they showed an interest in the preparation of set. Having three people that are in charge of set assembling ensures a smooth and quick process. The three people who are in charge of set can now get it up in around 15 minutes which is important not just for the show at LPAC but for the future and tour-ability of the show, proving we can adapt to various get in times.
As I was extremely busy on tech day, our technical designer Chloe Denby, took photos on our behalf, here are some now:
Of course flattening out the LPAC auditorium space is going to take up a large part of our get in, which was daunting as this could be detrimental to the chance of a dress run on the show day. So, I discussed with the LPAC technicians if there would be any chance of a few of us coming into the auditorium Friday evening to flatten the space then, in order to take it out of our get in time. Once this was agreed I got in contact with the stage manager of Thinkbox Theatre to come in after their get out for for their show. We then agreed that once Thinkbox were coming to the end of their get out, we would have the chance to enter and flatten the space ready for our show on Monday.
From now until show day ,
C.M.
Works Cited:
Denby, C. (2018) Blue Lighting State.
Denby, C. (2018) Pink and Blue Lighting State.
Maccoy, P. (2014) Essentials of Stage Management. London: A&C Black.
Leave a comment