Peter Pan December 2023
This musical adventure follows the Darling children, Wendy, John, and little Michael, as they embark on a voyage to Neverland with Peter Pan. Here, they encounter a host of surprises, from fantastical fairies and a carnivorous crocodile to a pack of pugnacious pirates led by the infamous Captain Hook himself! Watch as Wendy and her brothers navigate the skies, flying over oceans to the enchanting world of eternal youth. Indulge in nostalgia as you join Peter Pan and his band of mischievous Lost Boys on a journey that will whisk you away and remind you of what it is to be a child again. This swashbuckling production promises to be packed with captivating costumes, spectacular songs, creative choreography, and fantastic flying sequences. Peter Pan The Musical will be an unforgettable theatrical extravaganza, making it an unmissable family treat this festive season.
My experience working in Peter Pan was putting on mics for the ensemble, operating the sound and lighting desk, and spotting some of the characters during certain songs. During my time follow spotting, I came to learn that you need to have a certain stance, and you need to relax because if you tense up, it becomes a lot harder to move the follow spot smoothly, and the place becomes shakier. The preshow checks for the follow spots are simple and have become one of my daily responsibilities. I had to check both follow spots to make sure they worked, and I had to check the movement of them as well, on the tripod and the structure around the light, to make sure it wasn’t too tight or too loose. During my time in sound operation, it was easy to listen to the stage manager cue each sound or visual cue and press the GO button as soon as they said. The stage manager for the show Peter Pan was Charlie, and operating so many shows led me to know him quite well, as we would talk more over the communication headset when there were no cues at that moment. It was a very last-minute call for the shows I was LX operating as our original LX operator had sustained an injury. I was very nervous about not messing up, so I was fully concentrated on the show because some songs had very close changes in lighting, and I did not want to mess up on them.
The Wizard of Oz Pantomime - December 2024
Don your ruby slippers this Christmas and Join us as we hop, skip, and jump our way down the yellow brick road to the Emerald City... Dorothy loves her Aunt Em and Uncle Henry, but she spends most of her days daydreaming of a place where she and her little dog Toto can escape Kansas and live a life free from the troubles, trials and tribulations of the farm. What Dorothy hadn't planned for, though, was a tempestuous tornado whisking her away to a strange and magical land with no way of getting back home. Not only that, but her crash-landing arrival into Oz angers the vile and viscous villain, the Wicked Witch of the West! This adventure follows Dorothy, who, with the help of the Good Witch Glinda, a spirited scarecrow, a tender tinman, and a loveable lion, follows the yellow brick road to try and find a way home. Encountering both friends and foes during her quest through the colourful kingdom, watch as Dorothy and her charismatic companion’s journey to the Emerald City. Leading the way in her sparkling ruby slippers, will Dorothy have the brains, heart, and courage to find the wonderful wizard, save Oz from the Wicked Witch, and safely get back home to Kansas? This dazzling production promises to be a feast for the senses and a treat for all the family. The Wizard of Oz will be an unforgettable panto extravaganza, making it an unmissable experience this festive season.
The Wizard of Oz is my college production, meaning that I get to take a lead role in the show. My official title in the show is Sound 2, and this role I have applied to work on and have researched and worked on in the pre-production process. Having been given the schedule throughout the run of the show, I am working on Sound 1, Sound 2, Sound Op, and Follow Spot 1. I am joining the run halfway through due to working on a different show in the meantime. I feel confident in my knowledge, but it is a little bit nerve-wracking as people have high expectations for the show, and I am joining the crew with no experience or knowledge of the show as it is unique. I performed each of my job roles on Peter Pan last Christmas. However, the show is different, and we do have some different equipment, so I will need to go In and mess with the equipment a little bit to make sure I am comfortable. The follow spots we have are quite an old model, meaning on the days I am on the follow spot, I will need to go up to the follow spot box and set the spot to my preferences, so I am comfortable during the show.
The Nutcracker - November/December 2024
I was able to secure a Work Placement on Birmingham Royal Ballets “The Nutcracker” during November and December 2024. During this placement, I acted as stage crew, with my responsibilities including moving large pieces of set with other crew members taking props off stage, for example, chairs and covering them, the Harlequin Box and the Jack in the Box and putting covers on them. During the interval, my responsibility is to sweep the snow into a bin. During the second act, my responsibilities are to set up and put away the ladder that the Rat King uses for his entrance. My final responsibility for the show is to hold drapes in place and move them when needed for the final transformation scene of the show. During my time working for the Ballet, I have been able to meet many people, learn about how they got into the industry, and learn about their jobs and responsibilities. This has been an amazing thing to hear first-hand about people’s job roles and their experiences, including the good parts and bad Parts.
I am fortunate to be a LEAP Ambassador at Birmingham Royal Ballet, which means I may be able to work with this team again and work with others in the company on other productions. On this placement, I have been able to get some contacts with some of the crew and make a good impression on them. The crew have also enjoyed working with us as much as we have enjoyed working with them. The crew member who is in charge of everyone working on placement is looking to see if we could be invited back for their next production, which is the ballet, Cinderella. The Cinderella ballet is a much larger production than the Nutcracker and includes a lot more set and scene changes. To work on Cinderella would be a much different experience than The Nutcracker but It would be a good experience as it would be the biggest production I would have worked on so far in my time in the industry.
Acting Shows - July 2024
Market boy
My job role in the production ‘Market Boy’ was Stage Manager, which included ensuring each department was on track with their progress. I will work closely with the props department to make and organise props. During the show period, my responsibility would be keeping the running room in order and also cueing the actors onto the stage so the show runs smoothly. My job will also be working closely with the DSM to help with any paperwork, props, and cue sheets, as well as helping out as much as I can.
The shows were set across three days with cast Stiletto and Peeptoe alternating shows. The first show was on Tuesday, 16th April 2024. The day started with the final full dress run, with the show scheduled at 7 pm. Leading up to the show, both the cast and the crew were getting nervous, but we were able to keep ourselves positive by talking to each other and boosting each other’s confidence. Being backstage for the show was nerve-racking because everyone in the wings was nervous, but we were able to keep calm. For cast Stiletto’s show, I had to start the show stage left to help the actors bring on the stalls, but after that, I was able to go back over to stage right to help with props and quick changes and to do my snow cue at the end of the act. For cast Peeptoe’s shows, I started the show stage left again but had to stay on that side of the stage for a while to help with a quick change before heading back to stage right via the underpass to complete the snow cue at the end of the act. For the interval, we worked hard and quickly to move the set around in a short period to avoid a long interval. As the shows went on, we got quicker at the interval change, but every time, we were in a rush, and it never went as smoothly as possible, Making an interval change run more smoothly in the future would help to have more people and more hands to get jobs done more quickly and efficiently as during the interval change we had up to 5 people doing ten to fifteen jobs. For act two, my role was to stay on stage, ready for the UV scene. The hard part of this scene was to get into the right place on stage without being seen by the audience and staying hidden while passing balloons onto stage. This part of the show was enjoyable, however, because I was able to challenge myself by doing something outside of my comfort zone while trying something new in my role and my responsibilities.
The year 13 acting shows were held at the Old Rep Theatre, and our project was to apply for a job role and work on one of the three shows. The first part of the part of the show was applying for a job role and a show. I applied and was given the role of stage manager on the show Market Boy. I had many pieces of research to learn about the show and our interpretation of it. I then spoke to the rest of my team to gain some knowledge of my responsibilities and the best way to annotate my script and make a scene analysis, which is easy for the rest of the production team to understand. The reason I started by finding out this information is so that if I were to do another production in this role, I would know where to start to get the production of the show moving. My next job was to attend rehearsals and learn the show while also making notes on any set and any props we needed to make or source. This was useful for me to do so I could talk to the set designer about what the director wanted the set to look like. A negative of this process was finding out exactly what the director wanted when the actors were rehearsing sometimes, the director’s visions changed often. Along with this, another issue came up when discussing props we needed as the rehearsals went along, I wasn’t being communicated with about specific props, so it got to tech, and I had to make some props. Going forward, in the last production meeting or via email, I need to communicate with the director and some of the cast to make sure that all of the props are made and correct and that we have the correct amount. There were a few problems during the show, but those were resolved quickly, like missed cues or set not getting onto the stage on time, these were problems that were fixed quickly, and moving forward, we can check our timings to make sure we have enough time, so these problems don’t occur.
Henry V
For the Show “Henry V”, I was able to work as sound and AV. The show was held at The Old Rep Theatre on July 4th. On this show, I was able to work with the director and assistant directors to put together the sound files and the AV for the show. For the sound, I was sent a Spotify playlist, so I had to download the songs and put them in a QLab before sitting with the director to timestamp the songs when they wanted them to start and finish. From this, I was able to adjust the QLab. Then, I was able to get the AV images the director wanted, and I had to put them into the QLab. This was a challenge to me as I had not done this before and doing it for the first time without a lot of support was difficult, but afterward, I found it fairly easy to do, Putting the images in with the sound was difficult as they kept clashing so it took me a few tries to get everything working as It should.
During this time, I also worked on two other shows on sound. However, I did not operate these shows. The other two shows had a basic sound design and were not as complicated; it was up to the director to lead us into what they specifically wanted for the show. Me and the other sound designer and tech were able to repeat the same process as Henry V with downloading the music and putting it into a QLab file, then editing the time stamps we already had, and sitting with the director and making sure they had the right piece of music.
National Theatre & The Old Rep
The National Theatre
My college took a trip to visit the National Theatre in London. It is located on the south bank in central London and is home to three theatres: the Olivier Theatre, the Lyttelton Theatre, and the Dorfman Theatre. A backstage pass-through connects each theatre. We took a backstage tour and started by watching a crew set up for an upcoming show while learning a bit about the venue's history. Out of the three theatres the Olivier Theatre is the largest, with a full-sized turn table that reaches the height of three stories. On the tour, we were able to go behind the scenes, where there are full-sized rehearsal rooms and warehouses where props and sets are kept. We were able to visit the props department where they were prepping for their production of “The Witches” by Roald Dhal, there was also maintenance of other props happening in this space. Also, in the props department was a team of people working to find props that they could purchase online there were also props from previous shows that weren’t running at the minute, for example, there were props from the show War Horse. In the set workshop, larger backdrops were being stored, and lots of tables where these backdrops could be laid flat to be worked on.
The Old Rep Theatre
The Old Rep Theatre, located in central Birmingham, is available for my college to use for shows and to also gain experience in a professional venue. We were able to take a tour of the venue, and it was important to us to take in the information and learn the building layout as we would spend the next two years working in the theatre. During the tour, we were able to explore the building and learn about its history and how it compares to newer and more modern theatres, as it is one of the last original repertory theatres in the UK. After the tour, we came together and answered some questions about the theatre, but during this time, we were taught how to use hemp fly bars. This is a good skill to have as if you are working in a theatre; you can safely fly bars in and out. I have had the opportunity to work in the Old Rep a few times, and it has been a great experience as in the future I can say that I have worked in one of the oldest theatres in the West Midlands.
