magic-dave.com

Think invisible ink!
Or a gink with a stink!
Or a stair to the sky…
If you open your mind,
Oh, the thinks you will find
Lining up to get loose…
Oh, the thinks you can think
When you think about…

SEUSS

At this point I will stop quoting this wonderful musical that I am proud to say that I have been involved with and instead share some of the stories that have accumulated whilst being involved with this production mainly that of our “wonderful” Stage Manager.

I have a great appreciation for anyone who is involved within the theatre. From working from a directors perspective I know the amount of work that everyone puts in to these pieces, no one more than a Stage Manager. Especially one who also decides to take on the role of Deputy Stage Manager at the same time. (I know for all you none theatre practicioners this means nothing to you, but ah well!) This one though, was slightly dopey at times.

(I’ll try and not use any techie talk, but when I do I promise to put an explanation in brackets)
The biggest example of this was earlier tonight. For the curtain call (bows), the actors had asked us to do something special. Instead of walking off, the actors walked onto the raised staging and then a few actors made a presentation, thanking the directors.

Unbeknownst (yes I used a big word – go me!) to us poor techies, they also decided to bring us onto stage and make us bow, saying how great we were. While we all filed out from behind our desks, the Stage Manager manages to catch his foot on the power cables for the lighting desk, pulling them out. Of course this sends the entire building into darkness; the audience finding this hillariously funny. Meanwhile we are all fumbling around in the dark trying to get the building lit again. Strangely enough everyone thought that this was staged – for those of you who were there I can safely say it wasnt. A general rule of thumb, when dealing with thousands of pounds of electronics it is generally a bad idea to just unplug them. Don’t do it.

Anyway it’s now 3:20AM so I think it is only suiting that I sleep and share more Seuss stories tomorrow.