The Royal Court Theatre - 'In Basildon'

In Basildon

During my two weeks, I assisted the ASM and the SM with any task that needed to be completed. For example, I was given the responsibility to source and buy certain props both in shops and online.

At the start of each day, I would come into the rehearsal room and help out with the set up and anything else that was needed to be done before the rehearsal started.

I went to a number of places in London to source props, this gave me even more knowledge as to where to buy certain props. I also went to Kempton Market, this was the biggest market I have been too, it had all sorts of different props and set in different eras. I will certainly be going back there for any other productions I do in the future.

I have learnt that as an ASM your relationship with the Director, Stage Manager and Designer is very different. Therefore, it is vital to be able to communicate in the correct manner, which is something I will take with me in the future.


 

Wicked the Musical

Wicked the Musical Work Placement

My first day consisted of transferring extra rehearsal props that were stored at the Victoria Apollo Theatre to the rehearsal room. Once all the props were in the rehearsal room, I was set my fisrt task which was to create a props table that the actors were to use in rehearsal.

One of my weakness is Marking up and Wicked's mark up was very complicated as you can Imagine. However, with their help I was able to overcome this difficulty and even managed to complete mark ups on my own.

Over the next couple of weeks I was in the rehearsal room, with tasks such as marking people in and making sure they were in the correct room. I felt as if they were all treating me as one of the company rather than just a work experience. As time went on, I gradually began to learn the plot for SL and SR which allowed me in rehearsal to take on a plot myself. For example, some days I would be handling props on SL on my own, this allowed me to take on lot more responsibility. However, this became testing when gradually more scenes were blocked and finally the whole show. Therefore, being focused throughout was esstenial to ensure all actors got their correct props, but also staying alert for any ques to bring on certain pieces of set.

During the last couple of weeks, I was told I could shadow one of the ASM on an evening show at the Victoria Apollo Theatre. After shadowing an ASM serval times, I was eventually doing SL on my own with the ASM watching and supervising me. I felt an immense satifaction to know I was capable of carrying out a Wing by myself and given the responsibilty to do it. However, in the West End to become an ASM you have to be able to Que the show as well. Wicked's Book, like most musicals in the West End are at some points extremly fast. Therefore, as I cannot read music I found it really hard to keep up when watching the ASM Que the show. However, they had reassured me it does take time and you do not nessarily need to know how to read music.

During tech week, I was helping out on both SL and SR, my responsibly was to help the ASM with anything they requested. It was hard for the new cast of actors as they were only familiar with the rehearsal room, therefore I would help the actors with where they were supposed to be.

 

Wicked have the most fantastic Crew, who are amazing to work with making you feel very welcome and are willing and eager to help you learn. Wicked press night was a total success and I feel very privileged to have worked with such an amazing company.





 

The Flying Karamazov Brothers

The Flying Karamazov Brother's Placement 

I started this technical placement in Summer 2011, for 4 weeks.
The Flying Karamazov Brothers are a jugging and comedy act that have been performing since 1973. They came over from Broadway to perform at London's Vaudeville Theatre in Charring Cross.

During my time there I assisted the Stage Manager in sourcing props, and with them being a juggling act the props had to be fairly unusual. For example, I had to source 30 different quirky objects that they said had to "weigh no less than an ounce and no bigger than a Bread Box." For me this was certainly a challenge, but I now know a lot of shops in London that are good for prop buying and that are cheap!

Once we had got into the theatre, the pressure to get things done was noticeable. During this time up to press night, I had to: help mark up, help with the Karamazov costume, source running props and more different props and help fire proof over 1,000 cardboard boxes! I felt that they gave me more responsibility than I imagined they would.  

This experience shown me that I would like to explore other technical areas such as Lighting or Costume, as I think this could benefit me in the future. However, I do believe my strengths were keeping focused with what needed to be done and getting it done in a certain amount of time. I have learnt that even when things are going wrong or do not go to plan, you have no choice but to carry on and get it done.

I think one of my weakness is that sometimes I do not feel confident to ask the SM or Director a question about a task I have been given or question about something I do not think is right. However, being able to work on this show it has taught me that it is OK to ask questions. In fact, I have learnt that they do want you to ask them questions, as sometimes they themselves do not fully know the answer and have to find out. 
 

FKB in rehearsal...