What goes on behind the scenes

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As some of you know I volunteer as an usher at our local theatre. Yesterday we were offered the chance to have a tour of the backstage area. Although I've worked there for many years, the 'front of house' staff who deal with the audience virtually never interact with the backstage people, so I have always been curious about what goes on out of sight and how it all works. It was really quite fascinating to see behind the scenes. After the auditorium, the stage itself takes up most of the building and everything else is squeezed in above, underneath or behind the stage. It was a real maze in there - banks of power outlets, a whole room full of fuses, stacks of huge lights, enormous black cloths to mask the top or sides of the stage, huge 'flats' to construct the scenery or to build quick-change cubicles if they are needed in the wings (which are virtually non-existent so must be incredibly cramped!) gantries to hold the lights and a whole bank of rope and pulley systems to raise and lower scenery, lights etc. - not to mention literally tonnes of weights to counterbalance whatever is hoisted, all operated by staff high up on a 'fly bridge' at the side of the stage. There were stores of smoke machines, bags of ropes, equipment to provide all sorts of special effects from disco lights to clouds or snow, a big workshop to create bespoke scenery, a laundry for costumes, a lounge/kitchen area for actors to relax and have a snack, trapdoors, a huge motor to raise or lower the front part of the auditorium floor so when the front rows of seats are removed it can be used to enlarge the front part of the stage or to create a pit for the orchestra. Space for musicians to unpack their instruments and a computerised desk for live captioning; a master desk for the deputy stage manager who basically tells everyone else what to do and when to do it, a vast door at the back where each touring company unloads truck-loads of scenery, a store for pyrotechnics, a locked store for weapons (!) and shelves and boxes of spares to fix anything that might break at a critical moment. And a stage door reception desk and offices. What did make me laugh though were the dressing rooms. The 'best' one was nearest the door, while the more lowly the actor the more stairs they had to climb. Dressing room one was equipped with a shelf and hanging rail for clothes, a shower and toilet, a 'dressing table' (basically a length of kitchen counter-top) with lighted mirrors - and a tiny balcony which looked out onto the back of the pub next door. It made me laugh to think of stars fresh from the red carpet (and yes our little theatre has had its share of famous people over the years!) standing on the balcony and enjoying the view of the selection of rubbish bins and junk outside. Apparently they have often complimented the theatre on their nice dressing rooms so some places must be worse. The life of a famous actor may not be quite as glamorous as it seems! All rights reserved © Fleura 2016