The Flowers That Bloom In The Spring!

Friday. 6.20 a.m. It's another relatively mild morning on the weather front, but Storm Kathleen is on the way, with high winds expected. This, according to BBC Breakfast this morning.

7.30 a.m. I think I made a mistake. It might be mild, but there's been some rain in the night. I can see the pavements outside are wet, so that would indicate rain.

I have a load of washing in the machine. It takes an hour to do the wash, and then into the drier. Just as well we have a tumble drier, otherwise, it would be dripping clothes in the flat, on the drying rack, something I wouldn't want.

(Note: The title for this post is the title of a song from Gilbert and Sullivan's operetta, 'The Mikado.' I'm trying to find quotations from various sources, which are appropriate to the content of each post. Not always successful, but I do try. The flowers are blooming  all around Milton Keynes at the moment, so the choice of title is more than appropriate.)

8.45 a.m. On BBC Breakfast, they mentioned the fact that Abba won Eurovision 50 years ago this year. They had a reporter in Brighton, where the final of Eurovision was held in 1974. I was a D.S.M., working at Ipswich Theatre at the time and I had the radio on in my car and was driving home to my parent's house near Huntingdon and I heard the result of the competition on my car radio. It's just incredible to me that it was 50 years ago. I can't remember what show I was working on at the time. I do recall the first show I was involved in when I arrived, a production of 'Roots' by Arnold Wesker. I was put on sound operation. The sound deck was at the back of the auditorium, up several flights of stairs. I put together several sound effects tapes for several of the plays that were produced. At one point towards the end of the play, the central character, played by an actor called Jennie Quayle, puts on a record on a record player. I have a cue on my tape, which is supposed to come out of the record player. For some unfortunate reason, I had wound on the tape to the next cue (each cue separated by red tape, spliced into the recording tape.) The music that was supposed to come out of the record player was Bizet's L'Arlesienne Suite, but, because I had wound on to the next cue, which was the sound of rain, that was what was played through the speakers on stage! I immediately ran down to the stage and apologized to Jennie Quayle, saying I had made a bit of a mistake. I think she was quite happy with my apology, but from then on, I was careful to make sure I had the correct cue lined up each time

10.40 a.m. I've been to Sainsbury's. The place seems to be falling apart. The travelator wasn't working, so I had to use the lift. It seems as if these travelators are always breaking down. There has been work going on with them for months, so it makes you wonder why they are always malfunctioning. I then went to buy some frozen veg at the far end of the store, and a whole row of freezers were empty and none of the frozen veg I had wanted anywhere to be seen. 

When I came to pay, I pushed my trolley into the self-service area and then found that most of the tills weren't operating. There were a few ar the far end, and several people waiting to use them. When I eventually got to start scanning my shopping, the machine wouldn't work and the lady who is there to assist when there is a problem had to get the machine working several times. There should be far more staff to help with this problem. I think problems such as this are caused by Sainsbury's getting rid of too many staff and expecting customers to scan their own shopping instead of having manned tills. I think it is so they can cut prices and compete with other supermarkets for cheaper items. But, as a result, customer service suffers and the shelves aren't filled up when items run out.

Time and Time Again

 Monday. 6.35 a.m. What about the title of this blog post? Attempting to put something across to someone and having to repeat it over and over again. Perhaps that person not understanding something and having to keep on repeating it. It is the title of a play by Alan Ayckbourn. I did the book for it when I was D.S.M. at Ipswich in the 1970s. The lead actor, Chris Godwin, created the part when the play was premiered in Scarborough. Alan Ayckbourn came to see our production and said that he thought it was far better than the West End production, which must have said something, considering the limitations of the stage at the Arts Theatre. (They actually dropped 'Arts' when I was there in 1973.) There was space off-stage on the prompt side, but the opposite side was extremely limited, and you had to get off the stage through a sliding door and to get from one side of the stage to the other, you had to go through that door and outside and round through an alleyway and then came back through the stage door to arrive prompt side. This could be problematic when ladies wore long dresses, particularly when we did a production of 'Great Expectations' and it was winter, with snow on the ground, and they come to pick up snow on the bottom of their dresses if they forget to lift them enough to not get covered.

11.40 a.m. I have been out attempting to make a video, walking along the towpath beside the Grand Union Canal at Peartree Bridge. Unfortunately, the Hohem gimbal began to play up. I did a test video along the path towards Oldbrook Green yesterday morning (and mentioned in yesterday's post.) All seemed to go well, apart from the microphone not working because it wasn't set up correctly. That was resolved this morning, but then the gimbal kept locking and spinning around (it was supposed to be set for POV (Point Of View.) and then kept spinning around. It eventually resolved itself and I managed to walk between two of the bridges over the canal and at one point saw a heron and got really close to this amazing bird, until it flew away, unfortunately not on video. It just moved too quickly for me to catch it on video. I walked back to Peartree Bridge and then into Jeeves Close, which is where I had parked my car.

I have now got my car booked in for its MOT on Wednesday, at Anglo Motors, which is in Mount Farm, on a road near the football stadium. I didn't go with Bleakhall Motors, because someone at church told me they had a bad experience with them, (which I have never had.), but I thought I would try them.

4.30 p.m. I've been to Monday Club at the Oaktree Centre. There weren't as many there as there have been in the past couple of weeks. Perhaps the weather has put people off. 

I  came home and took Alfie out, and we walked around Oldbrook Green. In fact, we did two circuits and a bit more, so I hit the 10,000 steps. 

I got back inside the flat because it started raining. The weather has changed considerably, which might or might not be such a good thing. (The flat temperature, according to the digital thermometer, is 23ºC. Just as I was removing Alfie's lead, I heard my phone ring and it was Mears. The lady I was speaking to me said they wanted to know when they could come to fit the extractor fan, and it's booked for Wednesday morning at around 9.30. After all the effort, it looks like it's about to actually happen!

Tuesday. 5.05 a.m. I awoke in the night. I think it was around 1-2 o'clock. It's the usual thing of having to go to the loo. No good pretending these things happen, particularly as you get older. I could hear what at first might have been an aeroplane, the engine sound did make me think that. But it didn't go away, at speed. It droned on, seemingly circulating Milton Keynes. Then it occurred to me- it could have been an airship. I know the sound, having lived in Cardington Village and close to the airship sheds just across the fields from where I lived at Malting Farm. You can hardly miss these two vast sheds, as they stand out in the landscape and can be seen for miles around. It was from here in 1930 that the ill-fated R101 took off for its flight to India, but, basically, because it was overloaded, it crashed in flames on a hillside near Beauvais, France, killing all the passengers and crew. The remains of some of those people are buried in a special area of the Cardington graveyard.

Anyway, I could still hear the sound of whatever it was, but I was more or less convinced it was an airship. I had to go and see, but, looking out of my bedroom window I could only see lights, and it was certainly, well, to me anyway, most likely to have been an airship. You can usually tell, because they float, rather than fly like a conventional aircraft. Then I was thinking, what was it doing over Milton Keynes, at night, in the dark? It possibly is on a test flight, because Cardington (and more precisely, Shortstown, the village which was built up around the airship hangers), is only around 15–20 miles from Milton Keynes, as the proverbial crow flies. It might have been flown at night to keep it hidden by the dark. I don't know, but it made me think it might have been that. One of the two airship sheds is used for filming, and quite a few well-known Hollywood blockbusters have been made there, including sections of the Star Wars and Batman movies.

7.45p.m. Another Tuesday at Camphill, in the performance art workshop in the Chrysalis Theatre. The day was a mishmash. The filming for the silent movie which I had originally been with, about time travel, had been completed, apart from a tiny scene which will be shot next week. We were supposed to go off to a location in Milton Keynes to film scenes for the pirates' film, but in the afternoon the weather changed, and it started to rain slightly, so it didn't seem such a good idea to go out. Instead, it was decided to use green screen to eventually mix in backgrounds and the green material was set up to allow filming in front of it.

Time and Tide

 Friday. 6.15 a.m. I can't believe Alfie and I were out well before 6 o'clock this morning. The weather seems very settled as I write this.

Saturday. 6.40 a.m. What's going on? Is that all I wrote for yesterday? I usually write far more.

Alfie and I were out at 6 o'clock, and it's been raining overnight. Quite chilly.

3.20 p.m. I have been to meet up with my friend Nick, who I knew from my time living in Bedford (hi Nick, if you're reading this.) He lives in Northampton and comes to Milton Keynes on the bus. I was due to meet him at midday. I drove in and parked in Secklow Gate car park, where I normally park, which is next door to the somewhat dilapidated Point. It's not always easy to find space later on a Saturday. I then walked in and through the shopping centre. It was surprisingly busy. We met outside Starbucks. I ordered an ice-cold cold drink made with oats. Surprisingly good. Also, a cheese and ham toastie. From Starbucks, we walked to John Lewis and went up to the electrical department. We spent time browsing the television sets, some with huge screen sizes, some over 60 inches and costing in the region of £4,000. That size would be far too big for my flat, in fact, such a size screen would probably not fit in. The quality of the picture on these sets is amazing. We looked at Samsung mobiles and then Apple products.

From John Lewis we went to browse in T.K. Maax and then we walked through the shopping centre and eventually went into Costa opposite M and S. I had a rather tasty chocolate drink which was made with bits of Kit Kat and cream on top. Then, into Marks and Spencer's to look at clothes in the menswear department. Nick doesn't like escalators, which take you to the various levels of the store, so went up via the lift. A few quite decent items I may come back and purchase, as I have a voucher coming from doing some online surveys. This should come in the post in the next few days. Then Nick came to the car park as I was leaving and we said our goodbyes and I drove off.

12.45 p.m. If you know me and if you read these blog posts, you will know I am a lover of theatre, I have worked in professional stage management, amongst other things. I have a subscription to National Theatre At Home, which is a streaming service which streams 'live' recordings of plays. I have seen several shows at the South Bank home of the National Theatre and it's probably the leading subsidised theatre company in this country. Amongst the plays I've seen was the 1980's production of Guys and Dolls as well as On The Razzle, which was a play written by Tom Stoppard and based on the play which eventually became the Thornton Wilder play 'The Matchmaker' which then formed the basis for the musical 'Hello Dolly.' (I did 'The Book' for  a production of 'The Matchmaker' when I was D.S.M. at Ipswich Theatre in the mid-1970's. ) But I digress. . .

There are quite a few fantastic shows to stream on NT At Home. 'Treasure Island', a reimagining of the Restoration comedy, 'The Rivals', retitled 'Jack Absolute Flies Again' and set the play in the Second World War. Last night I watched 'All About Eve', which is based on the 1950's film which starred Bette Davis and Anne Baxter. This stage version isn't actually a National Theatre production. It was produced by Sonia Friedman Productions and Fox Stage Productions. I haven't seen the film, but I know about it. I believe it was made into a musical called 'Applause.' This stage version uses 'live' video, so you can see two scenes simultaneously and could see the camera operators. I don't know whether this added anything to the action or whether it was just a gimmick. Just because you can do something, doesn't necessarily mean you have to use it. Like, in films, where they use C.G.I. It doesn't always add anything. In fact, if used too often, it just becomes a distraction. You shouldn't actually be able to notice any special effects.

5.50 p.m. I have now managed to complete the piece of writing which will connect two sections of my writing project, which means I can introduce a new character.

We're Having A Heatwave!

Tuesday. 10.30 a.m.Okay, okay. The post title comes from that of a song, written by Irving Berlin and sung by the amazing Ethel Merman and various other singers, first appearing in the film 'Alexander's Ragtime Band', which was released in 1938.

I have been experiencing real pain in my left knee. I don't tend to make a fuss about such things, but it has been going on for around a month or six weeks or so. I was reluctant to go to my doctor's, basically because it's not easy, generally, to get an appointment, then there was the possibility of having to wear a mask and all that nonsense about 'social distancing', (a stupid term. It's an oxymoron, for goodness’s sake. If you don't know what that is, look it up on Google.) I wondered if it was related to something which happened when I was a D.S.M. at Ipswich Theatre in the 1970s. We did a Christmas show, not a pantomime, based on the John Ryan children's television show called 'Sir Prancelot.' I was part of a team who worked on the fly floor, hauling up bits of scenery and making sure the flying went smoothly. Unfortunately, as it was Christmastime, we were messing around, as often happens, but probably not the best place to mess around. In the process, I banged my knee on one of the cleats which were used to tie off the flying hemps `(or ropes.) It hurt at the time, as you'd expect if you have had such an injury. I didn't think any more about it, and had a few twinges, but nothing more. Then, around 48 years later, this discomfort came back. I could have just ignored it, but as you get older, it's probably best to deal with things such as an injury. I can hardly bend the knee, kneeling is out and bending down to do up laces is quite uncomfortable. 

Yesterday I decided that enough was enough, and with several issues sorted out, for example, the renovation work on my kitchen and the car with its MoT (which, by the way, it passed, fortunately.) I could go ahead and attempt to make an appointment at my doctor's surgery. Ringing around 8.20 a.m., I just got the infamous menu, asking which area you wanted, so I pressed '1' for appointments, but the system just came back to where I began. It was obvious that there was something wrong with the technology. I could not get through to speak to a receptionist. But around 20 minutes later I got through and this time I was able to get an appointment with a practice nurse. It was at 9 a.m. this morning.

I left in good time to get to the surgery in Bradwell Common. Unfortunately, there are at least three sets of traffic lights you have to go through in order to reach the surgery. There is generally very light traffic at that time of the morning, and even less than there would be when schools are open. These confounded lights seem to take an eternity to change. I can see absolutely no reason for them to take so long and they really need resetting.

On arriving at the car park at the surgery, there was no problem finding a space, and then I walked inside, and as I had taken a face mask with me, found there was no need for it. All the chairs were back as they should be, with no social distancing. I signed in, using the computerized system, and then sat down to wait for my appointment to come up on the digital screen. 

There was a message which came up on the screen, telling patients that, if they were in the wrong waiting area, they might miss their appointment. This is because the surgery has a waiting area downstairs, near reception, and another, upstairs. As it was by now about five minutes past the time of my appointment, which was actually 9 o'clock, I went back to the computerized screen and did a check. It didn't appear that I had actually managed to register that I had arrived, so I checked with one of the receptionists and it wasn't clear whether it had actually registered. So I went back to the waiting area.

Around 9.30 I got my call to go into the practice nurse's room. It turns out the problem with my left knee is caused by the soft tissue in the knee joint, called bursa, which are fluid-filled sacs situated near your knee joint. They reduce friction and cushion pressure points between your bones and tendons, muscles and skin near your joints. Any of the bursa in your knee can become inflamed, but knee bursitis most commonly occurs over the kneecap on the inner side of your knee below the joint.

The nurse told me it was unlikely to be in any way connected to the incident when my need came into contact with the cleat on the fly floor in Ipswich. Unlikely, as that was around fifty years ago.

I was told that Voltorol gel would help relieve the discomfort and reduce the inflammation. Also, putting an ice pack on it for ten minutes would also help. The nurse said that a bag of frozen peas would do just as well as an ice pack, but I would rather not use frozen peas, so I intend buying a reusable ice pack.

From the doctor's surgery, I went into the Boots branch, which is immediately next door. They didn't have an ice pack, but I did manage to buy a tube of Voltorol.

On the way home, I was thinking about where I could get an ice pack. I could have gone into the central shopping centre and tried the main branch of Boots, but it would have meant parking and paying, and I didn't have my mobile, so I couldn't pay using the parking app, and, anyway, there was no guarantee that they would even have such a thing as an ice pack. Then it occurred to me, why not try Amazon? So, on arriving home, I looked on the Amazon website and, lo and behold! A vast selection to choose from, and I found a reusable one and ordered it. It should arrive tomorrow. I started using the Voltarol, so I'll have to wait and see if it reduces the pain of bursitis.

6.30 p.m. I'm currently watching the weather on BBC 6 O'clock News, and the weather forecast says there will be extreme heat from this Thursday to Sunday, and the Met Office has issued an Amber Warning.

Wednesday. 5.45 a.m. Awake early and Alfie was barking madly in the lounge. It is relatively mild and as I write this, my digital thermometer reads 75ºF. 

1.45 p.m. We were told that we could expect a team of workmen to come and test the water in each of the flats in Dexter House. If we weren't going to be available to let them in, then we could rearrange times for this. I'm not sure what it was for. Testing for temperature or something. Around 1.30 I got a knock on my front door and two men stood on the doorstep. They were for something with the totally original title of WET. It made me laugh, why would you have such an original name for your business, which deals with water, and call it WET? Initials for 'Water Engineering Testing' maybe? 'We Envision Testing', or 'Water Engineering Testers'? I can't imagine. But how ridiculous. I showed them the bathroom, they took a fleeting glance, and were gone. I really thought they would have complicated instruments, to test the water, the flow, the temperature, take samples for analysis. But no . . . Just a glance and they were gone. 

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May . . . etc etc

You 've probably noticed how often the weather makes an appearance in these posts. It's no wonder, really. The weather does seem to play a central role in life in this country. But today is somewhat overcast and dull. The past few days have been quite warm and pleasant, but the weather has to begin miserable as we head into the weekend. As I look out of the window into what is our garden the trees along the Redway that runs along behind this house are swaying in quite a strong wind. Well, as Shakespeare says in one of his sonnets, 'Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May' and how right he was.  Then he goes on to say 'And summer's lease hath all to short a date.' Yes, when you think that we're only likely to have a few warm days to even call 'summer.' This all comes from Sonnet number 18.  Well, it just shows, in this, the 400th anniversary of his death, that his words can have as much relevance today as they did when they were originally written.  I expect the weather had just as central a part to play in his day as it does today. Probably even more so, particularly in Stratford-Upon-Avon, which was an agricultural centre and weather would be important as far as making sure that the crops were growing well to feed the population of the town. I think 'May' refers to the bushy plant called hawthorn and has white flowers. I've just Googled it and I've discovered that it can be used to help reduce cholesterol in your blood as well as being used in medication to lower blood pressure and prevent heart failure. Amazing how you come across facts such as this when you're on the internet. I think it's called serendipity. The quote was used by H.E. Bates for his book 'The Darling Buds of May.' I have a link, as this television series starred Pam Ferris, alongside David Jason, and I worked with her in 'rep' when she was in the company at Ipswich Theatre in the mid 1970's and I was a D.S.M. there.

 The grass needs cutting again and I'm putting this job off until next week. It does take quite a lot of motivation for me to drag the mower out of the shed and then unreel the cable so I can plug the contraption in and then actually cut the grass. But it can wait. It looks like rain again.

Working In Theatre- Stage Management Duties-Part 14

During my time working in stage management I had to do a wide range of jobs, doing 'The Book' as I've described elsewhere on here, doing 'props', operating various bits of machinery such as working on the fly floor, but also operating the sound for some shows. Generally you would be given the sound effects ready made up on tape and then merely play them back on cue during the performance, but on some shows I had to actually make up the tapes, using gramophone records and transferring the sound effects onto tape. I had to splice in pieces of coloured tape between the cues so that I could run the tape machines and have the next cue lined up so the tape stopped exactly on the head of the machine so when the cue was given the sound effect would start immediately. Also, you had to make sure the sound came out of the correct speaker on the stage, as some of these speakers were set up around the back of the set so that the sound would seem to be coming from a particular place on the stage. There was house music for when the audience was coming into the theatre for the beginning of the play and was played in the auditorium. There would usually be 'curtain up' music, for the opening of the play and usually, if there were scene changes, music to cover these. The plays I worked on had sort of 'theme music' rather like you get at the beginning of a television play or series. Generally the house lights go down and the lights fade on the  house tabs (stage curtains) and this is when the opening music is faded in and as the curtain rises this music plays out and fades so the play can begin. As I said, most of the sound effects would come from gramophone records. The BBC released some excellent sound effect LP's (this was long before digital recording techniques, CD's, computers and so on.) but sometimes we had to record special sound effects which couldn't be found on an LP or from other sources. We did an Alan Ayckbourn play called "Time and Time Again" which required the sound of a cricket match being played off-stage, so we had to record the sound of a ball hitting a bat, people cheering, clapping and so on, and this was done with some of the actors on stage and recorded directly onto tape. For a Shakespeare production of "King Lear" at Ipswich a specially composed electronic score was composed (this before electronic music was more widely used in theatre or television productions) and my own Akai tape recorder was used in the sound department for this production.
I'm not sure whether I mentioned the one blunder I made when I was sound operator on "Roots" at Ipswich Theatre. I had not set up the tape properly for one cue, and I think I wound the tape on to the wrong cue at one point and instead of  music coming out of a record player which the actress Jenny  Quayle is supposed to put on. She got the sound of rain instead of Bizet's L'Arlesienne Suite. I was totally embarrassed by the mistake I had made and had to rush down to the stage and apologise profusely. Unfortunately if you don't concentrate hard on what you're doing on something like that it's easy to made that sort of mistake, particularly on a show when there are so many cues coming thick and fast and not keeping an eye on which cue is lined up on which tape machine (there were two on the sound-deck at Ipswich Theatre.)
On rare occasions members of Stage Management had to appear on stage. I was what was called a Technical A.S.M. which meant I was supposed to be wholly a stage management member, but you could be called upon to fill up the stage in some productions.  Acting A.S.M's were so-called because they did stage management duties but could also be expected to take on minor speaking parts. One of the ways someone who wanted to become an actor could get into the business. I hadn't been at the Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham for very many months before I was called upon to be a walk-on in A Winter's Tale (no doubt one of the many 'Gentleman' or 'Courtiers' that there are in Shakespeare's plays.) During this I had to be costumed in doublet and hose, including very uncomfortable shoes and at one point during he show myself and another A.S.M. had to kneel on really uncomfortable sort of duck boards on stage, which really hurt my knees, I think in such a position that I had one knee in contact with the floor and the other bent ( a one-knee bend? Is that the right term?) and it was very difficult to keep still without moving so as to 'upstage' the other actors. No speaking or noise came from us during this scene, but I think I got a permanent impression on one or other of the knees which came into contact with the floor! Later in the season they did a production of 'Romeo and Juliet' and myself and this other A.S.M. were on stage during the opening scene which had a fight going on between the Montages and the Capulets and we were fighting with staves, which meant actually having to use what were in all intents and purposes sort off broom handles and we were supposed to fight with these staves.

Working In Theatre- Stage Management Duties- Part 13

Once the play has been rehearsed for the given period, the show will then move into the theatre, particularly if it has been rehearsed elsewhere, although some shows are rehearsed using the stage, and the set mark-out will fit into the standing set of the show which is running currently. It is at this stage that a technical rehearsal will be done, which enables all the technical elements to be tried and tested. Stage management will have worked over the previous weekend, having 'struck' the previous play's set, and constructed the incoming show's set on the stage. All the rigging, flying, lighting etc will have been put in place before the set in built. This used to be done on a Sunday, and we would have worked until around 2 a.m. on Sunday morning removing the set of the outgoing show, sorting out props which have to be returned and doing general housekeeping to allow the new show to be set up.

The technical rehearsal is so that  every cue, for lighting, sound, scene change, costume change can be tried out. At this point neither the actors or stage management will have been able to work with the set. The actors will also have all the props they need, rather than the 'stand in' ones that they would have had in the rehearsal room. A technical can last all day, into the early hours of the next day, and in some cases they can drag on into the next day with a break in between, but this is rare. It depends on the complexity of the play. Obviously the more cues, of whatever type, the more stopping and starting there will be. At the end the director will give notes to all concerned, in particular stage management will have to deal with such things as doors sticking, wobbly flats, and a whole host of things, before the first dress rehearsal. Sometimes the first dress rehearsal can follow on almost immediately after the technical, and then one final dress rehearsal the afternoon the play opens. This can be incredibly trying and when stage management have been working since the final performance of the previous play on, say, a Saturday (which was how we worked when I was in rep.) and the next show opens on the following Tuesday evening, that's a good four days solid work with very little sleep.

As with any show, the prompt corner is the operation centre who the whole show. Whoever has been 'on the book' during rehearsals will now be in control here. The 'Book' will, by now,  be made up with  all the cues market in. If a line spoken by an actor is the cue for, say, a lighting or sound effect, then the 'book' with have it market in clearly. In most theatres there is a cueing system using lights, rather like traffic lights in the street, but obviously a good deal smaller. You give a warning that a cue is coming up for the operator, usually a red lights, and when the cue comes, you give a green light. At Ipswich theatre there was a three-light system, which had an additional blue light. The idea being that the operator of sound, lighting or whatever, would flash the blue light to indicated to the prompt corner that they were standing by. It was quite a good idea as it allowed you to be sure the operator was ready. On one occasion at Ipswich I was doing the book for one show, I forget which now, and I hadn't got the blue light from he lighting operator. I had given him the standby, but he hadn't indicated that he was actually standing by. It got closer and closer to the actual lighting change, fade or whatever and I began to panic. It just happened that the lighting board was above the prompt corner, and was accessible by a metal ladder. I had to climb up and see where the operator was, and found him asleep! I had to operate the lighting board as he wasn't awake in time to give the cue! A bit of a seat-of-the-pants situation!

If you were put on props for a show you would be expected to go out and find the relevant items listed for the play in rehearsal. I can recall trudging the streets of Cheltenham as a very green student A.S.M. I became a good deal more savvy at going into shops and asking if we could borrow such-and-such item or items, the owner of a particular shop would be very trusting that we weren't going to damage whatever the item was or even sell it. They would be given free tickets for the play, or the next one in the season, and have a credit in the play's programme. At Ipswich Theatre I remember borrowing a white linen tablecloth for a play. Unfortunately it got badly stained with something which would not wash out. We had kept the wrapping in which it would have been carefully folded for display in the store, but when it was returned it was re-folded, so that the stain wouldn't show! Goodness knows what Debenhams would have done when they discovered that the tablecloth was stained when it was opened up. I just imagine that it would have been sold in a sale or probably not put out for sale at all.

Working In Theatre- Stage Management Duties-Part 12

I've discussed my time working in stage management in earlier posts on here. I have mentioned running 'The Book', where a member of the stage management team was in charge of rehearsals and then the prompt corner when the show eventually reaches performance on stage. We would begin the whole process with a read-through of the play, when the cast will no doubt meet the entire company for the first time, although in 'rep' (repertory) there would be a core team of actors, around 10-12, who would remain with the company for the entire length of the season (around 6-8 months) although guest actors might be cast in specific productions and not for the entire season of plays. The read through of the play would be the first time the stage management team would get to meet the whole cast as well as the director who might also guest direct or in the case of a rep season, the theatre's artistic director would direct or one of a team of assistant directors might take the helm. The show's designer would have made a model of the play's set, a scaled reproduction which would be made of card and in the simplest representation show how any scene changes would be done. Not only helpful to the actors but the stage management who would have to do the scene changes, although in some shows the actors would also help with scene changes, move furniture or carry on props.

When rehearsals began in earnest (and if it was a two, or three-weekly 'rep' season.) there would obviously be a limited time to rehearse the play as there would be another play running in the evening. Stage management would have market out the play's set with chalk or coloured tape on the floor of the stage or if not there, in a separate rehearsal space elsewhere, either within the theatre or in a hall elsewhere in the town. Many theatres have their own rehearsal space, such as at Liverpool Playhouse where there was an excellent rehearsal studio which I believe has since been converted into a theatre space for actual performances.

Wherever I worked in stage management the jobs were given to staff for  1) The Book 2) Props
3) Sound operation and sometimes (depending on which theatre company) 3) Lighting Board operation. There were also other duties including working on the Flyfloor, working 'practical' things like 'live' sound off-stage i.e. doorslams, gunshots, glass crashes as well as dresser, paging such things as microphone leads and looking after animals that were used on stage (i.e. dogs, cats etc.)

I have discussed 'The Book' on an earlier post, whereby whoever does this is responsible for keeping the 'Prompt Copy' of the play's script up to date with the actor's moves given in the early stages of blocking the play in the rehearsal room, so that actors can refer to this if there is any sort of dispute with the director or other actors. Another member of the stage management team will sit in all the early rehearsals and note any props that will be needed. If a play has been produced before elsewhere there is a good chance that the printed script will have a props list at the back and a setting list, which shows in details where the props should be set on the stage and off stage, as well as personal props which the actors themselves will need, such as cigarettes, glasses, umbrellas etc. which they bring on and use themselves. Once the play is at the performance stage whoever is in charge of props (and, if it is a particularly prop-heavy show.) there may be more than one stage management member running props. During rehearsals stage management will probably have to provide 'stand-in' props for the actors to use, such as teasers, kettles, wine bottles, which may well need water in if they are to pour out drinks as well as some stand-in furniture. I say 'stand-in' because at the early stage of rehearsals all the actual props may not have been acquired by stage management. Some props would be very difficult to find and would need to be hired from a prop company. Such things that you would never manage to find in the average antique shop, such as a stuffed bear, which we needed for a show at Liverpool Playhouse called 'What Every Woman Knows.' There again, if it's something like period grocer items which we needed for another show at Liverpool Playhouse called 'June Evening' which had a corner shop on stage and needed grocer items for the period it was set, 1920's-30's we had to contact a company which specialised in period grocery items and gave us a whole shop-load of things from bars of soap to tea packets. It was in that show that we needed a bulls heart which had to be cooked and eaten! So a specific number were ordered from a local butcher and then we had to cook it and have it ready for the actors to use and eat on stage! Not actually as bad as it sounds as it tasted very much like roast beef! In another show at Ipswich Theatre when we did 'Roots' which is one of the Arnold Wesker trilogy plays, the show called for a cake to be made and then cooked on stag so we had to provide a working oven on stage. The cake was never seen to come out of the oven but for one performance the actress who made the cake actually cooked it and we ate it! It wasn't brilliant, but it proved that she had actually made the whole cake during the action of the play, which can't have been that easy, concentrating on her lines as well as getting all the ingredients of the cake and then baking it!

For all the other props we would need we had to beg, borrow and very nearly steal, whatever items were needed on stage. Looking back some forty or so years it seems amazing that we would go to the various shops around the towns where the theatres were and ask shopkeepers if they would lend certain items. I had to find a samovar for a show at the Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham, for a show called "The Farmer's Wife." I spent a good two weeks trekking around the antiques shops in the town and almost gave up but then found one in an antique centre and managed to persuade the owner of the shop to lend it. I can't imagine what would have happened if it had been stolen or lost and whether the theatre had all these items covered on some sort of insurance policy. In most cases the shows were produced on extremely tight budgets so I suppose the only way they could be staged was to borrow these items from the good people of the town. Some items which did cause problems were drinks bottles and in particular those for shows which were set in, for example, America, where you needed a specific brand of beer or some obscure bottle of spirit such as vodka or whiskey. We would have to traipse around all the bars, pubs and restaurants and ask the managers and bar personnel if they could keep any empty bottles of whatever drink it was and then we had to create the actual liquid part to go inside the bottle with food colouring, gravy browning or even cold tea! I sometimes wonder, looking back, how any actor could be expected to drink those awful mocked-up drinks, be it whiskey, gin and tonic or whatever, when the colouring in the water we used was so foul to taste! As for food on stage, well, that can cause some problems, particularly when you are on a very tight budget. I mentioned earlier the cake that was made and baked on stage, but when you have to create something that looks edible, and often is eaten by your actors, that can be a different matter. We did an Alan Aykbourne play when I worked at Century Theatre in Keswick in the early 1970's, "How The Other Half Loves". There is a dinner party scene where the hostess produces a fancy casserole. We couldn't use meat as it would be too expensive, and wouldn't be seen as such so the concoction was made using bread, gravy browning and water but it did look quit convincing when it was served up. At Watford Palace Theatre I worked on "The Three Sisters" and we had to produce something to look like caviar and we used blackberry jam which did convince and the dining table was set far enough up stage so the audience couldn't see precisely what the actors were spreading on their toast!

Working In Theatre- Part 10

I'm skipping forward slightly. I have mentioned in an earlier post a production of a play called 'Hadrian VII' which I was involved in whilst working as a D.S.M. at Ipswich Theatre. I also worked on several other productions, several of which I was responsible for The Book. As I've already mentioned in earlier posts, the job of working on The Book is important to the  smooth-running of any production as you are more or less totally responsible for such things as cueing lighting, sound, spot effects (door slams, glass crashes and other live off-stage sound effects.) as well as making sure the actors are given 'calls' via tannoy for their next entrance (as they are usually in either their own dressing-room when not on-stage or the actors' waiting or 'common room' (called 'Green Room' for some unaccountable reason, although if I did a Google I expect I could find some explanation as to why 'Green Room' in particular.) At Ipswich there were three lights that you had to use on the prompt desk in order to warn either the sound or lighting operator that a cue was coming up. Generally you have a red and green light, with red as a warning and some 30 seconds to a minute later you give the green when the cue comes, usually taken from a line in the script or a movement that an actor makes on stage. At Ipswich there was a third light, I think it was blue. You gave the red light and the operator would flash the blue to show that he/she was ready. On this particular show I was working on I gave the lighting guy a red light and was expecting a blue light to show he was standing by. After around 20 seconds I hadn't got anything back via the blue light and was panicking slightly. There were seconds to go before the lighting cue was due and still nothing. I got up off my prompt-corner stool and shot up the metal ladder which lead to the lighting box (actually on a sort of deck over the prompt corner.) to discover that the lighting guy was sound asleep! I had to make the fade up, or down, myself, using the ancient lighting board, while the guy was snoring soundly! I then had to return to my prompt corner, but it was a hare's breath in my timing and climbing the metal ladder otherwise the cue wouldn't have happened! Such are, or were, the joys of working in repertory theatre!

I worked The Book on several plays at Ipswich, 'Plaza Suite' by Neal Simon, 'Time and Time Again' by Alan Ayckbourne and 'The Matchmaker' by Thornton Wilder (which is the basis for the musical Hello Dolly!')

Now in this particular play there are several points in the action when some of the characters come 'out front' and 'break the fourth wall' as they say and speak directly to the audience. Usually they are alone on stage and no other characters appear until they've made, in some cases, some quite long speeches, some of several pages. When you are responsible for The Book, you will have been in all the rehearsals from day one, and carried through all the requirements of being responsible for the actors as regards prompting them. Most of the actors would have learnt their lines thoroughly and be virtually word perfect by the second weeks of rehearsals (depending on what length of time the rehearsal period is.) I kept a strict eye on the actors getting their lines right and as a result would prompt them where necessary. 

During this particular performance (I think it may well have been a mid-week matinee, but I can't remember exactly as it's some 40 years ago) all went well enough. Now the actor who played the central male character of Vandergelder (I'm not giving his name here as I don't want to cause embarrassment, but I think it's only polite to not to do so, as you will understand.) was somewhat renowned for his drinking habits. I'm talking alcohol and not tea or coffee, obviously. I had experience of this when working on other shows he was in. On  this occasion, when The Half was called (the period in which the actors are expected to be in the theatre and getting ready for the performance. It is actually 35 minutes before 'curtain up', which gives five minutes before the show starts and 'Beginners' are in place before the curtain rises on the show.) I would go round and check that everyone was in their dressing room or in the Green Room, but this particular gentleman would usually be found in the threatre bar downing a pint or two and generally 'propping up the bar' and certainly not preparing for the play's performance as I would have hoped. At around five minutes to curtain up he was STILL in the bar and not ready, but as he didn't go on until half-way through the first act it didn't really matter. Anyway, I wasn't happy about the situation but there wasn't a lot I could do about it.

As I've mentioned, there were several fairly long speeches which a couple of the characters had which were spoken directly at the audience. It was quite important to the plot that Vandergelder and Dolly Levi don't meet immediately. She has a long speech and goes off and then Vandergelder comes on and he gives several pages of dialogue. Most performances all goes smoothly until this particular afternoon the actor playing Vandergelder had had more than enough alcohol to sink a ship. He starts his long speech, and seems to be slurring his lines somewhat, and fluffs slightly, to such an extent that I have to give him a prompt. Something which anyone on the book dreads, as it's never always certain if they can hear you, or whether the audience is aware that you've given a prompt. I was taught that you only give a couple of words and the actor, if he/she is capable, soon gets back to the script and carries on. This actor didn't seem to take the prompt, so  I was forced to give it again, but still he didn't pick up and carry on with the line. He just seemed to go round and round, repeating great chunks of his long speech. It was very stressful and difficult for me. The actress playing Dolly was waiting off-stage for her entrance, and it's important as I mention that they don't meet at this point in the play, so she can't go on and 'assist' with the actors lines (ie, improvising or something to get the actor back 'on-script.') Anyway,  she was stamping her feet  and coughing to try and get him to continue his speech, but by now he had gone round and round with the same bit of script.  I think by now it wasn't just that one actress who was trying to get his attention, but several other member of the cast as well as stage management. I don't remember exactly how the situation was  eventually resolved, but I think he may just have got to the end of this confounded speech and gone off -stage so that Dolly could enter and the play continue. But it was quite a difficult situation. I'm not sure what the audience would have made of it, but if it had been a matinee there may have been very few people in the audience and they may not have noticed.

Working on Hadrian VII

For some strange unfathomable reason, Pope Benedict's resignation  recently reminded me of the time I worked on a play called "Hadrian VII" when I was  D.S.M. at Ipswich Theatre in the '70's. There is a link. I'm not completely nuts. It's about a man who fantasises about becoming Pope. It was written by Peter Luke, based on a novel by Baron Corvo, writing under the pen name of Frederick Rolfe. It has a somewhat long and convoluted plot which I will not try and unravel here, basically as it really has no bearing on what I am about to relate here, and why. Just to say that as a member of Stage Management at the various theatres where I worked during the 1970's we were expected to assume a variety of roles, from managing 'The Book' (ie, prompting and running the prompt corner and taking rehearsals etc.) to 'propping' (ie. 'plotting' them during rehearsals, setting and strinking during performances as well as sourcing them from various places. That, in itself, is an entirely different story which can take up several more posts when I can stretch my memory back over 40-odd years!) Also, one was expected to move scenery, operate sound and lighting equipment as well as creating off stage 'spot' sound effects, such as gunshots, door-slams etc. On this particular production I was mainly responsible for sound. 

The play opens in the central character, Frederick Rolfe's,  London flat. The middle section of the play then focuses on his fantasy about becoming Pope, and is set in and around the Vatican. The closing scene then returns to the flat from the opening scene. This scene was built on trucks, in two halves, which could be pushed up-stage during the scene-change and an elaborate, fretted wood screen was lowered from the flies to form the backdrop for the Vatican scenes. This piece of flown scenery was extremely heavy. I know. I was one of the Stage Management members who had to haul it in and out during each performance.

Now we had no problems at all with anything during most of the run of the play (I think it ran for two or three weeks, as part of a repertory season of several plays during my time at Ipswich. ) As I have already mentioned I was mainly responsible for sound operating  on this production. This was done from the sound and lighting cubicle at the back of the circle which enabled myself, on sound, to have a really clear view of the stage, although many of my cues were given by the A.S.M. on The Book in the prompt corner.

As part of my job on this show as I mentioned earlier I had to help on the fly floor hauling in this heavy piece of scenery. This was done at the beginning of the play, from the first scene into the mid-section, and then from that section finally into the flat scene at the end. I had done all my sound cues, and on this particular matinee performance I had to as usual set the tape of bells tolling on the tape machine and then run down to the stage and up to the fly floor to haul out the heavy piece of scenery. Rolfe, the central character of the play, is assasinated as part of the plot and the actor playing that character has to do a rapid costume change so he can re-appear in the final scene. To achieve this the actor playing him disappears through a stage trap and off to do his costume change. The cardinals crowd round him after he 'dies' so as to hide from the audience that the actor has gone down through the trap. Then the sound of bells tolling is heard, which is where my sound-operating comes into effect. I have just about enough sound on tape of bells tolling for me to rush down and take out the heavy piece of scenery, but until THAT has been flown out, the two trucked sections with the flat scenery on it cannot be pushed downstage. But on this particular occasion, try as we might, we could not get it to move. One of the rollers over which the ropes which took this piece of scenery in the fly-grid got stuck, so when we hauled on the fly-ropes the piece of scenery went up at a sharp angle, near enough 45 degrees. It simply would not budge, which created real panic on stage as the play could not possibly continue without the correct scenery in place and certainly not with the flown piece at such a precarious angle and then there was the possibility of the tape on the machine which I had started running would run out and then run onto the next sound cue!  Or there was the chance that the flown piece would crash to the stage and put actors and stage managemnt at risk. From what I can remember I think we had to tie off the piece of scenery and then set up the furniture for the final scene in front of the angled screen background. But it was vary hairy, we dashing back to the sound deck to stop the tape! Such are my memories!
I am attempting to rack my brains further. The play was directed by John Southworth and Lionel Thompson played Frederick Rolfe. Pam Ferris, who has since found fame in a  wide range of television productions, most notably Ma in The Darling Buds of May and as Miss Trunchbull in the film version of Matilda, and much more recently in the B.B.C. series Call The Midwife playing the part of Sister Evangelina, had a part in this production and was in many other productions during my time at Ipswich Theatre.