Backstage Blog from the Production Department

1 September 2010

Due to an alarming interest in the backstage blog here we go again just to avoid sorting out the set store in the rain!

With just a week to go we’ve just done the final checks on the Spend Spend Spend! set prior to its paint call. With the overlays done (by Nelly and Jen) we now know we need to permutate it into four versions to fit in all the venues on the tour. So, Nelly and Tom (the builder) are working out which panels are removed/added so we can let Laura (scenic artist) know, so she can make those areas blend well with no obvious joins.

The next time we will see it is as Matt, “Moody” (our touring carpenter), and I load for the fit up next weekend hoping that we’ve “marked up” the set well enough. This is the identification on the back of each item which indicates where it is to be situated on the stage. Being well marked can save a lot of time on the “get in” as without being told, the crews unloading the trucks will know where to place the set as they bring it in, avoiding a lot of double handling. Our main concern is storing all the bits of set that we don’t need for the run at The Watermill but will join the main set on its first move to Guildford. (which is why I should be tidying the stores!)

Most shows have an element of set that we have adapted for touring, normally because of cost. With Spend! it is our roller shutter, which every show last year gave us a “Phew it worked” moment.
As Scotty would say “the motors will nay take it Captain”. The size of the shutter we needed was oversized for the built in motor in the roller. The company advised me that frequent opening and closing would cause an overheat and it would trip out, so to just leave it for half an hour to reset. The plan was only to use it twice during the show so there shouldn’t have been a problem.

This was fine until the start of the technical rehearsal where, as we had been rehearsing the same section a couple of times, the shutter got half way down and clunk, it stopped – tea break then. Inevitably the occasions when the shutter was to be open or closed per show turned into over a dozen, including a fast up and down twice at the end of the show for the finale.

So now, for the revival of Spend! We have a new roller shutter. However, we will be testing it at stupid o’clock next Sunday night when we get the set into The Watermill and are bracing ourselves for another “phew” moment. The new shutter, though less technical, is slightly bigger than the one we used last year so we have devised a “cunning plan” to make it fit The Watermill stage.

Hopefully the next three months will give us fewer of those “phew it worked” moments!

Lawrence T Doyle
Production Manager