The ASM Diaries

Rehearsals have been in full swing now. For the last four days, Kitty, Dacre, Felix, Elena and I have been in technical rehearsals in The Studio. For each play we have been going through the lighting and sound que’s, marking the stage with where the furniture is on set. This year I had to go through a Health and Safety orientation of The Studio and dressing room with the casts and directors from each show, explaining about what needs to be done in the event of a fire and what to do if anyone is in need of first aid. The photos below are from Bus Stop, After Prospero and Boom Busters. It’s been a lot of work for the past four days with the festival kicking off tomorrow. Hope to see you there! .

In one week, INK Festival will be in full swing! Although INK is only three days this year, there was still tons of preparation to do beforehand. For the past couple of day's, we have been setting up at The Cut in Halesworth for this year's outing. On Friday the main focus was the get-in for The Studio Space where I will be working this year Stage Managing The Ties That Bind , Invisible Irene , After Prospero , Boomer Busters , Lady of Jazz and Bus Stop . The main task we had to do was set up the stage and seating for the venue. We had to unload the staging from the van and carry it upstairs, it was made of steel, so as you can imagine it was very heavy. An aluminum scaffold had to be assembled as well for The Ties That Bind, thankfully not so heavy. After the Staging was assembled, we unloaded the seating from the van and carried that too upstairs to The Studio. Again that was very heavy. The day after we all were feeling very stiff. It took hours to asse

Hi guys! I'm back for another blog post. Six months have passed since I finished my work with Suffolk Summer Theatres and I am now about to start work with Ink Festival which I have been involved with for the past five years. Ink Festival, for those who do not know, is a new writing festival for emerging talent in East Anglia to have their work performed as either a play or film with the possibility to be developed. Throughout the year workshops are held for writers to learn how to hone their craft and develop scripts they have written lead by professionals in television, film, theatre and radio. Ink has been based at  The Cut  in Halesworth since the festival began five years ago and will be returning there again on April 12th, 13th, and 14th. Plays that have been performed at Ink have gone on tour at venues across East Anglia, the Pleasance Theatre in Islington, London, and have even been published. Before that though, there was a competition on February 24th that I w

We’ve just completed the final gets outs at both venues bringing a close to this years season at Southwold and Aldeburgh. Tuesday 4th Miri drove India and I to Aldeburgh on Tuesday morning at 9:15. When we arrived at Jubilee Hall the first task we had to do was dismantle the marquee in the courtyard. Hannah, Kitty and India had to leave early as they had to get ready for the 2:30 matinee in Southwold. Folding up the marquee. Loading the vans with our equipment. We then walked around the corner for lunch at the Cross Keys. Afterwards we continued to clear our equipment out of the hall. Erin and I untapped the wing runners stage left and right and folded them up. Mark was up a ladder sorting out the lighting rig in the auditorium. Unloading the vans at Brampton. We then drive over to Brampton to unload one of the vans into the warehouse where props, furniture and scenery are stored. Rebecca, Erin said bye while Mark drive me to Southwold in the van to unload the o

Well guys this is it. The final week of Funny Money in Aldeburgh has come to an end as well as my duties as an ASM for this years season. Every day during the week happened more or less the same, we arrived at 6:30 to do pre set and ironing, Rebecca would give her calls, the half, quarter, five and beginners, then the show would go up at 8pm. On Tuesday Simon Snashall, an actor who had worked with us before in previous seasons, came to the show with Rosanna. Friday we were visited by the plays writer Ray Cooney and his wife Linda. After the show the cast and crew met them at Ye Olde Cross Keys where we all had a drink with them to talk about the show and learn a bit about Ray's acting career. Saturday was our final two shows. Unfortunately the suitcases didn't make it through to the end as the handles broke off so we had to gaffer one of them for the last show. When the show ended and after saying goodbye to the cast Rebecca, Charlotte and I began packing away props and mo

Before beginning our week in Aldeburgh we had the night off to go and see the opening of P.G Wodehouse's stage adaptation of Jeeves and Wooster Southwold on Monday night that Mark Sterling directed. The show starred Tom Girvin as Bertie Wooster, Morgan Thrift as Jeeves and Rick Savery playing other characters in the show, with Hannah, Kitty and India stage managing. Artwork for Jeeves and Wooster. Part of the J&W set during the get in on Sunday morning. Tuesday afternoon, Rebecca, Charlotte and I drove to Aldeburgh to set up for Funny Money. When we got there the first thing we did was unload props from the boxes and set them on our props tables in the wings. We began a technical run through of the play, the actors had the option of wearing costumes if they wanted to but not essential. After the tech run and a few notes from our director Andy we had a few hours free to kill to get some R&R before we began at 8pm that night. The evenings performance was well

Well guys, we've completed our third and final week of Funny Money in Southwold! The next stop of our Funny Money journey takes us to Aldeburgh for a two week at Jubilee Hall. Opening in Southwold on Monday is Jeeves and Wooster directed by Mark Sterling which has already had a weeks run in Aldeburgh. Backstage in Southwold What goes on backstage of a show is just as important, if not more for any production. As part of the stage management team you have to ensure the actors are ready for the nights performance, making sure they have the necessary props and costume they're required to have, and make be in the wings ready to perform. Communication is vital, if a problem was to occur during the show, the ASM would have to contact the DSM over the cans to ask about what course of action should be taken to rectify the problem. After the final performance on Saturday night, Rebecca, Charlotte and I began packing props and set dressing and moved them along with the furniture

We've finished our second week now. Things are more or less carrying on as usual, show on Monday evening, two shows on Tuesday, show on Wednesday and two shows on Thursday, it was raining for a change on Thursday instead of the heat we've been having recently. During the second act of the evening performance of Funny Money the briefcase fell off the stage which resulted in Michael having to jump off stage to bring it back on. In a show like this you can just about get away with mistakes like this but it's preferable not to happen, however it was a mistake that happened and will hopefully not happen again. Video of how the picture falls off the wall on Thursday At 1pm Saturday Rebecca, Charlotte and I had an earlier start as we had to go to the workshop to help Mark, Alan, Hannah, Kitty and India dismantle the set for Jeeves and Wooster and load it into the van to be taken to Aldeburgh where it opens on Monday. I described the set as being a "page turner"

Funny Money has completed it's first week in Southwold with the second week just about to start. The routines for each day is usually the same at the moment as coming in to do the ironing, doing the check list of props and set, re setting the picture, radio and cuckoo clock on the wall, hoovering the stage, wings, dressing rooms and checking if we have enough milk in the fridge. This time round no one in stage management walks the boards in this play, so don't expect any appearances from Charlotte and I. Tuesday was also the second time we experienced the 2:30 matinee in Southwold, so between shows there was a long enough break to go off and do things. The heat back stage for some of the performances was unbearable a lot of the time as temperatures soured in the country, as I'm aware it's likely to be hot for a while so working backstage could be like the Sahara Desert, especially in Southwold where the wing space in the Arts Centre is more compact in comparison to

We've finally opened Funny Money on Monday! After over two and a half weeks of intense rehearsal and little rest we can finally focus on working on one show as opposed to working on two. Monday was long day, the day starting with the tech in the morning, tech dress in the afternoon and opening night in the evening. The team and I arrived at 9:15 in the morning to set up the props to the wings, the actors arrived at 9:30 to get ready for the tech run at 10:30. During the tech we all worked through any difficulties that might occur during a performance such as what actors do on set, props they use etc. During the shows interval stage management have to brush up the nuts that were spilled on the floor, re set the passports back in the drawer and re cover the blanket over the briefcase by the settee. The we finished the run and stage management re set for the tech dress. We stopped for lunch at 13:15. Working Stage Right again At 14:30 we began our tech dress. While the sh

Well guys we've just completed the run of Body Language in Aldeburgh, and I won't lie it's been a tough week. We've also completed rehearsing Funny Money which we open in Southwold on Monday. While that has been going on the other cast and crew had their run of A Daughters a Daughter in Southwold for a week. Because of our busy schedule this week our FOH manager Marianne of the Summer Theatre in Aldeburgh was able to do our show washing in for the week which we are incredibly grateful for! Monday began with continuing rehearsals at the school. We went over sections of the play to fine tune and polish up what the actors have been doing. Rebecca occasionally had to prompt the actors if they had forgotten a line. That evening the company gathered to attend the opening night of Agatha Christie’s A Daughters a Daughter. This time it’s our turn to sit in the audience and watch others perform. The actors playing instruments at the end of rehearsals On Tuesday we wr

Another Day another Get- in, this time in the seaside town of Aldeburgh, famous for Benjamin Britten and George Crabb being residents in the past. Stage Door of Jubilee Hall in Aldeburgh Polly, Charlotte and I were driven to Aldeburgh by Tory in one of the company mini vans at 9:15am, arriving at Jubilee Hall at 10:00am. When we got there we met up with Mark, Alan, Ross, Erin, Marks son Ian and new member Amanda who will be helping out at Jubilee Hall. This was the the team who would be working together to set everything up in the hall for this year. Our first task was to set up the marque's in the courtyard. Polly taking a photo of us at work The next thing that had to be done was to attach some of our lights to the lighting bars in the auditorium. Mark, Erin, Charlotte and I did that while Alan, Ian, Amanda, Tory and Polly continued to do things in the courtyard. Afterwards we walked round the corner to The Cross Keys to have a pub lunch.  The stage in Ju

Sorry I haven't posted sooner guys! My time has been taken up this week and haven't really had time to give you an update of whats going on. So far the last week has gone like this. On Thursday morning Rebecca, Charlotte and I had an early start as we had to go to southwold to swap the washing over before we went started our first day of rehearsals for Funny Money . After we did that small task we headed back to St Felix to get ready to start the read through for our next play. All our cast from Body Language is involved with this production and this time we have Andy Powrie as our director. We started the read through at 10:15 and finished it by 12:30 which is when we started blocking the first 19 pages of the first act. After rehearsals I cycled to Southwold to start ironing the shows costumes. When Rebecca and Charlotte arrived we got on with the pre set. The performance seemed to go well with no obvious problems occurring. The rehearsal room in St Felix Friday