Industry Practitioners Research

Industry Practitioners Research

Part of my research was to find industry practitioners in theatre. During my time researching, I found this website which had a Q and A session with 'Nathan Matthews" who is the deputy stage manager at "Mamma Mia". I thought this was a great interview, so I included it in my research.

Nathan Matthews

Deputy Stage Manager at Mamma Mia

The first thing I do every day is:

Check my emails. It’s sad but true. Mornings used to involve making a pot of coffee, but I’ve cut that out, so it’s a pint of water instead!

An average day for me involves:

If we’re in auditions or rehearsing (which we’ve been doing since February!) I’ll usually be at the theatre just before 10:00 to make sure everything is ready for the day. During auditions, we make sure the auditionees are in the right place at the right times, try to settle their nerves and make sure they are as prepared as they can be. During rehearsals, we make sure the right cast members are at the rehearsal and that they have the set pieces, props, and costumes they need.

Our new cast opened on 8 June and we then spent the next six weeks rehearsing understudies. We still have two more understudies to rehearse, but we’re taking a short break before we do that! Now that things have settled down, we’re usually only in for the show. For evening performances, we come in at 18:15 after the other technical departments have done their presets and make sure the stage is set and ready for the show. The cast then does a vocal and physical warm-up at 18:40 before we bring the front cloth in and hand the house over to the Theatre Manager at 19:10, when the audience begins taking their seats.

During the show, I sit on a platform in the stage right wing with lots of video monitors so I can see all angles of the stage as well as our Musical Director down in the pit. I call all the lighting cues and the scene changes so that everything (hopefully) runs smoothly! I have a copy of the Mamma Mia! score and script with every cue written in it, which I follow. I wear a headset so I can communicate to all technical departments. Even our brilliant crew on stage wear tiny earpieces so I can speak to them!

On matinee days (Thursdays and Saturdays) we come in at 13:30 to make sure everything is ready before the cast do their warm-ups at 13:55. On Saturdays, I come in at about 11:30 to do all the cast timesheets. I keep a track of all the hours each of our 33 cast members work so that they’re paid the right amount each week. Saturday mornings are all about spreadsheets!

The people I work with mostly are:

Our Stage Manager, Neil, and our Assistant Stage Managers, Morag and Paula. Neil and I have worked together for over seven years now, so we know each other quite well! The Stage Management team actually has to work closely with everyone in the building; from the creatives to our Company Manager, the cast, the musicians, and all the technical departments.

The tool I can’t do without is:

My iPhone and my MacBook! I carry both with me everywhere! Years ago, Stage Managers would have to distribute mountains of paperwork on a daily basis, but now everything is done electronically. It’s made life so much easier.

The best part of my day is usually:

The finale at the end of the show. Our audiences get up on their feet every night without fail and sing along at the end of the show. It sounds cliché but seeing the smiling faces in the crowd and the arms waving in the air makes it feel like we’re putting on a pop concert in a stadium and there’s such a buzz in the theatre every night. It’s why we love doing what we do!

The worst part of my day is usually: 

If we’ve been in for rehearsals, it’s actually the gap between rehearsals and the show. It’s when you stop working that you start to get tired!

I usually finish work at:
The show finishes just after 22:15. I usually leave the theatre at around 22:30. On weeknights, I usually head straight home, but I can be found in the roof bar at Century on a Saturday night having an espresso martini!

The most glamorous part of my job is:

Contrary to popular belief, working in theatre isn’t particularly glamorous! There are a lot of people working in a relatively small space backstage and with all the stage lights on it can get quite hot! However, I’ve been amazingly lucky during my time at Mamma Mia! and have gotten to do some amazing things. I looked after Benny Andersson and his accordion when Mamma Mia! performed at the Olivier Awards in 2014! I got to hang out backstage with a whole host of stars at BBC Radio 2’s Thank You For The Music concert in Hyde Park. I’ve been to the This Morning studio a few times (it’s one of my favourite TV shows, so it’s quite a big deal for me). Top of my list though was probably the day I met Kylie! She came to see the show a few years ago and came backstage at the interval to say hi! She was so lovely and we could see all five feet of her dancing like mad during the finale!

The least showbiz part of my job is:

Most of it, to be honest! It can sometimes be very long hours and we work six days a week. It’s not glamorous in the slightest. But I wouldn’t change it for the world!

My work mantra is:

‘Living the dream’. Ask anyone in the theatre what phrase I say the most and it’ll be their immediate response. When someone asks you how you are when you get to work, ‘Fine thanks’ is such a boring response. ‘Living the dream’ is much more theatrical!

The advice I’d give to anyone wanting to do my job would be to:

Don’t! Then when you realize that you want to anyway despite everyone telling you not to, go and get as much experience as you possibly can. Go and see shows at your local theatre, and if you’re old enough, write to the Stage Manager there to ask for work experience. There are lots of drama schools now offering formal training, so if you’re serious about getting into the industry, it’s a great way to learn in a supportive environment. I did a degree in Stage Management & Technical Theatre at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and I always recommend it to anyone that does work experience with us. Lots of people get into the industry without any formal training, which is absolutely fine too. As long as you have the required qualities, a decent amount of knowledge and a lot of patience, you can succeed without the formal qualifications. Lastly, I recommend that people go and see as much theatre as they can. Once you’re working, it can sometimes feel like a busman’s holiday, but I think it’s really important to know what’s happening in the industry around you, especially if you’re working on a long-running show.
(Official London Theatre.com, 2015)

I also did my own research and got in contact with a stage manager in London...

Hannah Bunten

Assistant Stage Manager at Matilda The Musical

The first thing I do every day is:

Make a cup of tea and ask the people in the office if they also want a hot drink 

An average day for me involves:

 Pre-set, props maintenance, shout check, running a wing for the show. 

The people I work with mostly are:

 Passionate about their job with a great sense of humour 

The tool I can’t do without is:

A sense of humour 

The best part of my day is usually:

 Doing it with a really supportive team whom I considered close friends 

The worst part of my day is usually: 

Having to tell cast members to be quiet in the wings!!! 

I usually finish work at:

22:15, after the show comes down. 

The most glamorous part of my job is:

Walking out of stage door after a show and having children say ‘Oh no, she’s not an actress’ and letting me be on my merry way! 

The least showbiz part of my job is:

Cleaning the Bruce Cake during the interval in a shower. No one likes the smell of latex with chocolate alpro! MY WORK MANTRA IS: Sometimes shit happens 

The advice I’d give to anyone wanting to do my job would be to:

Take the job seriously but don’t take yourself seriously. You have to have fun at the same time.

Jane Jones

Stage Manager at Oldham Coliseum

The first thing I do every day is:

Go to the gym

An average day for me involves:

Looking after the production in rehearsals and the production on stage in the evenings, going to meetings, organizing the stage management departments work, working with designers to find the furniture and props required, looking after the welfare of our actors

The people I work with mostly are:

My department, other production departments, artists, designers, directors, choreographers, musical directors

The tool I can’t do without is:

My phone

The best part of my day is usually:

7.30pm as a performance begins

The worst part of my day is usually:

I don’t have a worst part of the day

I usually finish work at:

10.30pm

The most glamorous part of my job is:

I can’t think of a glamorous side to my job, but it is fun, hard work, rewarding and interesting

The least showbiz part of my job is:

On panto – cleaning up after the slop routine, it can involve soap sude, flour, raw egg, water

Getting covered in dirt & mould when getting furniture out of the stores

My work mantra is:

Onwards and upwards. Every day is an adventure.

The advice I’d give to anyone wanting to do my job would be to:

Be aware you will work long unsociable hours and that as well as leading the team, you are part of the team. The money is regional rep theatre is not the best, but you learn new things and gain new skills. You must be prepared to work hard and have good organizational skills with the ability to adapt your day/workload at very short notice. Be respectful and listen to others, enjoy meeting and working with a variety of different people. It is also important to create and keep good work relationships with community businesses, freelance staff and other theatres.

During my research, I thought it might be good to create a survey for stage managers to fill out. This would allow me to easily and quickly get answers from industry practitioners. I made a google form and posted it on social media. I also got in touch with the "Stage Management Association" who also posted it on their social media, which allowed me to advertise to a much wider audience. 

Above is a screenshot of their post. Here is a link to the survey if you want to check it out yourself! https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc6nWNjU5Yf77WccIntQSV6wtySeebrZXP8G31MRHGSQW3ERA/viewform?usp=sf_link

Below are the results of my survey I have blanked out their names and email addresses.

References

Official London Theatre.com. (2015). A life in the theatre: Deputy Stage Manager. Available: https://officiallondontheatre.com/news/a-life-in-the-theatre-deputy-stage-manager-326968/. Last accessed 29th May 2018.