First Year Technical Blog pt.21

1 elephant, 2 elephant, 3 elephant, 4 elephant, 5 elephant. 5 Seconds. That’s how long this past week has seemed – it’s gone so fast! The entire first year TTSM group started their first rotation on Monday and, since I was in stage craft, the week began with flying in the Vanbrugh Theatre!

After rigging a bar with lamps and flying that in an out, we moved onto flying ladders. Little did we know that, by the end of the week, we would have rigged the tallescope and hoisted out bar 21 so that a large, heavy metal scaffold structure was suspended above us. Good work Group B! However, it wasn’t a day of total success; the challenge, should we choose to accept it (and we did!), was to stand on the fly floor and throw our ball of used LX tape into the bin positioned centre stage. The prize: a cup of tea bought for us by Dave. The result: total fail. I think it’s safe to say that the accuracy of my aim was way out. Good job I’m not entering the archery industry.

Ah, the CAD suite. Computer Aided Design was probably the area of the course that I was scared of the most. Computers and I aren’t exactly compatible. But, I went in with an open mind and an enthusiastic approach and I’m proud to say that I may have changed my mind. After constructing a piece of steel deck with measurements (!) and working on various other simple designs, I think there is a possibility that, over time, me and CAD will become friends!

There are two ways of marking up a rehearsal room. One of which is ‘arcing’, the other ‘using the setting/centre line’. I found this out today in the mark-up lesson which took place with the stage management team. After a day of excellent team work and lots of coloured LX tape, we were left with 2 floor plans that a group of actors in the specific play could have used to rehearse with. Result. Now all I need to do is remember that the scale we us on our ruler is 1:25! (Remember Katie, 1:25 ... 1:25 ... 1:25). Not 1:100 – otherwise the chair that should be positioned mid-stage right would end up outside the theatre. I don’t think a director would be too happy with that!