First Year Technical Blog pt.23

Word of advice: remember not to rub your face after cutting and grinding scaff. I speak from experience when I say that, if you do, large black grease marks appear and sometimes people are too nice to point out that you look as though you’ve been down a mine for several hours causing concerned bus drivers to wonder what’s happened to you when travelling home at the end of the day.

There’s a gym in my halls of residence and the plan was to go at least twice a week. I’ve decided there’s no need at the moment as production work has started! This week, as part of our stage craft rotation, we have been getting all three theatres primed so that fit up can commence next week. This meant that a lot of steel deck had to be moved and a lot of bolting, screwing and rigging had to be completed. Hello arm workout!

Under the professional instruction of a third year and second year TTSM duo, who are taking on senior production roles this term, we set to work. Along with gaining experience using machines in the metal and construction workshop, I also got the chance to put into practice the marking out of a stage using a ground plan and scale ruler which we were taught the previous week. Additionally, following on from the stagecraft inductions with the production manager last week, we all were able to use the tallescope, de-rig /rig flats and masking, fly bars in and out, load weight into the counterweight cradles, remove any loose spare bits of scaff, clean up any mess, number steel deck tops, find a new location for some VERY expensive speakers and paint the tiered seating rostra meaning that the Vanbrugh, Gielgud and GBS theatre are now ready for the wonderful set that construction and scenic art have been working on. Lovely!