Week Two;
Okay so week two was much, much, much better than the first week. We were finally on our feet, our “Introduction to Production”.
Our groups map of the process of putting on a show.
Up, up and away! Our first stop was up to the grid on our tour of how the PTM’s work. I can say this was my most favourite part of the tour, it’s an awesome experience being able to look down and think “wow i’m 50 feet above the stage now.” It’s a long way down and trousers are a must, as much as I hate wearing them (¬_¬ )
We got a brief tour around the Ath and the general working areas, lots of fancy desks with waaaay too many buttons for the sound and lighting guys. We also went down to the orchestral pit which is where the trap man lives also, you might only see him during panto season ┐(︶▽︶)┌
No flared trousers in the workplace, no.1 rule, the second is always ask the carpenters.
We also did some basic A-Frame ladder training, but the star of the show was the tallescope which extends to about 25 feet. I didn’t go up, I knew as soon as i got into the basket I wouldn’t get out .･ﾟﾟ･(／ω＼)･ﾟﾟ･. Ladders aren’t my thing, and it seemed the taller they got, the more creaky and wobbly they got too. Which is apparently a good thing, but I’ll stick to the ground for the time being.
Thursday we were back on home turf at Speirs Locks where we did an orientation of the staff and area around the building. Meeting back at lunch where we found our brief for the rest of the day and Friday. We were split into three mixed groups and were asked to pick a headline from Thursday's Metro and respond to it however we wanted. Our group picked “Seafood with an extra helping of plastic on the side” We bounced ideas around and came up with making a dinner party with a twist, the twist being that our meal was trash.
There was some disagreement at first with what we were doing and it took a while for our group to gel which I found really unfortunate. I decided to take on the role of a dinner guest which really pushed me out of my comfort zone, but looking back i’m glad i did it, I’m here to learn new things and that’s what i’m going to do.
My week ended with an eventful trip to the Citizens Theatre with some of the PAD folks to see Dragon, which was an amazing show which i’d highly recommend to anyone. It’s all witchcraft I tell you!
Overall this was a much better week than the first one, but i’m itching to get into Costume now and do more practical things!