Reflection – Breaking Stories Theatre Company

Mother Producer

June 2, 2014June 2, 2014 Beth Sutch

Upon reflecting on my role as Producer it has been a great experience, something that I have really enjoyed. I thrive in organising anything, so within this process Windows Excel has been my very best friend and I have introduced other members of the company to this amazing device.

When first becoming the Producer of Breaking Stories I thought that my only responsibility would be to look after money and to create a budget. But there is more; scheduling rehearsals, obtaining rights and making sure the budget is kept to the right amount within each department. Aside from this I have enjoyed in being involved in much more than this … I’ve loved being able to drift in and out of each department within the company to see where everyone is up to and that deadlines were being made. This was very helpful as I had a clear idea of the whole company and what was being done. Useful in many ways in case somebody was unable to make a rehearsal – I would be able to step in and continue their role for that rehearsal. Also making deadlines meant that people had a time scale to keep so that each job was being done sooner rather than later. This may have been annoying for the girls as I was forever getting involved and asking ‘What is going on?’ ‘What does that mean?’ ‘How is that going to work?’ but helped me understand each department more clearly. Especially with the technical side of things as I was not in the know with terminology and such but now have a basic understanding for lights and sound. I may have been too nosey within other people’s job but I have relished in learning about all the different roles and what is entitled.

As well as being, sometimes, very bossy and nosey I have also felt like the ‘Mother’ of the group. If anyone has had any problems it was made aware at the beginning to come to me so that we could sort it out together; this meant within or without the group. As a company we have grown very close and I am glad the girls were able to come to me in confidence with any problems. Many called me the ‘Mummy’ of the group as I kept them in line but also wanted to make the experience enjoyable. Balancing being professional but also having fun can be a challenge within its self which I believe I have learnt throughout being the company. Learning when to have a joke and a laugh but then also knowing when to pull everybody back in and getting back to work.

I did a few different activities with the girls to keep it exciting, such as when we did the bake sale none of the girls were allowed to count the money and they all had to guess how much money we had raised and the winner received a prize. We had spare posters, which I wrote a members name on each poster and when the girls had time we wrote little messages to each other as a keepsake from our performance. I also organised awards, which each person received one, and the company voted for who they wanted to win. It was a great way to end such an amazing experience.

Post-show Blues

June 2, 2014June 2, 2014 Jessica McDonald

Personally I think the final performance was a success. I feel that I and Charlie operated the lighting, sound and projections in a steady pace. After the dress run, I found that I was a little too hasty with some of the lighting cues, causing the actors to be in light on stage when they were still getting into positions. To solve this I waited for a couple more seconds or I would look to see if the actors that were helping with getting set on and off were back in the wings and gave me the thumbs up.

After the dress run I feel that the actors seemed a little more relaxed with regards to the scene changes. Once we had completed the dress run, the actors then did a quick scene to scene taking pieces of furniture on and off. I think that they became a lot more familiar with the order of the scenes and what items needed to be taken on and when. To help I stuck on the walls off stage, scene orders and what needed to go on and off on what side. By doing this I think it gave the actors that little reassurance that they needed while being back stage and left to their own devices during the show.

When the performance was finished a couple of member of the company went out to the audience to fundraise for Amnesty international. While this was undergo quite a few members of the audience asked questions and spoke the team within the company. Asking question about our inspiration and talking about their opinions. I personally asked my housemates that came to watch the show, what they thought of it. I asked questions like, ‘Do you think the characters within the play were represented well?’ and ‘Could you follow the events in the play easily?’ The feedback was actually very positive, with them explaining the story to myself and explaining the characters and their roles within the piece.

A week after our performance the group had a post-show discussion called a viva voce. Here we had chance to talk about our influences, lighting choice and acting style. For this the group meet the night before in the university library and discussed who contributed what to the production. We talked about Amnesty and why we wanted to include them in our process.

We went back over the roots of our ideas back to January, when we were throwing around ideas and interests of each group member. Again we went back to basics and stripped the production down to all it elements, confirming who contributed what to the process. As a group we help others to talk about what they did, if someone was struggling to explain and idea or aspect, someone else would jump in and help the viva flow.

Over all, I have thoroughly enjoyed this experience, working with this group and seeing our ideas come to life on the stage. I think if we were to carry on with Breaking Stories Theatre Company, we could successfully tour The Bogus Woman. Moving forward, I think that we could have created new productions, scripted and devised, keeping in tone with current issues in the news and maybe issues that are not in the light of the media, giving them a chance to be understood.

Time To Say Goodbye To The Bogus Woman

June 2, 2014June 2, 2014 Charlie Jane Doherty

Before I signed up as Head Technician, I did not realise how much tech (lighting, sound and projection) was going to be required in this performance. With the help from Kate and Jess and the support from the other girls, I feel that I have managed to stay in control of it all.

This process has been a learning curve for me. I have realised that I physically cannot do it all and that asking for help from members of the team is not a weakness, in fact it is a powerful mechanism when working as a ensemble. As Head Technician I have tried my best to keep organised. For example, before the tech day I made sure that all the cues were written down on separate documents as I knew that I could not plot the lighting, sound and projections all by myself as that would be a waste of time so I needed Kate’s assistance. Before we started the tech, I met up with Kate to go through the documents as I wanted to make sure she knew what she was doing when it came to plotting the sound and projections as I did not want her to feel incompetent.

Unfortunately, due to some changes with the technical requirements and confusion with the props, the dress run did not go as well as we hoped. During this, Jess was calling the show as well as operating the sound and projection cues as well. She was doing really well until scene nine came and a piece of music started to play instead of a voiceover; this threw her a bit but she managed to keep it together. In order to keep the dress run going while Jess and Martin had to resolve the technical mishap,Jess had asked me to carry on with operating the lights. When Jess resumed her role of calling the lighting cues to me, I reassured her that she was doing a good job as she sounded flustered and upset with herself.

To prepare myself and Jess for the show after the dress run, we went through all the technical cues. This was to make sure that we both had the same ones written down. Before the show I was nervous as anything but gradually throughout the performance my anxiety decreased. I think it was the excitement of all our our hard work coming together that made my nerves disappear. I am very proud of this company and I have enjoyed every moment working with these women even during the stressful times.

A Fond Farewell to the Bogus Woman

June 2, 2014June 2, 2014 Faye Louise Bunclark

15 Minute Call… It’s Show Time!

May 30, 2014June 2, 2014 Jessica McDonald

For our performance day we could spend the whole day in the LPAC. In the morning Charlie and I help the technicians set the stage up to our requirements – all seats in place, with the pit down and lower seats in place. The cyc was moved forward a bar in order to allow one of the scenes to be silhouetted. Since our tech in the auditorium we had made some slight adjustments to the lighting and sound, this resulted in Charlie and me collecting new cue numbers to add to our scripts.

Once the stage was ready and we had our new cue numbers for the lighting, we could now move on to the cue to cue. For this Charlie and I went up to the tech box, here Charlie operated the lighting while I called the actors onto the stage, asking them to speak the first and last lines of each scene – or the line that signified a change in lighting. While this we were doing this, Martin was setting up the new music, sound and presentations we had changed on QLAB. Again once this was finished I then collected the new cue numbers off him, adding them to my script ready for the dress run.

After the cue to cue, we all had a break for lunch and started to get ready for the dress run. During this time I wanted to set up back stage for the actors, for this I set up props tables on either side of the stage, each table displaying accordingly the items that would be going on and off on the side of the stage.

As well as the table being set up, I wanted to put and scene order back stage just in case nerves got the better of the actors. This would allow them to refer to these without getting themselves into a panic.

Scene Order.dotx

Now the lunch was over we could begin our first dress run in the auditorium, with sound, lighting and projection. I was a little nervous as I hadn’t called a show in some time, however, I think that a started reasonably well. We had just started scene nine and half way through the scene a piece of music started to play rather than a voiceover. I did panic as I wanted the actors to feel at ease before the show, however, Martin was on cans and I asked him to come over to the call box. While Martin was fixing this problem I asked Charlie to carry on with operating the lights while she was in the tech box. By doing this we didn’t need to stop half way through the dress run and disturb the actors while they were in character. Because that had happened I began to become very nervous for the rest of the run.

Once the dress run was finished we had note off Diane and Darren (who had been on cans for the duration). One of the notes I got off Darren was to stay calm, and to remember that the script is in front of me with all the information that I needed. He said that myself and Charlie were doing brilliantly up until the mishap with the sound, I was calling stand by on cues and then allowing them to go. He explained that it would have been the shock of a cue being in the wrong place that threw me. But a part from that we were doing well and that we seemed ready and prepared for the show tonight.