I have had one of those extremely strange experiences this weekend. Through a mutual friend I ended up being asked to step in and help out with a production at the Nottingham art centre. Apparently a mystery illness has swept through the technical and backstage crew, meaning non affiliated persons such as myself were having to be recruited.
I was looking forward to being maybe a runner doing odd jobs and stuff for the cast and crew, being the lowest of the low but it was going to be fun to do something different. I turned up on the Wednesday morning bright eyes and bushy tailed and started helping move props into the theatre, helping with odd jobs as I had expected, shop runs for super glue and the likes. However when the stage manager turned up it became more and more apparent that i was not, in fact to be a runner for the show. But that one of the spotlight operators had dropped out and I was to be taking over for the shows.
Queue me having a mild panic attack, I am the most technophobic human on the planet, I have an uncanny knack in messing things like this up. But nonetheless this was a role I had been given, so I was damn well going to to my best. At the end of the day it is a crazy new experience I can add to my list.
Wednesday through till Friday was filled with technical run-throughs, dress rehearsals and multiple stops, starts, mistakes and wonderful acting. I soon picked up how to use the spotlight a huge machine that i lovingly named 'Samuel', and after watching the show about 20 times knew most of the lyrics to the songs as well as choice snippets from the script. I was having a really good time. The only downside was the fact that Samuel was about a hundred years old and as soon as he was turned on cooked the person operating him to death. Trapped in a tiny box at the rear of the theatre like a sauna for well over 12 hours in a day was definitely a trial. But a very entertaining one.
The production was 'The Adams Family' it was organised, directed and acted by NTU students who are part of the drama society. I had never seen this musical before but as a fan of musical theatre it was a joy to be immersed within the world of the show. This is almost my love letter to the drama society, they where absolutely incredible! The show looked and felt professional and it was an absolute honour to work alongside them on this project.
So in conclusion, always offer to help if you can, it not only helps other people (which is always really important) but it gives you new life experiences which make you a much more rounded and interesting individual. And its normally great fun too!
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