For the last school year I’ve worked in a few different places, such as the school cafeteria and the atrium in an old Amsterdam monument. However I’ve never done any work inside an actual theater, until last Wednesday. As I might have mentioned before, the media department at my school often helps out the fashion department when it comes to organizing fashion shows and stuff like that. We often build the stage and take care of the audio and lighting.
This year was no different. As usual the students from the fashion department had to organize a complete fashion show for their practical exam assignment, taking care of clothes, make up, music, choreography, you name it. The exam location for fashion changes each year as far as I know and this year the location was the old Gooiland Theater, right here in Hilversum. Great of course, because that makes it really close to home.
The Stage
Since we had exams earlier that morning, me and the classmates who were also coming to help out arrived at the theater around noon. A lot of the work had already been done; moving heads were already in position above the stage, audio equipment was already up and working and they were just about to begin building the primary stage construction. The idea was to create a sort of banana out of cloth on which we could project colors and shapes using a set of 3000 Watt moving heads and another set of 2500 Watt. Needless to say these things emitted a huge amount of light but the effect in combination with the ‘banana’ was very cool to see. My compliments to the stage designers (probably my teachers… cheers!).
The Spotlights
When the stage was done, all lights had been programmed, every cable taped down and everything was working it was time for the waiting game. Most of us hung around aimlessly while the light guys were doing their best to program the light table in time for the big show.
After about an hour the dress rehearsal started and me and a classmate were sent up to the balcony to operate the two spotlights. I’ll tell you right now that being a spotlight operator is not as easy as it looks since you have to try to predict every single move a person is going to make. Especially the first act was hard to follow since it was a sort of African dance, this guy was jumping all over the place. I’m actually glad I got to see it during the dress rehearsal a couple of times otherwise I would have majorly screwed up during the real performance.
In the end we did good though. We got a lot of compliments from people sitting at the Front of House about how good we spotted for a first time which did make me feel good. It’s always nice to be appreciated.
You Break It, You’re Broke
When the show was over and the audience had left the theater the entire crew started to break the stage (which luckily always goes a lot faster then building it). The ‘banana’ was being torn down again, audio equipment packed up and cables rolled up and tossed in crates.
However in our hurry to be done as soon as possible me and one of my teachers kind of forgot that especially the 3000 Watt moving heads might take a while to cool down again. As we lifted one up and tried to tilt it over, the head had a sort of ‘FUCK YOU’ moment and started twisting and turning in all directions, making us lose our balance and almost dropping the damn thing lens down onto the stage. And just to paint a picture, regular 250 Watt moving heads already cost about € 3000,- a piece. These 3000 Watt moving heads cost about € 15.000,- a piece and we almost demolished one. Quick as I am I managed to save it by quickly grabbing the head and holding it up, but that also came at a price. Since the lamp was still hot I received a small yet very painful burn on my hand which proceeded to bleed for the remainder of the evening. But hey, at least I won’t have to cough up my share of 15 grand.
Holland’s Got Talent
A fun fact about this particular theater is that Holland’s Got Talent was done in this very theater, on the very stage we were working on. I generally don’t like those kind of shows though I must admit the *’s Got Talent shows were a lot more amusing than their Idols and Popstars counterparts, mostly because of the live audience present at the auditions.
It was very fun to see and reconize parts of the theater, such as the place where the jury sat and some spots backstage. Check out the video’s and photo’s below and see for yourself.
Final Thoughts
I have to say it was a very fun project to work on. For the first time I’ve actually worked in a theater and also had a chat with people who work there on a daily basis. Speaking to one of the employees really informed me about how things work in an actual theater.
After the stage was clean and everything was loaded up the entire crew had a few drinks in the theater’s bar. It’s fun to be socializing with your teachers after an event like that, especially because you start to know them from a completely different angle. I hope to participate in a few more projects like this next year. For now all I have to look forward to is building and breaking the school dance, but you will read about that next week.
Robin
Photos and Videos
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Working in the theater is the real fun. many superstar has started their success journey from the theater to Hollywood. I hope you will get more chance to work in theater.
I’ll actually be heading more to the television side of things and will no longer be working in stage and theater rigging. But I’ll get to Hollywood one way or the other! Haha!
I know I can never be a good actor. But yes after watching a few hundred movies in my life so far, I can say that I am able to appreciate acting and actors better today.
Theater is even harder. Would it be right to say that all good theater actors can be very good movie actors?
I don’t think you can compare theater actors with movie actors nor do I think you should.
Theatre actors can be pretty good film actors (Robin, you’re from the Netherlands, so you at least must know what about, for example, Carice van Houten en Halina Reijn).
What kind of programm do you do? I’m stronly doubting about the use of followspots in things like fashion shows or dance plays. Unless your teachers are really into musical and tv shows (neither are conciderred as true stage ARTS in NL), it’s not likely to be used here. In my opinion (also as a starting LD): ugly! Same thing for the house curtain.
Too bad of the small decor, the stage looks very empty. You could’ve done so much more with some nice positioned heads on the sides.
During the fashion show there were two acts which my teacher wanted to use the followspots on. It wasn’t the main show but rather a dance routine with the rest of the stage completely dark. I would have taken pictures of it if I hadn’t been operating the spot :). It looked pretty cool, though.
Working in theatres in a step in the right direction, you learn so much and get the opportunity to meet different celebrities and learn very quickly. Keep it up.
Working in a theater is very interesting because there is always fun and you get to meet different kinds of people. It is also great opportunity to see the performances and shows for free. I am working now for one year and still enjoy it very much. Would not trade this job for anything.
I was an actor when I was 10 yrs old and I did live theatre – it rocked.
heh I had no idea those lights were so expensive