In response to a previous comment:
I’ve been thinking about how we can resolve the whole mark-up issue (ie the fact that it’s not accurate). A few small steps would help: discuss it with the designer and production manager (this has already happened). Make the director aware of the situation, and explain what will need to change, and what will stay the same. Get it done as quickly as possible.
And lastly, don’t grumble! Grumbling never helps, and it tends to be my automatic reaction. Talking things over, calmly, and sensibly, is always going to resolve things quicker, more easily, and with less stress.
Filed under: Les Contes d'Hoffmann
Today we altered the mark-up. The first mark-up went down as soon as we got the ground plans from the assistant designer, which was the first day of rehearsals. Unfortunately, there were apparently quite a few mistakes on the ground plan. William, understandably, wasn’t too pleased, although of course we could only do what the ground plan said – it would have been bedlam to change it arbitrarily. Because the ASMs hadn’t yet joined us, it took two of us 3 1/2 hours to get it down on the second day.
Today we came back to make the necessary changes. Gillian unrolled the new plan, and immediately noticed that there were things wrong. Not only did line-thicknesses vary dramatically, but some lines weren’t even straight. As we went along, it became apparent that some of the written measurements didn’t match the real thing, scaled down.
This is extremely frustrating, and quite frankly I am not prepared to stay in late to change it again unless we can be guaranteed the ground plan will be right. We could have simply left it, but then there would have had to have been major changes when we get on stage. For example, currently a gauze is marked in the wrong place, and cuts through several items onstage, not only limiting the space, but forcing us to change the blocking, unless moved further US.
I understand we are all busy, and that deadlines are tight, but I would be thoroughly embarassed to present a technical ground plan of such shoddiness. Strong words, I know, but this takes up everyone’s time unnecessarily.
Filed under: Les Contes d'Hoffmann , designer, mark-up, opera, rehearsal room
Unfortunately noise-levels outside the rehearsal room haven’t really decreased. I’m amazed by the number of people who are clearly illiterate in this building. They can stand outside a door, with a large sign on it saying “Quiet please, rehearsals in progress”, and completely ignore it. I also continue to be equally amazed by the number of people who are incapable of shutting a door, with two signs saying “shut the door”. I had no idea hinges simply seized up whenever someone apart from Stage Management tries to close the door.
Of course, you can have an overload of signage, so I’ve tried to keep it to a minimum to prevent confusion or information overload.
Something that could quite easily be stopped is the radio blaring out of workshop. I understand that they have every right to listen to the radio whilst working, and also that they may not want to hear our singers belting out opera. However, if I can still hear the radio through three sets of shut doors (and if they can’t even hear me speak when I go through to ask them to turn it down) then it is too loud. I have had to go in and ask at least twice a day for the radio to be turned down.
I feel I’ve taken this as far as I can, being a student, so I’ve had to speak to the Production Manager (who, I’m sure, is perfectly aware of the situation seeing as his office is situated between the the rehearsal room and the workshops).
Filed under: Les Contes d'Hoffmann , opera, rehearsal room
Yesterday was obviously the day for compliments from directors. I overheard one of the stage management teams on the acting show being complimented by their director, and mine did the same to me in the morning, when I was introduced to the choreographer. It’s so nice to be treated with some respect and intelligence, unlike a previous production when I was distinctly trod-upon on several occasions.
It’s silly that a little thing like that can really help lift your day, and energise you into working better, but it does. It also helps remind you that little things like saying hello to cast members, asking how their recital went, really helps their day too.
Filed under: Les Contes d'Hoffmann , cast, director, opera
So far, so good. Rehearsals are well under way now, and things are going remarkably well. The director is great to work with – very clear about what he wants, and the rehearsal schedule is being worked through very logically, meaning we are blocking the opera from start to finish, making it easy for me to understand the natural flow of the story.
I’m really enjoying working Gillian, my SM. It’s been difficult not having any ASMs, for example the mark-up took much longer with just the two of us. I think we’re a good balance for each other.
We only got the groundplan on monday, so tuesday night we did the mark-up. As I say, this took a long time with only two of us, be we got into a system. Everything is measured out really accurately, however William didn’t seem very impressed the next day, as the groundplan is apparently wrong. I’m not sure what he expected us to do, as we can’t change the groundplan will-nilly, and he needed a mark-up for rehearsals. It was a bit of a put-down to have stayed in until 9.30, only for it to be rubbished.
I do feel a little like William hasn’t really warmed to us at all – but then it is only day 3, so plenty time yet. I occassionally have been made to feel stupid (which I am not). However, I am very deliberately not letting this bother me. It’s not important right now, and I am keen to build some strong relationships in the rehearsal room.
I realise this has been a bit of a non-analytical blog post, but there’s little to comment on at this stage.
Filed under: Les Contes d'Hoffmann
My graudation project was all about how stage management team members could use developments in computer technology better. Part of the outcome of that project was a decision to implement some changes in the way I work as a DSM on this show.
The main way of doing this at present is to use my Macbook in rehearsals. Although we are only on day 3 of rehearsals, it has been so much simpler to type rehearsal notes, cast timesheets, and personal notes straight up on the Macbook. I’m not messing around looking for different pieces of un-necessary paper, and, crucially, a great amount of time is saved at the end of the day, when I would normally be typing up rehearsal notes and formatting them. I would estimate in these 3 days I’ve saved around 1 hour at the end of the day. Of course, the next step would be to connect wirelessly to the internet, and send out notes from the rehearsal room. Unfortunately there is no wireless in the rehearsal rooms, although there is in the main public areas of the building. Wireless internet should really be installed in the rehearsal rooms to make this work fully. This would also allow the possibilty of referencing props on the internet for the director whilst in the space, or resolving queries regarding language etc.
Filed under: Les Contes d'Hoffmann , opera, rehearsal room, rehearsals, team
