LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION! at the Rotherham Civic

When you go to see a show at the Rotherham Civic, you will often be spellbound by the actors, the scenery, the props, the music and the lighting.

All of the above come together to create a magnificent spectacle, whether that be the annual Christmas panto or a reinactment of a Shakespeare classic.

But as an audience we never see the people who make all these things happen and they never get the praise and applause that the actors on stage get at the end of each show.

The hard work and commitment that these individuals put into the preparation and planning of each show - no matter how big or small - is often overlooked by the general public.

“We have four stage crew, an assistant stage manager who does props and the costume changes, a DSM who sits at the back reading the cues out to sound and lighting and then up at the back there is Damien who does lights.”

First I met the stage manager at the Rotherham Civic, Andrew Fisher, to get an insight into the efforts put in backstage by the people the audience never see.

It is an impressive sight to see the scenery for different parts of the 2014 panto all stacked up in the wings of the stage, and it is hard to imagine how it goes from this state to the constructed state we see on stage in next to no time at all.

One of the illusions of the stage is how deep it is, allowing certain pieces of the set to be constructed further back, behind the curtains.

“Setting up the scenery can be quite difficult, because you have to work out how best to get things on and off that are needed for certain scenes,” said Andrew.

“The scenery was actually brought in by the production company, it was made by a guy in Liverpool.”

For anyone who went to see the panto, I’m sure you will remember the ‘magic carpet’ scene, where Aladdin (played by Ricky K) was sat on a carpet and seen flying around the stage while singing.

It was a magical scene and from Andrew’s point of view, one of the trickiest in terms of making it look both realistic and believable.

He said: “The magic carpet scene is quite special, because it was actually the dancers who were making Ricky move around the stage.

“It works on a counterbalance system, so Ricky sits at one end and there are two of the dancers at the other just pushing up and down and side to side, sort of like a seesaw on wheels.”

And what about the problems and difficulties that a stage manager has to deal with so the audience don’t even realise there is a problem there in the first place?

Andrew said: “We broke a part off the cave scenery one show, because we have to get it through a really narrow gap and we just misjudged it one day.”

Next I met Damien Gwatkin, who is the lighting and sound technician at the Civic Theatre.

“So sat up behind the audience, where no one ever really looks, is me on the desk and the two follow spotters, who are in charge of the spot lights on individuals,” said Damien.

“It is all programmed in, but the first week is always manic because there are a million things happening and all the cues to sort out and everything.

“It’s mainly making sure we hit the cues and solving any problems that might crop up throughout the show.”

And sometimes problems do happen, but thanks to Damien and his teams quick thinking, we as the audience don’t even notice most of the time.

He said: “We’ve had one or two problems in the panto this year, such as lights going and lamps blowing, so we have to change them during the interval.

“Sometimes when a lamp blows it knocks the system out so then we will have to go back and manually tweak the programme to make sure it still runs smoothly.”

Damien has been with the Civic for 11 years while Andrew has just enjoyed his eighth pantomime, meaning that both men have a firm knowledge on how the theatre runs.

Both men work full time at the Rotherham Civic, which means that the consistency and familiarity with the building itself plays a big part in the smoothness of the shows.

Damien said: “It helps with planning the shows, because we already know what works, and also what our limitations can be.

“Also we have the Dame, Mark Hudson, who is really good at reacting when something happens backstage, so if someone’s mic isn’t working he can ad-lib all day long.”