I’ve got the buzz

I’ve recently taken a job as a theatre technician and sound engineer for a run of panto down in the west country. I was quickly reminded of how just putting on a show faces many obstacles on a day-to-day basis – the pure logistics of it can be mind boggling. The actors’ health, however, can prove the most potentially destructive, as I found out one day last week.

Twenty-five minutes before curtain up for the evening show, I get word that one of the lead actresses has had to drop out due to illness. I went down to the stage where the Stage Managers and technical crew were working on the quick changes, dance routines, song lyrics and, of course, the words for the actress stepping in. There was a palpable tenseness in the air as they ran through the extra scenes she’s needed for. Everyone was determined to make the show work and cancelling it was clearly not an option.

With only five minutes to go, everyone is sorted. The doors opened and the audience flooded in. Everyone was on tenterhooks and I, for one, loved the surge of adrenaline I got when the curtain went up: there was no backing out now. This was real improvisation and a chance to do my bit in the team effort to overcome this shortcoming.

Needless to say the show went without grinding to a complete halt and, dare I say it, I don’t think anyone in the audience noticed a glitch: we had succeeded! The thrill of facing adversity and overcoming it left me on a massive high and reminded me why we do theatre.

The storyline in this panto, fatuous as it may be in places, carries a strong message epitomised in the first half closing song lyric: "Anything can happen if you let it". On that fateful night we proved we could still do the show successfully, regardless of the circumstances. Whoever devalues the arts saying that it doesn’t teach any life skills has obviously overlooked the people skills, improvisation and ability to adapt to changing circumstances that artists and technicians have to overcome on a daily basis.