RADA Blogs

Technical Theatre Blog

Katie Goodacre is a first year technical theatre and stage management. She will be writing about her experiences during the first year of her training at RADA.

Wow. Just one word to describe the work that the fourth term technical graduates produced. From huge paintings to a giant fish suspended above the auditorium to a wooden hot air balloon being brought up and down every five minutes, the technical tree at RADA has it all. Along with lighting design displays, costume displays and property displays set up around the Vanbrugh theatre, there really was such a fantastic range of high quality work that impressed everybody – including Alan Rickman!

The week started with the get out of The Acid Test and Peter Pan. I must admit, it was pretty sad to see the huge, fluorescent pink border leave the GBS, however, the end of second round of shows does mean one thing….Christmas is coming!! We finished the LX get out of two venues in one day which is quite an achievement considering the rather large rig in one theatre. Result! This meant from Tuesday onwards, all our attention was on the Tree exhibition.

My role for the tree was ‘fit up/fly crew’. Firstly, myself along with others, had to transport a cleverly constructed horse, hot air balloon and an enormous red rocking chair with beautiful wings up, from the basement, to the second floor in a lift. Only in theatre could that sentence make sense!

Next on the list was to rig: the paintings; a large fish; and two doors. Closely followed by the get in of a ‘dead body’, a larger than life Pug and an extremely realistic afternoon tea!

The Tree Exhibition opened on Thursday night. Becky, Fi and I were the three musketeers of the fly floor that night as we spent from 5.30pm to 10.00pm taking it in turns to fly the brilliantly created wooden balloon up and down. Four and half hours I hear you cry? It was actually great fun! We got to marvel at all the fantastic work from a high vantage point, hear Alan Rickman’s speech and sign the fly floor wall of fame, to substantiate: ‘Tree 2012 – Katie, Becks, Fi were ‘ere’.

With the Tree get-out completed by half four on Saturday afternoon, my first term at RADA is over. Cannot believe how quick the past three months have gone and how much I’ve LEARNT! See you in 2013 for the blogs to continue. But for now….MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Technical Theatre Blog

Katie Goodacre is a first year technical theatre and stage management. She will be writing about her experiences during the first year of her training at RADA.

A technical rehearsal that starts at 10am and finishes at 2pm? Never, I hear you cry! I used to think it wasn’t physically possible. I stand corrected. On Monday, the ‘The Acid Test team’ went into the GBS mentally prepared for a long tech day but were pleasantly surprised by an early finish. Yes, that’s right, by 2.00pm the tech was over. Go team! This meant that we went straight into a dress rehearsal later in the same afternoon and I finally got to see all elements of the lighting, sound and set come together, with the actors, to create a frisson of delight.

During the LX plotting session, I learnt my way around the ION, an industry standard board. I must admit, sitting behind the desk, hitting the keys that the Lighting Designer tells me to and seeing the stage light up in different ways at the touch of a button really does make me feel quite powerful. Like the light is in my hands. Quite literally.

By the time Wednesday night rolled round (opening night), we had completed four dress rehearsals and were all set to welcome an audience into the thea…oh sorry… all set to welcome an audience into Dana, Jessica and Ruth’s London flat to experience their night full of drama.

As LX Operator, my role throughout the show, when the lights are up, is pretty straightforward. The pre-show rig check can be more challenging if there’s a problem with a lantern or fixture. Basically, as LX operator, I need to make sure that I check every fixture rigged to see if there are any blown lamps, if they have been knocked out of focus or if the cue lights aren’t working etc. If a problem is found, it is my job to do my best to fix it as the training provided in the LX rotation prepares me for this. If the problem is complex and I am unable to fix it then a Production Electrician is called to the stage. So far, I have encountered no blown lamps or unsolvable problems pre-show. Touch wood!

Peter Pan opened on Thursday and, as far as I’m aware, both shows are running smoothly with excellent audience feedback. Both shows end on the 1st December so if you’re around London and fancy seeing a fantastic bit of theatre then both book for either or both(!) soon.

Technical Theatre Blog

Valeria Latorre is a final year scenic art specialist. Click here to find out more about the scenic art course and to see the department facebook page.

For the fourth and last term of my course I’ve been asked to realise a challenging painting 5x3m^2. A few months ago I started my research on the image I would have liked to realise. Going through the works of my favourite photographers, I decided to use Steve McCurry’s photos. I was not that concerned about the difficulty of the process of recreating the image, but I was trying to find something that moved me in some way. I’m interested in the pure natural movement of nature and human bodies and in those pictures I’ve found everything I was looking for. McCurry tooks some pictures in Nepal and I chose the ones taken during the Monsoon festival in Nepal while some women where bathing in the Bagmati river “…They honor Parvati wife of the Hindu God Siva, who dwells among the peaks and sends the streams cascading to the plains”.

My reference has been a combination of two of those pictures. I had five weeks to complete my project.

First I built the frame on the paint frame and then I stretched and primed the canvas. Next steps were basic drawing and blocking some colours. At the beginning everything was very exciting and the process was quite fast and enjoyable. The difficulties came later.

Lights and shadows, perspective, depth, all the elements needed to have a realistic painting had to be faced and added to the basic painting. I decided to use the spray gun, personally I find it the best tool to translate my artistic language in painted images. The paint is sprayed and you can control the air volume and pressure, the amount of paint and easily fade the colours. When I look at any real object I hardly find a sharp line, everything is so indefinite especially in nature and human bodies. It’s very difficult to spray a sharp line (effect that you could easily reach with a brush) and that’s why with the spray gun you can create beautiful effects and realistic illusions. Aiming to reproduce a picture in a faithful way, I reminded myself that is not the line or the shadow that matters, but the logic and the connection between all the artistic elements. Sometimes it’s very difficult to copy exactly something like the pattern of a fabric or the movement of the water, so I tried to follow the right logic, understand the essence of what I was painting and improvise with those elements.

In these long, short and intense five weeks I learned that it is not the talent that makes the difference, but the concentration and the interest in what you do. Happy with the result, but mostly with the process, looking forward the Tree (specialists’ final exhibition).

To see Valeria's finished work, come to the RADA technical exhibition on Friday 07 December from 11am to 10pm.

Technical Theatre Blog

Katie Goodacre is a first year technical theatre and stage management. She will be writing about her experiences during the first year of her training at RADA.

Mid November means the second round of shows is nearly upon us! This week, each department has gone into the two venues and worked their magic once again; the GBS and Vanbrugh have been totally transformed.

The GBS now has a large constructed living room, furnished with brightly coloured sofa, cushions and appliances, finished off with a fluorescent pink border running the entire way round. Many working practical lights are situated on the walls and some hang down form the ceiling giving the living room a sense of realism. Oh, and let’s not forget the two UV lights that, if possible, make the pink border even pinker! Trust me when I say, it looks awesome! There are lots of speakers rigged for this performance of the Acid Test and many sound cues so I’m very much looking forward to hearing lots of tunes blare out. (I forgot my iPod when I moved to London so every time I hear music I get very excited!)

The Vanbrugh on the other hand could not look more different to the GBS if it tried. It’s been turned into a theatre-in-the-round space and the set consists of a large metal table, several simple chairs and circus equipment rigged from the tension wire to enable the actors to fly around the stage. Lighting wise, there are many intelligent fixtures such as movers and strobes and these compliment the action perfectly. With regards to sound, I believe the actors play instruments and perform as a band meaning the sound designer will be live mixing on each show. So… no pressure there then!

As I’ve said before, I’m now in the LX rotation and enjoying it immensely. This week started with a rigging session in the Vanbrugh which was a fantastic experience for me as Peter Pan has a big rig with a lot of lanterns positioned in challenging places. It was a long but hugely rewarding day and sugar levels were kept high by plenty of treats provided for a fellow student’s birthday. After, Group B moved onto focussing in the GBS. As the GBS set is a room with three walls and a ceiling, I imagine it must have been quite hard to light due to the limited angles; however, a brilliant job has been done! Later on in the week, I attended my first plotting session which I found very interesting. Present in the session was the Lighting Designer, LX board op, Stage Manager, DSM and, of course, the Director. The plotting session went very smoothly and soon we were done for the day and all set for the tech rehearsals commencing on Monday...