Cath Booth - Deputy Stage Manager

The great thing about being a Deputy Stage Manager is that every day is different.  I’m part of a four person stage management team (Jane Eliot Webb – Company and Stage Manager, Anita Drabwell – also a Deputy Stage Manager and Kat Wilson – Assistant Stage Manager) and we are part of the production/backstage team.  We are the people you never see, but who you know are there.

My day depends on what point in the production process we are at and whether or not I am “on the book”.  Being on the book means that I spend the rehearsal period in the rehearsal room with the actors and director. I’m there to take information in and give information out and ensure that rehearsals run smoothly.  A typical rehearsal day would start with me arriving about half an hour before the company to ensure that the rehearsal room was open. Then I need to set the room up for the day ensuring we have  the correct rehearsal props and furniture in the right place for whatever scenes we are rehearsing that day.  I also make sure that we have milk, tea and coffee for the day.  Once rehearsals have started I note all the moves that the actors are directed to make in a specially made up copy of the script called the prompt copy.  I also make a note of any information that other production departments need to know e.g. props that are requested in addition to those mentioned in the script, the need for a pocket to put a specific item in.  Sometimes I need to remind the director about giving the actors their tea-breaks and when we run scenes or the play without stopping I keep a note of how long they have run for.  All this information gets typed up onto a rehearsal note and at the end of the day e-mailed (isn’t modern technology wonderful) to all the other production departments.  I am also the person who will bring information from the other departments into the rehearsal room e.g. the answers to questions we may have asked or information about any changes that have been made for technical reasons. At the end of the day I find out what the director wants to rehearse the next day, let the actors know this and type it all up onto a call sheet and distribute this as well.  This part of the production process continues for 3 or 4 weeks. 

We then have a week known as Production Week, when we put all the elements of the show together in the theatre.  This is a very busy time for all the production staff.  I need to have given the stage management team and technical stage staff all the information about how the show should be set up, that is where all the props and furniture start and what elements of the set should be visible.  I also need to have given them information about what happens in each scene change and if they need to help the actors with anything backstage during the running of the show.  The lighting and sound designers will let me know the cue points for all their effects and I will note this in the prompt copy.  When we come to performances I then cue the lighting and sound operators, stage management and technical stage staff – I tell them what to do and when to do it.  This is so that when we have sequences that need to start together and for things to happen in a certain order one person is co-ordinating it all.  For this we use head-sets and I give people a “go”.  This is often backed up with a green cue light.

Once we are past production week my day quietens down a bit.  Usually I will come into work in the afternoon to set up the show ready for that evening’s performance and then spend the duration of the performance in the box at the back of the auditorium calling the cues.

Anita and I tend to alternate as to who is on the book, so if she is on the book I will spend my days looking for props and doing research for the show she is on the book for.

Every show is different and throws up its own peculiarities and that is what means that, although every show goes through the same cycle of production, no two days are ever the same.