Job Lot: ‘For me, it was always light and sound’

I’d done a bit of acting at school, but it wasn’t for me. What I didn’t know then is that when you go into Drama, you don’t have to do acting, you can do technical. So, I did Design Technology at secondary school and got involved by doing all the school productions, doing sound and light together. It was great. 

I used to take apart DVD players and VHS players and get them working again, or not! I was really into wiring and did work experience at Sunseeker wiring up consoles for boats. That was great fun, and I got into all the banter with the guys there. 

I’d known I was interested in this stuff back in primary school and tried helping teachers, but there’s not much you can do as a five-year-old! That’s why I tried acting, it was a way of being involved in the production. 

So, from school I went to Poole College, the Jellicoe Theatre, where they had a Production Arts course and in the first year you did a bit of everything – make-up, set design, costume, stage management, sound, lighting, the lot – then got more focussed in the second year. It was five shows a year; a pretty intense schedule.  

There were others having fun in the spotlight, acting, but I liked being sat in the corner taking notes, looking out for key words and noting the cues.  

Halfway through that course I came to Lighthouse as casual crew. I was only 16 or 17 – you have to be 18 now – but it was brilliant. I also worked at the Tivoli in Wimborne, the Regent Centre in Christchurch, and did a lot of festival work. It was hard work, especially being outdoors in the rain at festivals, but great experience. You can get really well treated at some festivals with free food and drink, hotel, all that kind of thing. 

Eventually, all of that led to a full-time job at Lighthouse. 

What advice would I give someone who wanted to get into the technical side of the industry? Just go and get involved; be super keen. Venues always need hands to unload trucks and help with the get-out afterwards. It’s fun. If you offer to help and let it be known what you’re interested in – for me, it was always light and sound – then there are opportunities to do little jobs. There are still those informal routes into the business. I never went to uni, I went straight from college into working and it worked out well for me. 

This is a great industry to work in, it’s very diverse and it can lead you into other things, like broadcast for instance. If you have a technical mind – maybe you like taking things apart, or you like making things – there are so many different jobs that need doing. If you’re good with wood, good at DIY, we always need carpenters to put up sets because sometimes a set doesn’t fit the stage, or it might not work properly, and we have to mend it quickly before the show opens. The props always need repairing – you quickly learn to be good with the glue! 

I’ve found myself in some strange situations. As I said, I’m not really into being on stage but there was one show when I had to stand there and follow these red and green light cues then spin this flat on wheels. When we had The Rocky Horror Show I had a list of things to do in the wings, including helping someone get undressed – and you see all the silly stuff going on between the cast in the wings pulling faces at the ones who are on stage. That was really fun. 

Panto is always great. The last time we had Dick Whittington I strapped a GoPro camera to Niall, one of the techs, and we had all this footage of the slosh scene making a mess and Chris Jarvis pulling faces at the camera – stuff the audience never sees! 

I really love it. 

It’s a bit different with touring shows as they usually arrive with their own techs and rig, so we basically ‘babysit’ them and make sure we’re on hand if something goes wrong. There are times when you can contribute creatively a bit more, especially with the lighting, which is what I’m most into. That’s why I’m leaning more on the side of doing bands now because every song you can colour in a different way. 

Sometimes they turn up with no kit, or broken kit, or the rider is wrong and then it’s a rush to get kit and get the show on in time. It’s impossible to predict. Some bands will give you a big book with instructions for every song and detailed notes about their inspiration, others will trust you to do whatever you think works. I remember Blue just let us get on with it and were really happy. Lulu was very clear about what she wanted but she made a point of coming back to thank us afterwards.   

To be fair, most of them thank us, and we often get told from companies that we are the most helpful venue that they’ve toured to because we do all we can to make them happy. 

(NC)

Photo credit: Jayne Jackson Photography