A video of a screw being placed on a plinth in our Main Gallery has been seen by more than 2.8 million TikTok viewers after music megastar Ed Sheeran shared it to his following.
Technician Leah Fry posted the video on her personal TikTok account last year and was somewhat surprised to see it achieve millions of views almost overnight thanks to the multiple chart topping hit maker who saw it and reposted it.
“It was just something silly I made at work one day, so to see it reach that far was a bit of a shock,” says Leah.
“However, it did set me thinking – what would happen if I shared some of the things we do at work?”
And so, the Lighthouse TekTok account was born. Over the last few months, Leah and her colleague, Senior Technician (Lighting) Sam Coombs have attracted 264 followers and some 208,000 views for their unofficial posts from backstage and behind the scenes at Lighthouse.
“It’s growing all the time; we get a couple of new followers every day and loads of people commenting – it’s surprising what they engage with. Often people will say it’s their local theatre, then we point out that it’s not, we’re in Poole, but sometimes they just will not have it!”
Unsurprisingly, more than 90% of followers are in the UK and over 75% are aged 18-34.
“It’s how you reach people today,” says Sam. “If you want to engage young people about what goes on in technical theatre, then this is where you’ll find them.
“We’re not trying to be educational as such, but we make sure we give the right information, show how things are done properly and ask the companies if we can make videos and share them.”
Examples of Lighthouse TekTok videos include a time lapse of a get in on the Bon Jovi Experience, changing a par can lamp, exploring the fly tower, panto from the wings and what it sounds like to work under the stage during a performance.
So, what else can we look forward to?
“We need to do a time lapse of the Concert Hall floor – people are absolutely fascinated by that floor,” says Leah. “Honestly, my brain is storming at the minute, but I feel we can definitely fly a drone through Lighthouse. That is happening at some point!”
Lighthouse TekTok (@lighthouse.tektok) | TikTok
@lighthouse.tektok
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