Wednesday - Tech Rehearsal

8:30             - We arrived at the theatre and had a tour of backstage to make sure we were familiar with the layout. The costumes were prepped on the rails from the get in the day before. We had a meeting to assess what we needed to do to prepare for the tech.

10:00            - We got the cast into their costumes sorting out any problems as we went along. The major problem we had was with the lights in the whore’s body suits. The wires were not sitting properly in the suits and this was uncomfortable. The buyer went out and got body tape to help with securing the wires. I then switched a set of lights in and this gave the girl a small shock in the arm, this was because a cap had not been put on the end and a bare wire had been left loose. I then made sure all of the wires had caps on and succoured them with tape.

11:00            -Tech rehearsal started, we had a rough costume breakdown that we added to.  This was a very slow process. I was stage right with Melisa and Ruth and we made notes as we went through the rehearsal. During the Army song Josh Barton’s (Macheath) trousers split. I believe this was because there was a slight stretch to the fabric and I used a single stitch which I didn’t reinforce enough. It was a simple repair and I made sure that all the seams were reinforced. He changed into his trousers, which were black for the remainder of the performance. I also had to put a microphone pack into his trousers. This was something I was unaware about before the show. During the rehearsal we had more problems with the lights and one of the actresses ended up getting an electric shock on her bum. This was caused as the wires had not been connected properly and they had only been covered with fabric. When the body suit was being worn with all the movement the fabric moved and left the wires exposed which caused a shock.

1:00             -We broke for lunch and had a meeting to see what changes immediately needed to happen.  The main change was to add more decoration onto Polly’s wedding dress. 4 of us then proceeded to add chainmail diamonds and beads onto the dress as instructed. As this was such a big job Becky and I stayed beading and missed the rest of the tech rehearsal, as we were not necessarily needed on stage, as it was so slow paced. 

5:00             - After the tech we met again and had a meeting were we discussed more alterations. I then altered the collar of Jesamine Oldman’s (Lucy Brown) coat. The coat had a high stand collar that was blocking her face when she was signing in profile. I put 3 staggered darts into the collar to try and shape it more and I will go up to her starting point after the interval and make sure the costume is dressed correctly before she goes onto stage.

7:00             - We then had a second tech run in costume to see how everything was working, this was the first time I had seen the entire run through. We could also check that our costume breakdown was correct for the next day. Everything wend smoothly apart from just as the second half started Jesamine realised she didn’t have her microphone pack in. this meant that I had to climbed back down the ladder, run around to stage left and collect it, then run back to stage right and up the ladder to wear she was waiting. As this was the first time I had seen it through I had no idea how long I had to do all this and luckily we had plenty of time however it was very close.

10:00             - after run through organise costumes, any quicj repairs, meet to sort notes and prepare for the next day

10:30             -            Home