Cinders On Ice - part 2 (Jul 2008)

Auckland continued
We started our first week unpacking the airfreight. All the set was flat packed , as we would need to do for air-freight moves - all in 3x3m blocks on pallets (normal theatre flats at 5,6,7 meters tall won't fir on the cargo deck of a plane. Me thinks the plane needs redesigned). In case you were wondering an air-freight move is a lot of work.

I'd been told once we arrived that I would be building set, as there was no one from the creative team in Auckland yet, not overly impressed, but can an ASM really say no to their PM and as we didn't have an SM to head up the Stage Management Team or a Company Manger that had a theatre background, who could I actually go to.

The build was agonising. There was no one from the company that build the set (and this was no small set, it was $500 000 worth), but also the half million set was a crock of shit.

The 3x3m frames were clad in timber and then went to a different company, the scenic artists to paint. The set was painted laid out on the floor, rather than built in the scenic studios(I think this was done as the set would be flat packed for air-freight to New Zealand, so it saved time). So the set was air-freighted out of Melbourne having never been built. Can you guess whats coming?

So we start putting the set together. Now to bolt it all together it was laid out flat and the markings were married up. One piece it would be marked left to right, A to B, the next B to A and so the madness continued. Once each piece was built it could be flown. Then we could guess at if that was a piece marked A to B or B to A, and take it back down and start over. (Remember no one there had see it and with the best will in the world A4 scale plans only help so much, it is a bit like a giant jigsaw puzzle). However more alarming was that the set didn't hang straight.

The company that built the set hadn't cut the timber cladding flush to the frame - schoolboy error I would say, but then I'm no set builder. As each edge wasn't flat there was no hope of anything hanging straight. We ended up with 80% of the set hanging on the piss.

So they flew someone over to Auckland from the set builders and well the up shot was it was fooked and there was really nothing that could be done to fix it properly (sending it back to have the timber cladding cut flush was not an option - we didn't have time before the show opened for all that carpentry and if it was all cut flush the paint effect would need touching up or completly re-doing, adding more time. We were left with half arsed fixes for months to come, but really there was not much that could be done without canceling part of the tour or swapping the set for a 'stunt double'. The other problem we had with the set was that it was just so damed heavy - several flats were a 14 man lift (normally it would be 2 or 4). We joked that there must be plutonium hidden inside as lead wasn't that heavy.

So we finally opened the show, having got through a process that was so far removed from theatre it was unreal. Most of the information and requests to the prop buyer for set dressing and proppage was nothing more than guess work on my part: either there was a clear breif, but it didn't match the period style or it was a wide open breif with no detail. I resigned myself to the fact that if there was an explicit request for something that was wrong then if thats what was wanted then thats ehat I would pass on to the prop buyer, however if the info was wooly then I could tell the prop buyer what was correct for the period. Fortunatly for me the designer knew the route of this trouble and wasn't on my back for it - we could have a bitch and stitch about it.

Not the greatest start. However we opened and played and then it was time for our first move. Set would go by road and we would fly. In a production meeting I found out that I was working the out, again what could I do, bottom rung to most senior member of staff on tour and no HoD to fight my corner - I was also half expecting it. The first move is always horendus and we had discussed 'exceptional' moves as likely needing more help.

So I spent my last Sunday in Auckland doing a show at 15:00, by 17:30 we were starting to get the set out. I got the props packed and then was dragged to the set. By 09:30 the next morning the set and ice rink was loaded, the last wagon was jack-knived on hill getting out of the theatre loading bay, but we were off. (He had recovery on the way and there is a touring principal that once the doors are shut its the drivers responsability).

We had to be out of the apartments by 10 and on the coach by 10:30. We all were still to shower and pack, oh and sleep. Safe to say we were not checked out for 10. However we were on the coach by 10:35. A bit of sleep on the way to the airport and then straight to the gate and curling up for a sleep at the gate, by the desk - hopefully no one can miss me there - and then more sleep on the flight to Wellington.

Opening a show is always hard work, but this was taking things to new extremes.