To make sure that all the technical elements required by the production are met.

In terms of staffing that means that we have all the building, painting, lighting, sound, wardrobe, stage crew and stage management staff employed in order to complete the job and meet the deadline.

Another responsibility is to ensure that the production is costed properly and everything is taken into consideration in areas such as props, costumes and the build of the set. I also need to monitor each area as we go into production to make sure it comes together on time and on budget.

At the moment I am managing two full scale shows. One is The Long and the Short and the Tall in the Lyceum and the other is The Romans in Britain in the Crucible.

Usually, you would control one full scale and one small scale production. For example, a full scale show would be one in the Crucible and a small scale show would be something like a touring schools production or small Studio show.

It is exceptional to be doing two full scale shows at the same time but my colleague, Liz Craven and I agreed that on this occasion I would do both. Primarily because The Long and the Short and the Tall is a relatively straight forward production and also because we agreed that financially it would be a saving for the theatre for me to do both.

There wouldn’t be a challenge if they were both being performed on the Crucible stage and if they were scheduled into a season to follow each other. But The Long and the Short and the Tall is on in the Lyceum and The Romans in Britain is on in the Crucible. They are also, to a degree, on at the same time.

The challenge then is in ensuring that the technical aspects for both productions can be realised at the same time.

Photograph of the hut in the set model box. Designed by Lucy Osborne and photographed by Susan Weaver

Unfortunately, the workshop in Sheffield Theatres which builds the sets, and the Wardrobe Department who makes the costumes, cannot cope with making two productions at the same time.

So firstly we had to make the decision that one of the sets had to ‘go out’ - which means being built by someone who is not a permanent member of staff here at the theatre and who has the capacity to build it in a completely separate space away from our workshop. We decided that because the smallest production of the two is the The Long and the Short and the Tall, then that would be the one to go out.

So, I have had to find someone to build it and also someone to make the costumes. In addition, we have had to employ a Company Stage Manager to take it out on tour.

To begin with, I have had three or four meetings with the Designer, Lucy Osborne, to discuss the set as this is the main component. We have talked at length about the different ways it could, or could not, be built as in some cases there are aspects which, for whatever reason, will not practically work out.

The process we go through is that Lucy talks to me and to the Director, Josie Rourke and we go back and forth a few times until we arrive at something we know we can achieve.

As the main section of the set, which is the hut in the jungle, has been agreed upon, the Set Builder is now ordering materials, arranging for spaces to work in and finding people to complete the specific jobs to construct that particular aspect.

At the same time I have employed a Costume Maker, based down south, who we have used before for other touring shows. Both she and the Designer have been out and about, sampling materials for costumes.

As the production has quite a short run we have made the decision to hire the uniforms required, rather than making them. They will all be hired from the same company, thereby saving us money on hire costs.

Type of sten-gun required in the production – photograph courtesy of Digger History.com

Also the Company Stage Manager has been researching the props required, especially the guns. As we require both British and Japanese guns, it’s likely that all the armaments will come from the same firm as the costumes and that will be finalised next week. Additionally, he has arranged for the cast and Director to go on a day trip during rehearsals to Cambridgeshire to meet an army expert. He is going to train the cast in marching and give them an insight into what army was like.

Once rehearsals begin, then everything starts being made and coming to life. It’s then my responsibility to oversee all the technical elements coming together.

Close-up of the set model box showing the furniture required – photograph by Susan Weaver

The main technical aspect to come out of rehearsals is the props. Before we start, we do know that we require a certain amount of guns. We also know that will be a certain amount of furniture such as a table and chairs and what these items should look like. But other needs will come out of rehearsals. For example, an actor will decide that his character smokes or eats something - actors like certain things to help them be the person they are trying to be - so they will invent little personal things for that character to have. These requests are all noted down by the Deputy Stage Manager who is present during rehearsals. They jot it down in what we call Rehearsal Notes and these are circulated to all the relevant departments on a daily basis. So everyone knows what additional technical requirements there are.

The Sound Designer will also be preparing a soundtrack during rehearsals and towards the end of the process the Lighting Designer will go into rehearsals to complete his lighting design. He has already had an input by looking at the set and suggesting light effects that will create the ‘jungle’ but later on he will watch rehearsals. He needs to look at where and when the actors sit or stand and where they move to - so he knows what kind of lights he needs to create as well as when and where.

Photograph of the set model box giving an indication of the lighting. Set designed and photographed by Lucy Osborne

We will also then need to look at how much that might cost and whether we already have the equipment to achieve what he wants or we may have to hire it. We also will be keeping an eye on where he needs to rig the lights to achieve the effects, because we know already that he is going to have to rig them up before the hut gets built on stage, otherwise the technicians will struggle to reach them.

In the week beforehand we will finalise a schedule for the technical rehearsals which we have actually started looking at now.

As this is a Lyceum show which will also go on tour, we are looking at schedule for last years’ production of Insignificance and using it as a template. We want to learn from any problems we had last year and tweak the plan accordingly.

We need to ensure that we put in enough time in the schedule for everyone to achieve their needs. This equates to light plotting, putting the sound in, when and how many dress rehearsals we hold, when our Marketing Department can bring in the production photographer (who takes the photographs we use for publicity) and when the local and national press can come and photograph. These are all the aspects we need to include in that block of time, so we draw up the schedule and aspire to keep to it!

We also have to ensure that there is time set aside should anything not be achieved in the allocated time – we call these ‘carry overs’. Usually this is some time later in the week that we keep free, just in case. It’s basically there for whoever may need it the most.

There isn’t really anything major that will become a challenge as it’s is a fairly straightforward production and there is nothing that time and money won’t sort out.

If anything does occur we should have the time to resolve it. And with regards to financial implications, I’m confident we have done our work beforehand and the show will come in on budget.

In the production, which is set in the jungle, there is the need for it to rain. How do you go about creating that?

Well, I have experimented with rain several times before with varying degrees of success. It’s really much easier to do a pros arch theatre such as the Lyceum as you can only see the rain from one direction - from the front - and it’s therefore much easier to do.

To start the process, I have had conversations with someone who works with watering plants in garden centres. He came to visit me and we looked at the model box. We discussed the type of rain the Director and Designer wanted and the effect we want to achieve. At the moment, he is costing this up for us and we will take it forward from there.

We are currently testing out the idea of rain coming through the ceiling of the hut but this has not been confirmed yet. Plus the idea of rain being seen outside - through the windows and doors of the hut.

The problem we may have, and the reason we need to test it, is that we need to ensure that the audience will see it.

Photograph of the model box showing the hut interior section with the doors and windows. Designed by Lucy Osborne and photographed by Susan Weaver

You need to remember that half of seeing rain is the combination of seeing what it does when it hits the ground combined with the noise it makes. Think about when you look out of your window and ask ‘is it raining?’ You’re not actually sure unless you can hear it and unless light is catching it in a specific way - then you can see it is raining. A better way of describing it is when you go to a football match and it’s floodlit. At that point you can actually see the rain a lot easier than if it was ordinary daylight because it’s the light that’s catching the rain and making it visible.

The rain through the roof will be individual drops so we would rig up some sort of dropping arrangement which can be as simple as a plastic bag with a valve on it that you open slightly to drip.

The rain at the back of the hut you only see through the two windows and the door. What we might do is have a little porch made above the back outside section of the hut with a pipe running along the top, out of sight. There will then be a tank suspended in the air filled with water, like a tank in your house, with a pump that pumps the water out of the tank along a pipe at very high pressure. You then have all these different little valves that you push into the pipe which you can use to achieve different types of rain such as fine and misty, like in the jungle perhaps, interspersed with bigger rain drops that might hit the leaves and then drip irregularly. We will also need to build a trough to catch the rain and then send it back up to the beginning tank, so we recycle the water.

Close-up of the rear of the hut showing the window and door behind which the rain pipe work will be built. Designed by Lucy Osborne and photographed by Susan Weaver

Once we have tested it out then we can fine tune it and ensure that all the mechanics of it are hidden from the audience.

You learn it by experience and by the number of times I have been asked to do different things.

It is also lateral thinking – you are given a problem and you use any devise possible to solve it which might not be the obvious answer.

For example, you want rain in a theatre. How do you do it? You have to think sideways. You have to ask yourself who has water that looks like rain. So you start thinking about fountains and garden centres, and then pursue that idea.

Another example we have at the moment for The Romans in Britain is a shield that the Designer has asked for. To start with it’s not a defence shield but is a piece of set that is symbolic of Rome attacking Britain. It’s also quite large and comes out of the floor. The Designer wants it to look like metal but to be beaten and have holes in it because it has corroded. So we have to think how to create that. My experience tells me that aluminium would be the best metal to use because I know that aluminium is pliable. We are going to test it out by punching aluminium to see if it works and then we will get a painter to paint it to look old to achieve the effect the Designer requires.

Lots of effects in theatre are created like this and some are created in the same way a magician creates a card trick – it’s slight of hand. And you learn over the years what works and what doesn’t work.

Firstly, I don’t think everyone is suited to do this job and it’s not about having a degree. I haven’t got a degree in anything, including theatre, and I started out as mechanical engineer. But I think I just have the right type of brain for solving problems and of thinking of other ways around things. So you need that skill and on top of that you need experience.

Not all parts of the job are interesting. For instance, I don’t like taking part in meetings but I have to do that as it is part of my job, but I wouldn’t say it was my strength or something I particularly enjoy.

The problem-solving side because it’s an opportunity to discover something new and really interesting.

For instance, this week, I have met with the man who is helping us create the rain for The Long and the Short and the Tall. On top of that I need to find a way to build a pool on stage, for another production, that an actor has to swim in. So I’m meeting up with someone who might be able to assist us with that. In addition, I was down at Elstree Studios yesterday to meet someone who making a big tree for us for another show. Twenty yards away was the Big Brother house and it’s then that you realise that there are lots of industries such as TV and cinema that are involved in making things and it’s really interesting to see and learn how they do it.

Whenever we get a request from a Designer to do something, I have to find a way to achieve it. It’s not that I have to learn exactly how it’s done but I need to know people who do. Then I get in contact with them and make it happen.