Sky Arts Broadcasts Some Great Programmes & Has A Practice of Repeatin’ Them On A Regular Basis. Often This Is Over A Period of Days, Weeks, Months or Even Years (Notwithstandin’ The Channel Was Only Launched In September 2020 Durin’ The Pandemic).  

Notably They Broadcast At All Kinds of Crazy Hours Too. Sometimes Regular Mornin’, Afternoon or Evenin’ Schedulin. And Sometimes Not, More often Than Not.   It Frankly Seems All A Bit Ad Hoc.

Now TV Is Their Repeat VOD (Video On Demand) Channel And May Be The Best Way To See Quality Repeats In A Manner That’s More Timely & Manageable.  

Arts Uncovered Is One Case In Point. It Is A 15 Minute Power Programme About Different Elements of The Arts Industry. 

On Monday March 14 2022 6.00am It Re-broadcast A Great Show On The Behind Teh Scenes Activity of The Royal Opera House, In London’s Covent Garden (It Was Previously Shown 6 Months Ago AT 3.45 am September 16 2021 & Before Then & Since).

But Whenever One Watches It’s Bound To Be A Win Because It Is So Educational & Illuminatin’ And Possibly Inspirin’ For Those Interested In Workin’ Back Stage Rather Than Front of House In Any Particular Circumstance.  

We Thought We’d Share This With You Given The Tough Time The Arts Have Had Recently Due To Covid. And The Tough Historical Times We Are Livin’ In. Dometically And Abroad. The Very Essence of The Arts Is Light Relief & Enrichment Culturally So It Seems The Perfect Time For Some Artistic Outreach & Escapism & Inspiration.

Firstly, The Royal Opera House (ROH) Has A Great New Production of La Traviata Startin’ Next Month From April 1st – April 18 2022. This Includes South African Soprano Pretty Yende, American Soprano Angel Blue And Armenian Soprano Hrachuhí Bassénz.

Secondly For International Women’s Day ROH Have Produced A Nice Highlight Feature On Leontyne Price – A Pioneerin’ World Class African-American Soprano, Born In Mississippi 1927.

Thirdly The ROH Appears To Have Become More Modernized, Diverse & Inclusive Recently Generally. This Is Outlined In Their Commitment Statement Published on Their Website May 2021. And Unlike Like Some Corporate, Artistic & Creative, And Superficially Inclusive Entities They Do Seem To Be Adherin’ To That With Castin’, Schedulin’ And Supportin.’

In The Meantime This Particular Episode of Arts Uncovered Shone A Light On The Job of Stage Managers At The Royal Opera House Covent Garden As It Hosted A New “Alice In Wonderland” Production.

Stage Manager Emma Turner, Director & Designer Anthony McDonald, And Opera Singer Nicky Spence Explain The Job of Stage Management.

Emma Has Been Part of The ROH Stage Management Team Since 1999 Havin’ Started As An Assistant Stage Manager. Approximately Twenty Years In She’s Still Lovin’ Her Job. That’s A Beautiful Thing.

She Deals With Approximately Eight or Nine Different Productions A Year, Some Old Favourites And Some New Groundbreakers. Understandably She Says This Involves A Lot of Departments Which She Has To Cordinate. It’s A Huge Feat Which Involves Gatherin’, Collatin’ Organisin’ Much Information From Each of Them & Amalgamatin’ It All Into One Smooth Operation.

Integral To This Is A “Prompt Book”. It’s Like A Bespoke Stage Management Bible & Paper Director As It Is A Record of Who Goes Where, When, How And Why, Which Is Critical For Cueing Actors & Singers And Props Smoothly On & off The Stage. It Is Important For Synchronizin Different Timings For Different Elements of The Show. Story Boards Come Into Play Too And The Prompt Book Is Used As A Constant Source of Reference, Guidance And Direction. The Prompt Book Pages Can Have The Actions of The Singers Are On One Side And Cues On The Other For Instance, Which Helps The SM Give “Prompts” & Supervise.

However As One As Assistant Stage Manager Put It, “Sometimes It Is Done From Memory” As They “Do Not Always Have Time To Hold It. “But Usually It’s Like Your Baby Blanket.”

This Is One Reason Why The Deputy Stage Manager (DSM) Is So Important As They Provide Additional Oversight And Direction To The Stage Manager By Constantly Observin’ The Stage Overall. They Deal With Lightin’, Sound Recordings And Sound Effects. And It Is Also A Reason Why Being Able To Read Music Is So Important Too, As Stage Management Also Need To Give Musical Queues or Respond To Them In Terms Of Makin’ Things Happen.

There Are A Number of Assistant Stage Managers Who Support The Stage Manager By Taking Responsibility For Particular Elements of The Show Such As Organization of The Crew, Scene Changes, Props, And Costumes.

Ultimately It Is Emma’s Responsibility To Keep The Whole Production Together And Make Sure Everyone Knows What They Are Doin’. She Provides A Link Between The Technical Department, The Director, Designer The Singers & The Actors. In Addition To The Smooth Runnin’ of The Productin It Is Also Particuarly Important In Terms of Health & Safety.

There Are Various In-House Rehearsal Rooms & Regular Rehearsals

At The Time of Recording This Back Stage Expose Emma Was In Week Three of Rehearsals, Takin’ Place In Rehearsal RoomNumber 1, Which Is Apparently Huge Enough To Accomodate The Whole Set. And She Said Quick Costume Changes Have To Take Place As So As Possible On Stage So Rehearsals Are Important. Costume Design Is Important In This Regard With Clothes Bein’ Fitted With Poppers And Magnets For Instance. No Doubt There Is A Large Amount of Lycro Involved Too!

She Explained That Productions Can Often Involve “A Cast of Thousands” But The Adventures of Alice In Wonderland Is A Rather Small Intimate Production With A Cast of Just 7 Performers And 3 Additional Dancers.

Designer & Director Anthony McDonald Sings The Praises of Emma & The Stage Management Team Saying:

“They Make My Life Very Easy, [Because] They Are So Good.”

“Emma Is A Bit of A Legend.”

“She Runs An Incredibly Tight Ship”

Opera Singer Nicky Spence Demonstrates His Increbible Versatility By Performin’ A Hatrick As Tweedle Dum, The Mad Hatter, And Rabbit.

Ultimately Emma Says She Gets Great Job Satisfaction From Her Work, Which Explains Why She’s Stayed With The Company For Virtually A Decade. She Loves The Fact That No Two Days Are The Same, She Gets To Work On A Grand Scale And She Loves Workin’ With Huge Sets, Vistin’ Artists, And Visitin Directors. Sounds Great. And Worth A Visit!

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