LAMDA Rep 1: Construction on "Rent"

Whew, it's been a ride. The last 3+ months have been amazing and ridiculous. As I mentioned in my last post, I was assigned to the Construction crew for the musical, "Rent". That's been and gone, and so has my second show, but more on that in another post. First things first: Rent!

I've had this blog in progress since the show closed back in February and now finally have the time to complete it. It's a long one, but there are lots of pictures!
If you already know about building and/or theatre, please forgive some exposition on the topics. If you're not interested in building stuff, it's probably best to just scroll through the fun photos, skip to Show section and remind me how stupidly lucky I am. If you're ready for some technical talk, mixed in with some (hopefully) interesting commentary, read on!  

12 January - 3 February 

The Set Build

One of two rail arches that make up the LAMDA workshop.
Moving platform and rubbish heap with telegraph pole seen in progress. 

Since "Construction" is more in my comfort zone than the other disciplines (Sound, Lighting, Stage Management), I was really excited to take this on as my first official assignment at LAMDA. After a year of office work here in London, I had almost forgotten how much I like making things! 

My first project was to build a door for the moveable platform which would become the corridor to the loft apartment for the main characters. As there was an odd number of people on the crew, this was a task I was given to complete mostly on my own. It was really great to receive the instruction from my tutors and be let loose to build it. The door is made from one piece of 12mm ply with 18mm pieces attached to the front and the back around the edge. The inner detail was made from a piece of scenic batten, which is particular to theatre. It's just a 70mm x 28mm piece of wood, which is really useful for theatre... for some reason. Anyways, I used a router to round off two edges of the batten and then cut that to the 18mm height of the ply and then in half to have two pieces from each batten. I then cut those to a 45º angle on either end and fitted them in like a fillet in a picture frame! 

Creating the details from scratch took me back to my framing days - I really missed my framing chopper!

The door frame was actually a bit trickier than I expected. Really, it's just 3 pieces of batten and a door jam, but there is always "more" to a simple project than you think! I needed to allow room in the width for the hinge and room in the height for the floor. That done, we screwed a board to the floor to attach the frame to, in order to hang the door temporarily. Then, I had to get it perfectly square so that it would open properly and not scrape on the floor. I cut down some batten to 15mm x 15mm to create the door jam, leaving just a sandpaper thickness on the hinge side for clearance.  It was fun to work my way through it, asking questions or for a helping hand when I needed to. 

My door and door frame ready to be attached the the platform and painted.
I am overly proud of this door :-) 

My next project was to make steel rings to be a part of the detailing on the railings of the small stairs. To do this, I was given a 10mm thick steel rod, a vice, some homemade "bending columns", a hammer and a hacksaw. We cut out a template of the ring on the Computer Navigated Cutter (CNC) that I compared to as I went along. I thought for sure some kind of heat would be involved, but it was really all about leverage and getting just the right angle. 

The trickiest part was making the final curve; getting the perfect radius on the curve, while at the same time keeping the excess steel at the correct angle to line up with the opposite side, in order to give a good overlap to weld from. This was where I would inevitably get frustrated, bending, straightening and re-bending to get it right. And the more that I re-bent it, the more difficult it became to work with. My tutor was so patient and helpful in giving me tips on how to work the steel, but balancing that with time left for me to figure it out on my own. 

Once the steel was bent correctly, I used a hacksaw to cut the excess steel from the ring. (My tutor later introduced me to the Sabre/Reciprocating saw, which became my best friend.) I then welded the cut ends together and used a grinder to smooth the welds. After many failed attempts, I had 4 big rings and 4 small ones, made from two halves rather than a single bend. Looking at my pile of "rejects", I joked that I'd missed my calling in life as a farrier! Whenever I'm feeling a little weak now, I just remind myself that I can bend steel with my bare hands! Ok, gloved hands. It's still amazing. 

Metalwork has been the biggest surprise for me at LAMDA.  I had tried welding once before, but didn't like it at the time. I didn't like that I couldn't see what I was doing through the welding mask until the arc actually made contact. It seemed like "guess and check", which I didn't like at all while handing electricity and metal! 

However, LAMDA has these amazing welding masks that can sense light, so you can see through them and then it goes dark when the weld connects. This has completely changed welding for me! It seems like such a little thing, but it removed that little bit of fear and allowed me to focus on the actual task. 

 After making the rings, I then went on to cut steel for the railings and begin welding it all together.  Using a template cut from the CNC machine, I could lay out all of the pieces and make a few measurements to ensure accuracy. 

One of my classmates helped with finishing the welds and grinding down 4 of the rings for the angled section of the rails.  We then attached the rings with their very stubborn little straights in between. Each time we welded one on, the pressure of placing a weld in such a small area would shift the steel ever so slightly to be out of line. We would then pull it off and start again. It was frustrating, but we pushed through and, eventually, we had two sets railings ready for the stairs! 

(Shout out to my buddy who was eternally patient and so helpful as I got more and more frustrated with those stupid rings that I'd been fighting with for so long! Love you!)

My Production Carpenter's sneaky photo of me grinding down some rings for the rails.

Welding the railings to the stairs was another adventure of its own. It took some strategic clamping (helped by our tutor) to get the rails where they needed to be, but then we were back on our own as an awesome welding team. We then passed them to another team to attach the wooden steps, which they'd been working on. After that, onwards to the scenic painter to "make 'em pretty"!  

After the railings were finished, I built a dolly to hold a car door that would roll out, pretending to be a full car during the show. It was pretty straightforward, except for the 2º cut on the top halves to accommodate the curve of the door, that I kept second guessing which way to attach because it was so small. Then, because this was my easiest project so far, I made the silliest mistake and attached the last leg to the outside of the bottom bar instead of the inside. I didn't notice this until I went to attach the wheels and didn't have enough surface area to attach to! Live and learn :-)

After I had the dolly finished, one of the guys helped to attach it to the car door, which was as straightforward as clamp, drill, bolt. Or rather, it was that simple on one side, minus the bit about getting your arms trapped while trying to tighten the nut. And on the other side, we had to cut one of the welds and bend the arm back to correctly align with the door, then weld it solid again. Nothing is ever straightforward.

To counteract the weight of the car door on the dolly, we created the most ingenious counterweight ever: I found some cable ties and we strapped a stage weight to it. Job done. :-)

It turns out that the only photo I have of the completed door was full of background people,
so I had to a quick Photoshop edit!

As we were finishing the car door, the Designer came to the workshop for a visit. I walked by at the end of the conversation she was having with one of my tutors say and heard him say "Ok. I'll break the news to Megan." I saw them looking at the railings, already under one coat of paint, and knew what was happening. She was really great about it, saying how good they looked and that it wasn't my "fault", just that, now that she'd seen them, the rings on the railing were "too pretty for our world", so we'd need to cut them off. This is something that happens all of the time; Directors and Designers have every right to cut  and change anything, right up to opening night, and they often do. It doesn't matter how much time or money has been spent on the project. Knowing that didn't lessen the sting by much though. Later, when our other tutor heard the news, (the tutor that had taught me how to make the rings), he gave her a hard time for cutting them, but laughed about it. He later said that it's too bad, but it doesn't take away from what I learned while making them. He's right, of course, and after lunch we set about cutting the darn things off. 

We took one last parting photo of the railings in all their "prettiness" and armed ourselves with grinders and hammers. Turns out, we'd done a really good job of welding them together because one of the tutors had to bring over the "super-sized" grinder to get the bottom welds apart before we could even begin to prize them from their place. Soon enough, the two guys on our crew couldn't bear to see us girls having all the fun, so they joined in the destruction. We were happy to have them - it took all of us SM1s to get those silly rings off! 
Don't worry though, I've kept some as a little memento. 

My final project was to figure out how to attach a pay phone to the railings. Or rather, get it onto a board that would then attach to the railings. 

Problem #1: No easy way to get a proper bolt into any of the existing hanging points. 

Problem #2: Phone weighs at least 50lbs.  

Problem #3: No keys for the phone to open it up and gut it. 

Problem #4: Googling "How to Break into an American pay phone" makes me look like a criminal. 

I actually did look up how to break into a phone, and it was both entertaining and fruitless. In the end, a tutor and I brainstormed some ideas and eventually decided to modify a tee nut to fit our purposes. We bent down the four prongs and then ground off two sides to be left with 2 "wings" which we could twist under the narrow space in the holes on the back of the phone. I filled it up with Car Filler to hold it in place and bolted it all together. Voila! 

Our last day in the workshop was great. First of all, it SNOWED!!!! Just a dusting, but it made me a very happy Canadian! My team was lovely and humoured my enthusiasm, even at 8am. It was my first snowfall in England and the first time I'd seen any snow in over a year! 

We're pretty sure we set a LAMDA record by actually finishing the set build early. Our tutor had promised to bring his dog in if we finished on time, so our time spent giving the workshop a good clean was also dotted with a bit of puppy play time. We had also built a storage box for the drum screen we'd made and decided to make a fun cut out on the CNC machine to give it a little extra flair for the Sound team. I love working on the CNC machine. It reminds me of the Computer Mat Cutter that I used in framing, so it is fun to play with the same principles in 3D. I traced the monkey from a clip art that our Sound tutor loves to use and the others traded off making text and the music staff. 

Through out the rep, our tutors had been working on a mezzanine to give some added storage and workspace in the break-room. On the final day, we all pitched in to put it together. I had helped with some of the welding on the stairs and am proud to say that I reached a point where I could no longer tell which welds I had done and which the tutors had done! 

My awesome welding skills - Yes, I'm ridiculously proud of this..... 

I learned so much on this rep, not just tool skills, but how to approach a task and how I personally work best. The tutors were wonderful in their evaluations; there are grading sheets, but they don't care much about the numbers! I found it to be more of a discussion about my career path and how to achieve my goals. For example, they said that my attention to detail is very good, but that I need to be more aware of time constraints and worry only about what will be visible to the audience. I'm so used to working on picture frames where the small details are more noticeable! I can be more aware of this by asking more questions about the project before I begin, so I can make better judgements on what is important to fix and what to let go.

The tutors were also very patient, helping everyone to feel confident in their work, while at the same time pushing us to work things out on our own and not be afraid to make mistakes. They know I have previous workshop and woodworking experience, and were really great at showing me different ways of doing things, or introducing new tools to build on what I already know, while at the same time affording the same respect to the others who were beginning with different experience. 

My team of fellow SM1s were amazing. I couldn't have asked for better colleagues. We had a great time laughing at our mistakes and sharing our frustrations. Each person was a valued team member; we knew who to call on for help, whether it was a knot or sewing, a hug or a joke. Sometimes, a problem would arise and a collective shrug would go around the group, but we'd figure it out together. This rep has been amazing, but beyond my personal accomplishments, what I treasure most will be the memories I have with my team; that incredible feeling of knowing that not one of us could have done it alone, and those many conversations without words. 

SM1 Construction Crew

I truly felt that we were all colleagues; tutors and students alike. I remember when I was little, I would help my dad with many of his projects, or just sit and watch. His most common response to "Why are you doing that" or "What does this do?", was "To make little girls ask questions," but after that, it was "What/why do YOU think?" This question has followed me to England. The tutors really encourage the discussion and thought process to come from us, and not just directions from them. I am so grateful for this method of teaching. I love that it feels like, and IS, a collaboration. 

4 February - 10 February

The Get In 

The "Get In" is just what it says. It's the time period where we get everything into the venue for the play. Sound and Lighting (LX) have the first days to rig all of their equipment and then Construction brings in the set. So, we met at the workshop in the morning to load the truck and the set off for the theatre. Or rather, I got a paint box dropped on my foot, just below the steel cap, of course, and got to ride with the lorry driver to the theatre! It was definitely a new view of London for me! It gave me a bit more time to ice my foot (which I did have checked at A&E later) rather than riding on the train, and had the added benefit of my giving directions to the driver. This became especially valuable when I explained that the theatre is down a narrow medieval road. I said it would be best to back down if he could and he quickly had an arm out the window to give a wave to the busy traffic on New Bridge Street as he pulled the lorry across four lanes to angle the trailer! From my perch in the cab, I watched amazed as he steadily navigated back, following directions from a hi-vis'ed tutor. It took a few attempts to get around the bend, but somehow that thing made it to the loading door! 

As most of our pieces are mobile, I didn't think we'd have too much to do after we'd put all the pieces back together, but there are some things you can't work on in the shop. We'd built a new trap door in the shop, but we then had to install it and that came with its own challenges. We moved the stairs around on that trap door and built a new set for the other one. The stationary platform was attached to the floor and we then attached two sheets of ply to the back of it to give the actors a small changing space. Locks and hooks were added to the door on the moving platform. The trapeze needed to be installed. The snow drop needed to be rigged. Everything was tested in the space and fine tuned. Just when you think you're done, something else would need work! 

11 February - 18 February 
The Rehearsals

As Construction crew, we were now transferred to performance crew to move all of our set pieces about during the show. At LAMDA, we have something special, something rare, something that even the West End rarely does: the Scene Change Rehearsal. I don't knwo why it's so rare, because I think it's amazing and everyone should do it! Instead of going straight to the Technical Rehearsal, which is strictly for Technical issues, we are given time specifically for the scene changes, and on this show, it made all the difference in the Tech. All of those mobile pieces we had made now needed to move around, quickly and cohesively. Our Stage Manager, a second year SMTT student, had made provisional cue sheets for us and over the course of the rehearsals, these cues were practised and refined with the Director. This was also the first time that the technical crew were able to see how the show would work. 

This is also a great time to work out the unexpected and unknown. When "Maureen" enters the stage from the trap door to sing her protest song, she throws the door open and lets it crash to the floor. The Director and SM discussed how best to get the door closed, as it would look weird for her to pick it up and close it, after she'd just crashed through. They decided it would be funny for me to just follow her out and pull it shut behind her. We did one run, which went well and everyone thought it was hilarious. The Director laughed and said I should follow more closely behind her, so we did it again. As I followed her out, we found the "unexpected" as the actress accidentally kicked me in the face with her massive 90's platform shoes when she stepped out of the trap! My glasses fell off and I stopped to get my hands on them and evaluate how injured I was. When I didn't pop my head out the trap, everyone was immediately concerned, but I quickly assured them I was OK, just needed to find my glasses! I came out of the trap and the Director was quickly apologizing and checking my face, happy that I was OK. The small bit of skin that connects the top gum to the lip was a bit torn, but other than that, no real damage. In the following days, cast and crew would ask how I was and I would say "I can't eat apples and it hurts to smile, but it's all good." Inevitably, something would be said or done to make me smile and apologies would follow. :-)


A day later, I was footing the moving platform, with actors sitting on top. The Director came over and asked an actor to swing his legs over the edge "but don't kick Megan in the face, even though we know she goes for that." I was leaning my head on the  SR side of the platform, with the actor facing downstage. Minutes later, he turned and put his legs over the SR side. Before I could even respond, the Director exclaimed "Watch her head!" I wasn't hurt, but looked up and questioned mockingly, "Why do you all hate my face?!" 


When it came time for the Technical Rehearsal, we knew our cues and could quickly go in to make the Scene Change happen in the proper timing for Lighting and Sound to practice their cues. It does begin to feel a bit like "Groundhog Day" as scenes are repeated over and over again, but it is also good fun and everyone is working to make the show amazing. Next, we moved into the Dress Rehearsals; running the show without stopping 4 times, twice for each of the two casts and we were ready for Opening Night! 

18 February - 25 February 

The Show

www.sbf.org.uk

The Bridewell Theatre is an amazing space. It's just off of Fleet Street in Central London and was its first swimming pool. The pool still exists under the stage floor and makes for a very interesting sub-stage! This stage area is over the shallow end of the pool with the viewing gallery kept as a balcony. The deep end of the pool now sits below the audience and the whole venue makes for a very unique performance space! 

The performance area has a series of black curtains under the balcony to give some backstage space, but we removed all of the curtains and the whole area was both performance and "backstage" space. Actors and onstage crew members would sit inconspicuously about in the background when not performing. This layout was interesting; it erased the divide between actors and crew as we were all onstage together, often teaming up to move set pieces around. It was definitely a unique way to experience my first LAMDA show! 

Each crew member had a piece of set that they were assigned to throughout the play. One person would always move the small stairs, another two would stay with the big stairs, etc. I was assigned to the downstage trap door and then "filled in the gaps" wherever needed. It gave me the most varied cues, I think. For example, in Act 1, I collected the car door from stage right, moved a table with an actor SR-SL, moved the table again with crew SL-SR, then the moving platform full of actors SR-CS, helped move the small stairs US-DS, and then went under the stage for the trap door, came back up and moved another table with the SM.

My pre-show view - stage right, waiting for the car :-)

We all had our own little cue journeys mapped out in our heads, and cue sheets disguised as concert flyers in our back pockets, just in case we forgot! We knew when we could afford to hide backstage for a bit and watch the show - my favourite being "Without You". My "trap buddy" and I would close the trap entrance, go sit SR, watch "Angel" die and try not to cry. 

We also found the places onstage where we liked to hide away in between moves, whether it was sitting on a tucked away table, on the floor against the wall, or grouping on the SR stairs during the still moments at the end of the play. The Director didn't care where we were during the show, as long as there wasn't unnecessary movement, especially during quiet moments. We were essentially playing background homeless people. His "directorial instructions" for being onstage were to "find a really interesting piece of floor." 

I found it much less nerve wracking than I thought I would. I've always hated public speaking and being on stage. It has taken me a lot of time and work to get past that, so I was quite nervous at the prospect of being onstage for my first LAMDA show. However, the rehearsals were so well done that it all became routine quite quickly and I even had a few moments of surprise when I heard audience reaction during the public performances and remembered that there even was an audience!

Just hanging out the pool. 

Now, please forgive a slight diversion on cue lights. I spent a fair amount of time under the stage, with the 4 different actors who used the trap door, cueing their entrances. I was with another first year, who was an Assistant Stage Manager on the show. We had a cue light and a headset to be in communication with the Deputy Stage Manager (DSM), who cues the whole show from the Prompt Desk at audience level. The ASM was on the "cans" to listen for the verbal cues and communicate with the DSM as needed. A red flashing light is given to put the actors on standby about 2 script pages before their entrance. I would let them know and when they confirmed they're ready on the stairs, I would relay that to the ASM, who would press the cue light to stop the flashing and confirm verbally with the DSM that we are all ready. The DSM would then activate the green cue light and give a verbal "Go" on the headset, which was relayed to our actors by the ASM. 

My view from the DS Trap Door through the special grated trap we made. 

It is a really important system, because even though the actors know which line they're meant to enter on, only the DSM can see for sure that it is safe and a late entrance is better than an unsafe one. There were actually 2 trap door entrances that were cut because it became too difficult to get the timing right in some dancing scenes and it wasn't worth the risk. So, no pressure. My time in Film and Theatre has taught me so much, not least of which is finding that precious balance between fun and safe. It's no small task to be confident in controlling risky situations and ensure that the actors feel safe enough to do their job. 

Trap Life: LX Crew giving us light and keeping us all safe in the pool :-) 

My last cue was to set a lighted (fake) candle on top of the telegraph pole at the very end of the play, so I would watch the final scenes from the balcony. At the end of every show, "Angel" (who has passed away) is carried up to the front of the stage, set on a swing and throws a handful glitter to the crowd. He did this for the first time only during the last dress rehearsal, so us crew members were not expecting it! I laughed as he blew the glitter from his hands, then I remembered I'd be on clean up duty each night! After each show, we'd be on standby with brooms and sweep down the stage, laughing to each other "So much glitter!"  On the final night, those of us stationed on the balcony for the end of the show, took all the remaining glitter and threw it by the handfuls. There was glitter everywhere, but it was worth it and it was a fantastic way to end the run :-) 

Facebook photo from one my friends who came out to support me! 

La Vie Boheme
www.facebook.com/LAMDAdrama

Tango Maureen
www.facebook.com/LAMDAdrama

Without You
www.facebook.com/LAMDAdrama

Santa Fe
www.facebook.com/LAMDAdrama

26 February  - 27 February 

The Get Out 

Six weeks of preparation all came apart in one day! It was bittersweet to take everything down, cut it apart and send it off to Metro Waste for recycling. It's sad to see it go, but it's also good fun to tear everything apart! It's tempting to say that the set should be kept for re-use, but then future students would have nothing to build! They did keep the drum screen that we made, as it was really expensive and not specific to any one play.

After we'd sent everything off for recycling we went about returning the theatre to its original state; putting the curtains back up, replacing the trap door, and repainting the floors and walls, which had been painted as part of the set design. The Deputy Carpenter and I went to the workshop to unload out tools and do a final clean and tidy.  We even had time to help complete flooring on the mezzanine. I thought it was a nice way to finish "full circle", beginning and ending in the workshop. I'm excited to work in Construction next year, to take on a leadership role and to build more stuff!

Up next: Assistant Stage Manager on Cat's Eye!

With my door on the moving loft platform.