Caritas 47

This Scene Takes
Place at Night!
With this year’s school production of Les Misérables
cancelled, we were pleased to have Amanda Aiken
(Class of 2007) take us behind the scenes of some
of Watson’s most memorable performances.
It is impossible to talk about the Sound and Lighting
Crew without mentioning the lab coat-clad Mr Tavener
who lived in the AV room under the lecture theatre.
At the introductory meeting, arms folded, he expounded
the importance of dedication and hard work for anyone
selected. Our doubts of his sincerity were soon dispelled
when two more pupils entered the room. ‘Why are you
late?’ Mr Tavener raged. Their rather feeble answer of
‘Lunch’ did not impress. He made them leave, banning
them from the crew forever.
Sound and Lighting involved a huge amount of
technical understanding. I still use many of the skills
I was taught then, in my work today. At first there
were many lengthy explanations of sound boards
and different kinds of lights, and I learnt a lot watching
others and by completing simple tasks like setting up
mics. Though Mr Tavener was demanding, he taught
us well and always got the best from us.
It was the summer production of 2005, Grease,
which was my first introduction to a full scale
performance. To my delight I was able to miss
certain classes (sorry, Mrs Pringle) in order to prepare
for the show. I operated one of the followspots
with Claire, a crew member from my year. Though
these lights were only a small part of it I learnt a lot
about teamwork – and that followspots become very,
very hot. I still have a small scar on my arm from
accidentally brushing against one.
Not every aspect of sound and lighting was entertaining.
I remember I once manned the sound desk for Model
United Nations, possibly the dullest thing I’ve ever
volunteered to do. It was briefly livened up by pupils
who, being perhaps as bored as me, declared war on
another country before being threatened with ejection
from the session!
I made, and learned from, my many mistakes while in
the crew. A highlight of my low points remains the time
I left the Principal’s microphone on during a hymn in
assembly. Thankfully, the nature of the crew was to
fix it, laugh about it, and move on. Even Mr Tavener
was forgiving when I cut up an entire roll of (extremely
expensive) lighting gel only to discover we’d been sent
the wrong colour.
For Les Misérables (2006) the already-challenging job
of managing ten radio mics was coupled with the hiring
of twice as many, along with a gigantic sound board.
Our usual board was operated manually, with each mic
raised individually. The trick was to do so at exactly the
right time; too early and they caught people chatting
backstage (yes, we could hear you); too late and the first
words were missed. With this new board all the mics
could be automatically raised by pressing one button.
Of course, I was still able to make mistakes by mashing
the button at the wrong time, causing chaos. Then I
frantically helped Elspeth, a crew member in the year
above, and Paul, the assistant AV technician at the time,
pull all the sliders back down.
28