On the stageToo shy to ever appear on stage myself, I still hung around theatres like a bad smell when I was younger - lighting and set design were what I was good at.
Backstage we'd attempt to sabotage every production - us lighting geeks would wind up the sound man by putting the remote "pause" button for his reel-to-reel tape machine on his chair, so when he sat down it'd start running, ruining his cues. Actors would do scenes out of order to make our lives hell. It was great and I don't know why I don't still do it.
Tell us your stories of life on the stage.
(
chthonic, Fri 2 Dec 2005, 11:02)
« Go Back
"I didn't learn the lines and it caused dental problems"I was a member of a youth theatre group as a teenager.
I wasn't much of an actor - mainly it was a way of getting out of the house and meeting girls and being allowed to smoke.
We put on a production of Macbeth and I er... didn't learn my lines properly.
It was one of the most horrific experiences of my young life: being on stage and not knowing the bloody words.
People acted round me and I occasionally pipped in with made up rubbish like, "Very good sirrah."
Let's just say I wasn't very popular and I wasn't asked by the group to go back on stage, and they put me on lights for the next production.
As a coda. A few months later I visited the dentist with tooth-ache and he said, "Have you been having nightmares?" and I said yeah, "I've been dreaming about being on stage and not knowing what to do." He said, "You need to relax. You've been grinding your teeth in your sleep."
(
rob, Fri 2 Dec 2005, 13:07,
Reply)
« Go Back