A day in the life of the Theatre Royal

One of the actors smiles at his friends in the wings during the show. www.dfphotography.co.uk

A Brighton photographer who spent a day documenting life behind the scenes at the Theatre Royal says he had no idea how much work goes into putting on a show there.

Danny Fitzpatrick, who created the Faces of Brighton exhibition that was shown at Brighton Station in 2016, wanted to shed light on a day in the life at the listed theatre.

He wanted to document how the venue is getting back to normal as covid restrictions are lifted.

The Theatre Royal continue to use the traditional hemp ropes to lift lights and scenery above the stage.

He said: “As most of us know theatres have had a pretty rough time of it lately. Closed for months on end and then, when they could finally open again, shows still had to cancel as either actors or crew tested positive for covid.

“Now, as the country is starting to get back to normal again so to are our theatres. At over 200 years old Brighton’s Theatre Royal is one of England’s oldest theatres and one of the few that still use the traditional hemp ropes to manually pull scenery, curtains and lighting rigs up and down above the stage.

“I spent a day with the theatre from when they first opened to after the last member of the audience had left and it was quite an eye opener for me.

“I have taken production images of many shows over the years but I never sat and thought about just how much work goes into putting on a show each day.

“I never thought about the washing machines and dryers constantly on the go cleaning and turning around the costumes ready for the next performance.

“Or how the touring crew and the resident crew would meet for the first time and have to seamlessly work together to build the set (which doesn’t always fit every stage) in a short amount of time ready for the first performance.

“The day I spent at The Theatre Royal Brighton was the first day that Footloose was at The Theatre Royal Brighton. It was also the day the set arrived which meant it was a very busy day.

Three lorries full of equipment have to be unloaded and taken into through the stage door.

“The lorries arrived at 8am and curtain up was at 7.45pm. The equipment had to be brought in and unloaded from three lorries, the set had to be built, lighting had to be set up according to the plans, wardrobe space created and organised all whilst the general running of the theatre continued with cleaning, ticket sales, office duties and general maintenance of the building.

“It not surprising that, despite the crew working nonstop everything was only readied moments before the curtain went up.

“Before the performance the actors relaxed, chatted in the dressing rooms doing their hair and make-up like they were one big family.

“Being backstage during a performance is incredibly special. Seeing the eye contact and silent communication that went on between those on stage and those waiting in the wings.

“Actors laughing off mistakes that the audience would never know about and then the celebration afterwards when curtain finally went down to a standing ovation.

“Shooting the images for this picture story was easy compared to the editing. How to edit so many images taken over 16 hours at the theatre down to just a hand full was the hardest part as some of my favourites had to be culled in order to tell the story of the whole day.

“The time, effort and devotion that every member of the cast, crew and member of theatre staff was impressive. Despite the obvious stresses that came from working to such a tight deadline which might have sent any normal person over the edge there was no shouting or swearing.

“It was still an incredibly friendly and welcoming atmosphere and it’s no wonder that people fall in love with being part of such a fascinating part of English heritage.

“I for one and so pleased to see that our theatres are back up and running again. Go support them.”

The two crews (threatre crew and touring crew) meet and introduce themselves at the start of the day. www.dfphotography.co.uk

A team of cleaners collect the rubbish left behind by last nights audience.

A sound engineer prepares the sound desk at the back of the theatre.

Every morning the dressing rooms are cleaned ready for the actors to arrive.

Setch, the threatre’s stage manager, rigging up the lighting.

Tea break for the stage crew after a busy morning.

The theatres’ maintenance team constantly work to maintain the old building.

Stage crew carefully positioning the set.

Delicate items of clothing are hung in large upright dryers

After the costumes are washed and dried they all need to be ironed and hung up. A seemingly never ending task.

In the box office before the doors are opened.

The office staff working during the day.

Stage crew checking the positioning of the lights on stage.

Setch – the stage manager from the Theatre Royal, helping install the set.

Members of the costume team unpack and organise the various costumes.

Bill – the longest serving worker at the theatre stands at the stage door.

The actors do a physical warm up before getting ready for their performance.

Performers have fun during their vocal warm up.

The performers do a vocal warmup in the foyer of the theatre.

Front of house staff have a meeting before the audience arrive at the theatre.

A member of the stage crew working in the room next to the stage

An actor checks her saxophone in the dressing room.

Actors relax backstage in one of the dressing rooms.

Actor Darren Day in his dressing room getting ready for the performance.

One of the actors plays the guitar during the show whilst off stage.

Actors laughing backstage during the performance after a prop malfunctioned on stage.

An actor watches the show from the wings.

Waiting in the wings – a member of the stage crew waits behind the scerery to hand over an instrument to one of the actors.

Wardrobe department spend a lot of time cleaning and drying costumes between every show to ensure they are ready to be sorted in time for the next performance.

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Comments 1

Christopher Hawtree says:

5 years ago

How one wishes that such effort could go towards there being plays more often at the Theatre Royal. As with so much of the West End, it has become stuffed with jukebox musicals, tell and film spin-offs. This season, there is The Homecoming, and that’s about it. I find that such places as The Barn, Little Theatre and New Venture are where one goes to see plays (and each has a convivial bar).