School theatre sound

[Robin D]

241 kids a couple of weeks back. I was merely chaperoning with a bot of marshalling and noise level control on this occasion. Young female teacher did all mic fitting. Every group bar one had two chaperones, one very experienced the other usually a mum or a now adult former student. A child protection person in attendance throughout. 

Worst near miss I ever had was 1st thing in the morning. I had built some set that needed flying. Bar was in and steels attached. Flyman yells heads and starts hauling it out when teacher of under 5's who had played in the West End himself, led the kids right under the moving bar. He complained he got shouted at. 

I agree most chaperones have no real idea of some of the risks involved. Letting little fingers touch things in the wings for starters. Taking a group across a floor while the trunking is up etc. 

 

Edited July 9 by Robin D
Typo

[sleah]

You wonder sometimes if chaperones are just a box-ticking exercise. I too have witnessed situations where I'm not convinced children are as supervised and looked after as they should whilst under the care of chaperones.

There are non-dbs checked, untrained adults who are far more capable of looking after children and recognising dangers than some chaperones - but legally it HAS to be a licensed chaperone, even if they can be somewhat clueless of the dangers present in theatre. 🫤

Edited July 19 by sleah

[Robin D]

13 hours ago, sleah said:

You wonder sometimes if chaperones are just a box-ticking exercise.

From a chaperone viewpoint (about 25 years experience), I disagree. However I am very critical of the 'training' dished out these days that seems singularly focussed on avoiding any risk of possible sexual abuse, rather than safety generally and the need to have eyes and ears open. There is not much necessary paperwork. A register and an incident report sheet if needed. I refuse to walk round like an officious twit with a clipboard, so leave it in the dressing room! The Local Authority 'rules' say you should take the the register before and after every move which is absolutely impossible and way too time consuming. I just do a headcount and just write the number of heads on a small pad with the time.

The other thing is that the only adults back stage or around the dressing rooms are teachers, other chaperones, the child protection officer and 1 or 2 members of crew who are never alone with the children. Some chaperones will work with the crew to ensure they can do what they need to without the kids under their feet. Those with little background in the theatre are 'guided' by the more experienced. The last big show I was paired with a Mum who has just been licensed. The first question she asked me was 'have you done this before because I don't know what I am doing.' She was great and next time around will be aware of what to look for. 

At one point I had to leave my group SL wing and shoot round to SR as I could see other kids there playing with the hemps! That chaperone hadn't noticed as they were standing facing the stage with the kids behind her to stop them peeping round them peeping round the tabs.

The real issue is that the rules are created by a council worker sat in an office with no idea of the reality of having loads of excited kids in a dangerous environment let alone the pressures of making sure they were in the right place at the right time. They also have zero idea about dealing with the emotional and welfare needs of a child (as laid down as 'paramount' by the 1997 Children Act.) The rules say you should avoid touching them, even to tie shoe laces etc. So a distressed child throws themselves at you, do you push them away? In my book, that in itself is child cruelty! A reassuring arm around the shoulder is all that is required, but I always ensure I am visible to another adult.  

So if you come across poor quality chaperones, please don't blame them, blame the licensing authority. 

[Stuart91]

38 minutes ago, Robin D said:

The real issue is that the rules are created by a council worker sat in an office with no idea of the reality

This statement has near-universal application...

[sunray]

7 hours ago, Robin D said:

The other thing is that the only adults back stage or around the dressing rooms are teachers, other chaperones, the child protection officer and 1 or 2 members of crew who are never alone with the children. Some chaperones will work with the crew to ensure they can do what they need to without the kids under their feet.

I've had the situation where 2 (let's call them) burly female Chaperones refused me access to an area as the youngsters were already in place for the opening number and no amount of discussion would get them to change their mind. Sadly they started their piece in the dark as I was light op and the house dimmer was one side of stage and brought in light desk t'other. I was tempted to leave it dark but felt I couldn't deprive their mums.

[Robin D]

Never had quite that situation @sunray. I tech for a few amateur shows including those with children but never in large venues. (Usually schools and village halls.) I had a similar situation in a large High School, when the Head of Drama decided to use the room with all dimmer packs and power controls as a changing room for the girls. She refused me access 15-20 minutes before curtain until I pointed out that, as requested by the principal, I had powered everything off following the afternoon rehearsal while I went for a break, and therefore if she wanted the show to go ahead, either she had to power on everything, or she would have to ensure the girls were decent before I went in.  The teacher had no idea (in itself worrying), but within seconds I was allowed in as all the kids had already changed and were just doing hair etc. 

As you say the actions of the adults are not fair on the kids or parents.

Another school I lost all power SR just before curtain having checked everything before the audience came in, and had to light the first half with only 50% of the lighting. Fortunately I had a few set cross stage meaning I could at least put some light onto the dark side. It turned out that someone had thrown the trip on the feed to that side... Of course no-one knew anything about it, but I was pretty sure who did it, and it wasn't a child!  

[paulears]

Ive decided this is my last year of my summer theatre. We had a few things stolen during the winter closure. Oddly, they didn’t steal production kit, but things like 19” nodes and network stuff? Venue were not bothered. Venue WAS bothered when a till was nicked, and arriving for a dance show revealed a combination lock on stage door, and I was instructed it had to be kept locked. I asked the bloke, nothing to do with the theatre, if he was standing here all day because there were 300 kids about to arrive, and even odder, inside was a newly installed camera in the area the little kids use for changing. I pointed this out. He said dressing rooms upstairs. Nope I said, dressing rooms everywhere, and this gents is a ladies for the day. 300 people, two male. We had bar staff trying to go from the bar to the staff gents, trying to get through the kids and chaperones. I kept well away. As for the camera, gaffer tape. 
ive decided to do my proper pantos because they're organised, but this ridiculous stuff with kids, schools, teachers and others is just too much.

[gareth]

I'm incredibly surprised you've lasted this long without walking out of there, Paul.

[sunray]

13 hours ago, gareth said:

I'm incredibly surprised you've lasted this long without walking out of there, Paul.

The thing is; Paul is a pro and typical of the 'show must go on' brigade.

[Robin D]

Are we 'show must go on' oldies a dying breed? As I have said, I have only ever done theatre as an amateur and volunteer, and with the exception of one adult amdram group for a season, only ever with children. Definitely not a pro like Paul. That said, no show is getting canned on my watch! It's not fair on the kids, most of whom have worked very hard to get to a decent level of performance. 

According to one of it's pupils, a school local to here dropped two performances in the week of the show reportedly because the teacher/director was poorly and they had no-one else to step in. The kids had already done first night!  

[sunray]

10 hours ago, Robin D said:

Are we 'show must go on' oldies a dying breed? As I have said, I have only ever done theatre as an amateur and volunteer, and with the exception of one adult amdram group for a season, only ever with children. Definitely not a pro like Paul. That said, no show is getting canned on my watch! It's not fair on the kids, most of whom have worked very hard to get to a decent level of performance.

I don't think a dying breed as such. I'm nowhere near the same league as Paul either but I've worked with sound for the whole of my life (there was a picture of me sitting on loudspeakers in my pushchair) and from time to time that has got me into some bigger/better/pro jobs (I worked a year at the local civic hall, for a few years I put the emergency PA in Rochester Castle concerts {apparently the crew didn't have the skillset to cope with 8 horns, a 120W ampifier and 2 car batteries}) however the few youngsters I see coming into the industry don't seem to have the same work ethic. I don't know if school plays are 'a thing' anymore in the same way they seemed to be, when I were a lad it was always this great anticipation of who was going to be picked to do what for the Nativity and end of year shows. So far two of my grandchildren have ever had a sniff at Nativity at junior school but senior school (3 different) there has been no mention of plays. 4 are at  senior school/beyond, youngest is 7 and probably the more extrovert/outspoken so potentially the more likely to get involved if the opportunity exists.

I've assisted with summer school theatre work where we get the youngsters involved with all aspects and put on a play just before School new year but it really is is treated as somewhere to dump the kids in the holiday.

10 hours ago, Robin D said:

According to one of it's pupils, a school local to here dropped two performances in the week of the show reportedly because the teacher/director was poorly and they had no-one else to step in. The kids had already done first night!  

That is appalling. For a school play there must be a number of staff involved, thinking back to my senior school plays: 4 in dressing/makeup, 2 FOH, 2 sound/lights, organist and usually 2 or 3 others. Every one of those was replaceable, the most difficult being the organist but the director played the piano for assemblies.

Time to stop rambling.

[sleah]

12 hours ago, Robin D said:

According to one of it's pupils, a school local to here dropped two performances in the week of the show reportedly because the teacher/director was poorly and they had no-one else to step in. The kids had already done first night!  

1 hour ago, sunray said:

That is appalling. For a school play there must be a number of staff involved, thinking back to my senior school plays: 4 in dressing/makeup, 2 FOH, 2 sound/lights, organist and usually 2 or 3 others. Every one of those was replaceable, the most difficult being the organist but the director played the piano for assemblies.

It happens. Situations where there is literally no-one who can step-in to a given role, therefore not replaceable. I'm meaning situations where you can't simply throw money at it and hire someone...

So what do you do? If key people are indespensible, do you simply never do a play on the off chance someone is ill/accident/whatever or do you chance it? 🤔

In an ideal world you would advance plan and try to get people who can learn the jobs and shadow, despite them probably never actually doing the job. However, it's not an ideal world, especially when everything is reliant on volunteers/parents etc who will drop in and out at a moments notice!

 

 

 

[sunray]

52 minutes ago, sleah said:

It happens. Situations where there is literally no-one who can step-in to a given role, therefore not replaceable. I'm meaning situations where you can't simply throw money at it and hire someone...

So what do you do? If key people are indespensible, do you simply never do a play on the off chance someone is ill/accident/whatever or do you chance it? 🤔

In an ideal world you would advance plan and try to get people who can learn the jobs and shadow, despite them probably never actually doing the job. However, it's not an ideal world, especially when everything is reliant on volunteers/parents etc who will drop in and out at a moments notice!

Have our schools really got so bad that teaching staff do not assist? Is this why school plays don't appear to be as prominent as they used to be?

I Can't think of any roll in a school play which cannot be shared by 2 persons, be those staff or students. It was certainly the way my high school worked, it was all aimed at students performing the rolls and many of them alongside a member of staff.

The summer schools I mentioned were all about the students putting on a performance at the end of the holiday and we had multiple of them for each roll; 2 or 3 each on the sound and lighting, stage hands, one of the shows had 4 lead actresses who chopped and changed through the show and even shared the costume etc. Obviously they were all supervised by adults who could step in as required.

Saving something catastrophic such as venue failure (collapse/cracks, power, gas leak etc) 'the show must go on' ought to work.

 

I do appreciate I'm attempting to describe the unattainable ideal world.

Edited July 31 by sunray

[DrV]

29 minutes ago, sunray said:

Have our schools really got so bad that teaching staff do not assist? Is this why school plays don't appear to be as prominent as they used to be?

I think you might ask teachers how much time they have left after they've discharged the duties of an ever more demanding day job. To declare an interest, I'm married to one!

[Robin D]

I can't speak for the school I referred to as I only have the information from one of the children let down. I can speak for the weekend stage school and the high school I volunteered in. The former always have plenty of people to cover key roles. The High School less so. I always trained two kids on lighting op and two on sound. They took turns with performances but I was standing right behind them to deal with any issues or to cover any no-shows. However for all other roles, getting other members of staff involved was a challenge. One show we had a bit of a panic when the Head of Music and MD hadn't showed ten minutes before curtain. His car had broken down! He made it in time, and the director/producer was preparing to pick up the baton!