Black Swan State Theatre Company and Company B are currently touring the production of The Sapphires by Tony Briggs. The Sapphires is currently playing at The Scott Theatre which is owned by the University of Adelaide and is positioned on North Terrace. Our season in Adelaide is being presented by the Adelaide Festival and State Theatre Company of South Australia (STCSA).
I flew into Adelaide on Saturday at the same time as Trent, the lighting designer. The Adelaide Fringe opened the night before but the city was still busy. Our truck had arrived on Wednesday and the set, props and costumes had been unloaded at the Adelaide Festival Centre and put into storage by the STCSA. Trent and I arrived on Sunday at the theatre to find the lighting technicians and mechanists hard at work getting the lighting rig up. The crew at The Scott were fantastic and very helpful. We used some of our spare truss to rig some speakers front of house; they look massive and very impressive. At the end of the day the lights above the truss were rigged, the front of house system was in and all the crew had arrived in town ready for the big day of bump in on Monday. As is always the way on tour, Sunday was my birthday so a quick message to all the crew had us out on the town for dinner and a drink.
Monday started early for the STCSA crew who were loading the truck at their store to get into The Scott Theatre who were loading at 7:00am. We arrived at the venue at 9:00am to find that the first truck had already arrived and the truss was getting placed into position ready to go up. Chris Page, the Technical Manager from Company B, was learning the bump in, in anticipation for the Victorian tour. The truss was built and started flying out on chain blocks. Curtains were placed on the truss and lighting started the rig. It’s always satisfying to see a set built and there were a large number of bodies building the set so it started quickly but as is always the way there were some unexpected delays. The Scott Theatre has an interesting fly tower and it’s the first one I’ve seen that has hand held fly lines. It will hopefully be the last one I see. The festival crew popped in to make sure we were ok and being supported. STCSA were looking after us and helping us out. By the end of the day we were fully rigged, the truss was up, the floor had been laid, the costumes and props had been bumped in. By the time everyone left at 10:00pm Sound started to make noise, they were in the venue until 12:30am checking the system for any issues.
Tuesday started again at 9:00am with touches up to the set and lighting, we went dark later in the morning so Trent could focus some more of his lamps. We had the band bump in early afternoon. Sadly the organ belonging to lead musician, Simon Burke, hadn’t travelled well, his original Wurlitzer was starting to go out of tune and a few of the keys were dying. So we made the executive decision to purchase another keyboard for the tour. So our brand new red SV-1 keyboard will now be on tour with the Sapphires. We sound checked with the full company late afternoon and went to dinner. The Sapphires then started a technical rehearsal in the evening. The plan was to tech the first act, we went up half an hour late and didn’t tech the Act One finale. We all went home for some well deserved sleep before another early start.
Wednesday started with a muffin in my hand and a one meter mirror held against my back. I’m sure I looked very vain. The theatre was busy again by 9:00am and the crew were again doing touch ups on the set and fixing problems with the lighting. We went dark in the morning for two hours so Trent could touch up a few of his lighting cues. The company arrived at 1:00pm to get ready for another tech rehearsal in the afternoon of Act Two. We started the Tech with the Act One finale and then reset for Act Two, the crew were making good progress. After the tech finished we had a quick dinner. The cast and creatives were required on stage for a pre-show chat with STCSA before our dress run. Richard Roberts, our set designer, arrived just in time to participate in the pre-show chat. After our audience left we started re-setting for the top of the show, the company got into their costumes and a dress rehearsal of The Sapphires was underway. We ran very smoothly but it was evident that we would use all the time we could the next day.
Thursday was a lot calmer with tech time taking place in the morning, a temporary screen was put in so that during next week the venue can be used as a lecture theatre as well as a theatre in the evening. The cast were on stage at twelve and were running lines and scenes with Wesley. At 3:30pm Tony Bartuccio arrived as did the band for a choreography rehearsal. The cast worked until 5:00pm before taking a break as the crew re-set for the preview. It went well with a few minor problems that could be fixed on Friday.
Friday was a late start, the crew started at 12:00pm, with the touring production manager and the lighting designer going through the focus notes for all the lamps on stage. The stars were looked at this afternoon and rehung so they looked beautiful. The cast came in the late afternoon for a few notes and scene work with Wesley. The crew were set and ready for opening night. Opening night went well technically with a waxing and waning moon causing the only visible drama. Saturday morning and I was on a plane back home to sunny Perth – looking forward to be home.
Talk soon,
Ashley Page
