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Code words?


DanielArkley

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In a recent production which I oped, one of the sound guys came rushing up to the LX box during one of the acts (the show was a concert) concerned that he thought one of the amps on stage was smoking. It wasn't, but there was a breif moment of worry among the crew, and I had to tell one of the teachers that we were checking it out.

 

What should you do in such cirumstances? I guess running round saying "FIRE!" is not the most tactful thing in the world? I remember at the BIC, they had codewords for bomb and fire, "Mr Jet" and "Mr Sand". Is this a bit extreme to be using in a school?

 

Cheers.

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I think Mr Sands is the common one for fire. I've heard others for bombs etc, but can't remember them. It can be a good way to work. Minimises the chance of panic, until the point where the billy bunters need to be asked to leave. But I'm not really a 'theatre' person, so there will be others that will have better answers.
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Mr Sands is the common theatre code for fire although some theatres choose to use their own unique word, usually Mr Waters or something similar. I dont know about bombs though. Have to wait for someone else to answer that one.
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The code word for bombs works on the same principle as for fire - so if (for example) Mr Sands is your fire code, Mr Jet becomes 'a suspicious package'.

 

It doesn't matter what your code word is as long as everyone knows it. Apart from the punters of course.

 

I know of one theatre that has yet another code word for a suspicious person.

As long as you keep track of them all you are fine. :blink:

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Never had a bomb threat working in professional theatre.

 

As a student I had two or three though.

 

I think that it's more to have the procedures there than to stumble upon a ticking box one day and wonder how to tell people ...

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Think about it - a large contained space with potentially a couple of thousand captive 'victims' ... what better target for a well-placed bomb? It's a threat which, while unlikely to occur for the majority of us, needs to be considered in the current climate.

 

Regarding code words - Mr Sands does seem to be the most common by a long way. The trouble with that is, it's so common that a fairly large proportion of the public must also be aware of the fact that it's a code word for a fire, thus rendering it fairly pointless. One of the best fire codewords I've ever come across is Elvis ("Elvis is in the scene dock", etc.) - in the event of a false alarm, the prescribed method for cancelling the alert was for duty management to announce over the Motorolas "Elvis has left the building". Try doing that while keeping a straight face!

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I belive, in a few places a suspicious package is know as "a friend of Mr Sands". Although I'm unsure if this is a good idea as people who may be occupied with something else might only hear Sands and get confused. But thats what I've know it to be.
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Is all this a bit extreme for in a school though?

Probably, yes - but I was talking more about professional venues, where the threat of a fire is a very real thing, and the threat of a bomb is becoming all too real these days ....

 

I belive, in a few places a suspicious package is know as "a friend of Mr Sands"

Could be mildly amusing if the fire codeword was changed to "Dorothy" .... "There's a friend of Dorothy in the bar" ... :blink:

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All sensitive words should be coded. Fire /Bomb / threat/ all raise fears in the public then they panic and add to the threat. In a fire evac you get only the people OUT to a place of safety, in a bomb or terror alert you get people to collect their property then you have to decide if the threat is inside or outside. The code words should be simple the reaction needs to be immediate by all concerned. A famous venue in Leicester Square used "Sister Frances" but it was a RC Church Hall.

 

No its not too far OTT for a school First you've a paying audience to care for second the intending theatre pro's might as well start somewhere

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A few venues I know of use things like "Will the thingy rep please come to the site office"

 

And cancels it with the obvious "Will the thingy rep please ignore the last message"

 

(Names changed to protect the guilty)

 

A couple of different reps would work for the various emergencies you can think of (bomb/fire/flood/lost actors)

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A couple of music venues I have worked in have used evacuation songs instead, the most memorable being the one that used bloodhound gang - the roof is on fire for fire and convoy (as in the song from the film) for bomb warnings.

 

Most large theatres I know of have code words for fire and bomb warnings, the ones I can remember include Mr/Mrs Sanders, Raven and Mr Bond with a false alarm being signified by the words 'thankyou James'.

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In uni we have 'Mr Bryant' as in bryant and May matches. Dont think we have one for a suspicious package tho.

 

As far as is it going too far for a school, I dont think so. Like Jivemaster said, you still have members of the public under your care and have to make a safe environment for them. People are people and will panic and run at the sound of fire whether they are in a school or in a professional theatre.

 

Em

xxx

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Did some work in a nightclub recently where they had the batman theme kept on vinyl for cases such as a fire. Although thinking about it presumably the Amps where linked to the fire alarm system, so if more than one of the fire detectors had been activated they wouldn't be able to play the song anyway ;-)

 

Mind you if I am ever in the audience and hear a 'will xx please come to recpetion' I would probably be suspicious and make a quiet exit anyway! :-)

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