Her Majesty's Theatre, London

[Kaz10Sylvester]

I am currently in university education at ALRA in London and during the Christmas term I feel that I might benefit from taking a week's placement at theatre's. I am very interested in having a placement at any theatre such as ones that do big musicals which use flying or automation, as it is something which I havent worked with before and would be interested to learn more about it. I recently went to see Phantom at Her Majesty's and thought it was brilliant! However, I have looked on the theatre's website and the Really Useful Group's website, and I have been unable to find contact details for such as email or telephone for the backstage departments.

 

Does anyone know the contact details, or know of somewhere I can find them?

 

Many Thanks

[nickb12345]

Stage door number:

 

http://www.reallyuseful.com/theatres/her-majestys-theatre/technical-specifications/

 

Nick

[Big Jay]

just ring the stage door and ask for a name of the Master Carpernter and send a letter in.

 

 

[AndyJones]

Or get a programme when you see the shows

[Kaz10Sylvester]

just ring the stage door and ask for a name of the Master Carpernter and send a letter in.

 

 

 

 

Thanks for this, I did send in a kind letter, and got a kind response saying that unfortunatly it is too dangerous to have someone on work experience/shadowing due to the fact that the wings and backstage space at the theatre is very small, so to have someone there who doesnt know what they are doing isnt advisable. I fully understand where they are coming from with this. But thank you for the advice

[Jivemaster]

You did well to get a reply! Many places will get enough letters like that to start recycling them, SO you letter must be OK it's now just a numbers game to write to enough places that one may say yes.

 

Just remember that the "west end" theatre is a very pressured environment with NO room for error, so applications to lower ranking theatres may be more successful.

 

Real world industrial experience is exceptionally valuable so please don't give up, some firms regard it as an extended interview -make a good impression and you may even have a job offered.

[Claire]

Hi Kaz,

 

I wouldn't give up if I were you. I know a lot of people who've shadowed on West End shows (including myself) and the best way to do it is to find out exactly who it is you want to shadow (like, which department and WHO they are) and write to them directly. I was told by one CSM I worked with that the reason I got a placement was because I had taken the trouble to do that (like you did with HM). Also your tutors at ALRA might well know people they could have a word with to see if they could get you a couple of shows shadowing. They do all get lots of requests but there's a lot of theatres in the West End and if you try enough then you might get somewhere. I can see that if you are interested in flying, regional/receiving houses would be good but auto not so much... also some shows in town don't take work experience at all because of how tight it is backstage or how complex the show is.

 

Don't give up though because I got some great experience in town so I know it's possible. Also though; if you do get shadowing in town it is likely to be for 2 days/3 shows at the most; they tend to do 'one on the book, two on the deck' for stage management. I got auto experience on a stage management placement just by talking to the auto department.

[Kaz10Sylvester]

Hi Kaz,

 

I wouldn't give up if I were you. I know a lot of people who've shadowed on West End shows (including myself) and the best way to do it is to find out exactly who it is you want to shadow (like, which department and WHO they are) and write to them directly. I was told by one CSM I worked with that the reason I got a placement was because I had taken the trouble to do that (like you did with HM). Also your tutors at ALRA might well know people they could have a word with to see if they could get you a couple of shows shadowing. They do all get lots of requests but there's a lot of theatres in the West End and if you try enough then you might get somewhere. I can see that if you are interested in flying, regional/receiving houses would be good but auto not so much... also some shows in town don't take work experience at all because of how tight it is backstage or how complex the show is.

 

Don't give up though because I got some great experience in town so I know it's possible. Also though; if you do get shadowing in town it is likely to be for 2 days/3 shows at the most; they tend to do 'one on the book, two on the deck' for stage management. I got auto experience on a stage management placement just by talking to the auto department.

 

 

Thank you very much for this advice Claire, it is very much appriciated. I understand that the west end is a dangerous area to work in, as like you have said, sometimes the sets and auto equipment they have running on the show would just be too dangerous to have someone who doesnt know what they are doing wandering around. I have taken your advice and written out to a couple of more theatres in the hope that they might allow me to shadow there for a few days. I think I will try to possibly work at a few over the week period instead of spending a whole week with one show, as you can only learn so much in a short space of time as they say. Thank you for your advice and I will keep here informed of any progress. Do you know of any shows currently on the west end who have some interesting auto sets or flying involved? Thanks

[Brian]

Do you know of any shows currently on the west end who have some interesting auto sets or flying involved? Thanks

The stage revolve on Wizard of OZ at the palladium is a nice piece of engineering. And the general rig is a nice example of just how much 'stuff' you can get above the stage if you need to.