On Saturday 2nd February 2014 we sent eight Enter CIC students to The Assembly Rooms theatre in Durham to learn about the technical aspects of theatre and what goes on behind the scenes. The students were greeted by Technical Director Tom Murton and given a tour of the theatre before they got down to work.
The young people w
ere split into groups and set tasks in designing and setting up different lighting states and rigging the lights. In the afternoon the students were given a safety talk about rigging the lights and the different calls they would hear during the afternoon before presenting their designs to the group. Tom then chose a design from each group and set them a task to find the lights they would need to go on the lighting bars. A couple of the students even got the chance to go up onto the fly floor and were shown how to fly lighting and scenery bars. After rigging the lights they needed the students were shown how to control them using the lighting board before running the scenes they had set. Tom was very impressed with the students work. After seeing all the different states Tom set them their final task to de-rig and tidy eve
rything up they had been using before sitting down for an evaluation of the days experience.
It was an extremely productive day and the students gained valuable experience that will be very beneficial to them as they pursue a future career in theatre production. It has also provided the young people with the confidence and ability to run our own in house shows using our theatre equipment.
We would like to thank Tom and his crew for an excellent day and we are looking forward to performing extracts from The Wind Road Boys at The Assembly Rooms on Saturday 15th February 2014 as part of the Durham Drama Festival.
Enter CIC have provided a number of work experience opportunities in theatres in the North East and London’s West End. If you would be interested in joining our team, please call Enter CIC on 01740 655437.
