Debrief of Candlelight Christmas

It's finally over. The show ended with a blast, as the KLPac Sinfonietta and La Voice Youth Choir received a standing ovation for their last show. They deserved it, of course - they worked damn hard leading up to the production, and throughout the production. So: what happened, what have I learned, what can I do better next time, and what can others do better? Note that in hindsight, I really should have taken pictures so that it's much clearer - but at that time, fiddling with a damn camera was the last thing on my mind while I learned about a whole new world. Pictures displayed below are shots from other sites serving as samples and in no way depict Pentas 1 or any persons alive or otherwise relating to the abovementioned production.

Full Dress Rehearsal full frontal

Procedure

The production form needs to be filled in a month before the show. It lists showtimes, rehearsal times (tech & full dress), tech set-up times and basic show details. The DBKL licence application happens 3 weeks before the show - it takes about 10 working days (2 weeks) to complete. I picked mine up on the same day as the opening show, and know of productions where they collected theirs AFTER their show. The tech schedule is prepared 1-2 weeks before the show, so the crew have their times planned out.


Production & Technical teams

Biggest kudos to them - without these helpful guys I'd have been floundering. The Theatre Manager & Supervisor are the ones in charge of the physical theatre and dressing rooms - they provided keys and access cards, advised on safety precautions backstage, and provided whatever set they could - in this case, millions of chairs and music stands, the sound boards, and the platforms for the performers. The Technical Managers are the ones in charge of the technical stuff - sound and lights. During the show, I liaise with the Technical Supervisor (who's also the lights man in this case) who's in charge of his team who makes the technical stuff happen - as well as providing walkie talkies and 'cans' (which are those wear-on walkie talkies stage managers use).

Rigging

Of course, as a performer you'll never see these things so I was quite surprised at what a labourious task lighting is. Firstly the light dude (LD for short) has to plan where to place the lights, and when you need very specific lighting - hence the need to attend some rehearsals. Once the production has the stage, they have to rig the lights - ie placing them, usually by mounting on their rails (which can be lowered to facilitate this). After that they have to plot and focus - which is the process of pointing them at the right direction, and adjusting their cover area (every light has 'flaps' which can control how big a 'circle' each light forms). Usually a guy goes on 'the Genie' (a mini man-crane - basically a portable platform with adjustable height) to do this. On a flat stage, all this is a piece of piss - but add any structure and the challenge curve rises quickly.

Plotting

Sound has its own set of challenges, which depends on the needs of each production. In our case it was thankfully very easy - 2 suspended mics and 2 mics on stands was all we needed to capture the full sound of the orchestra and choir. With The Odd Couple it was slightly more challenging as the sound dude (SD) has to know where to strategically place each mic and take into account all the other mics and situations that may arise. In the case of Broken Bridges in Ipoh, for example, it was quite a hellish experience - they had to place mics to decimetre (tens of centimetres) accuracy, AND make sure it was pointed in the right direction.

The Genie

KLPac Sinfonietta

There were 84 listed members of this orchestra, of which I'm convinced some of them never turned up. I couldn't track attendance properly though - I think I would've needed a stagehand just for that very purpose. For the long-term running of the Sinfonietta, I would recommend that they have some form of manager that would handle the members, their attendance and their needs. In all my time with them I think I can barely recall twenty names.

An variegated bunch, they were. The age range was pre-teen to early forties (I think), so my people-handling skills were seriously put to the test - from kids testing my boundaries to teenagers seeking approval to young adults with something to prove to 'old hands' who try to get away with things, to my one diva (thank the heavens the stars and all that's holy and otherwise there was only one) - I only really lost it once, when a whole bunch of factors just broke my threshold. In hindsight I really shouldn't have sworn so much, but I'm glad people 'get it' that I take my job seriously. They mostly took good care of themselves, though I really would've liked a more regular channel of communication with them - a 'notes' session before every show, if you will. I stole whatever time I could, but I know I never got to reach everyone all the time.

I don't know how orchestras work and how the Sinfonietta will work, but if they met regularly (and fully attended) they could really amount to something truly significant. People generally enjoyed them, as did I.

Full Dress Rehearsal side angle

La Voce Choir

Thankfully they were an autonomous group - all I had to do was communicate with their conductor and/or choir mistress, and the message would get through. Especially thankfully because their main language of communication is Mandarin, and 50 of them were kids. The other 40 were teenagers (roughly), who were much easier to talk to. I'd work with them again (the Youth Choir) - don't know about the Junior Choir though.

What they really need to improve is their enunciation and their posture. They sound good, but I don't know what the hell they were singing - even when I knew the words to the song!


Of candles and wax

Now we used candles in this production (hence the forename Candlelight) and I never want to use them in any production where I'm involved as a stage manager or stagehand again. Every day I scraped the damn wax off the floors for the audience to appreciate a clean floor for their first 15 minutes of the show. Unless I discover a clever quick-and-easy way of doing that, I never want to do it again. Just for future reference: IKEA sells candles in bulk (and in a small variety) - I bought VARDAGs which were sold in boxes of 50 for RM29. We used them 5/6 times, lasting about 20 minutes each time, and they burned about 20% of the way - meaning that they last. There is a serious surplus of VARDAGs at KLPac at this moment. Something else I've picked up - if you freeze the candles, it drips far less. Clever, eh? Such valuable insight was delivered to me by way of a rather effeminate Scotsman in BSC, if you can believe it. I've also discovered that a non-drip candle is one with the diagonal groove cut into it - as the wax flows along the groove, it hardens before reaching the bottom, so it's 'non-drip'!





Front-of-House (FOH)

This refers to the section of the production that deals with the audience - they check tickets, sell merchandise, usher people and escort little old ladies to their seats. They fall under the jurisdiction of the Theatre team, and they run the pre-show. It is only with their blessing that the stage manager can start the show.

Now personally I have NO experience there, and my next task is actually to get some - so what I say is purely from the perspective of a stage manager. I'm completely blind as to what goes on - my only link to the physical 'front of house' is via a walkie-talkie to the FOH supervisor.

Thus far, I'm still confused about one aspect - who calls the 'doors closed'? Every night I'm harassing them to shut the doors while they hold them open for 'this last bunch of people'. This really frustrates me as I regularly tell my performers and tech team to 'standby, 2 minutes to show' and then nothing happens 5 minutes later. Yes, this is the basis of my "blowing my top" above, where a little old lady took bloody forever to find her seat and sit her ass down while my 140-odd performers and 450+ audience stood by and waited.

In hindsight, I should have confirmed who calls the doors - I was under the impression I did, and that might have been my daily mistake. I must add that the KLPac FOH Supervisor is an absolute angel who made working there much easier, and who could very well have sheltered me from a veritable maelstrom outside that I'd have no idea about. I'll know better once I've done it for myself, won't I?


Stage Managing
Frankly, I love it. And hate it. There's something about it that really floats my boat, which is the whole mish-mash of skills you need to apply to make it happen. From running the whole programme, to knowing the flow of every single aspect (which lights when, which sounds when, who enters where when, what happens, etc), to the whole pre-show aspect of planning and preparing, to dealing with a whole variety of people to make things happen, to the simple 'muscle and sweat' of setting up the set and props.

Of course, what gets to me is the people. I sometimes feel, "I do everything to make sure you have everything you need, why can't you just do what you need to do properly?!?" I think I just have expectations of people that are sometimes too high. Some self-sabotage I might also do is not communicate my expectations to them. The beautiful paradox of it all is, of course, that the best part is the people. Meeting and getting to know some really interesting characters, and working with such calibre.





Conclusion

Would I do it again? Good question, one that I'll have to ask myself again after doing it one more time. At this moment, absolutely yes - however, I know that I don't get the same satisfaction as actually being on stage. Is it a question of passion? Perhaps. I derived great enjoyment from performing a job well done, and yet something wasn't there. Maybe it's the thanklessness of it all - the lack of appreciation of how much sweat and tears goes into it. Yes, I'm a clap-whore.

And that's a most interesting thing I've learned about myself this year. I remember telling myself that I never liked being 'on the spot' and that I perform better behind the scenes. Now, having been plonked into both situations on stage, I find myself drawn to the damn spot (light) and thriving there. And time to time I have vague recollections of working backstage in college, on... something. Dammit I can't recall the title right now, but I'll know it when I see it. The thing is, I honestly don't remember much of the experience except that I didn't enjoy it. And yet in Uni, I'd die to perform in the annual Malaysian Night.

Basically, at every stage in my life, I've somehow or another been involved in performing - and yet it's only now that I realise that I love it. As some bastard offspring of this realisation is the fact that I've rediscovered my passion for writing. It's something that I've always wanted to do since young, but somehow been programmed to not pursue as it brings no income/fame/fortune. Enter blog and a few kind words, and I can't bloody stop (apologies to the lost lunch hours of my readership).

Back on topic: it's been a pleasure working with the KLPAC crews, the Sinfonietta and the La Voce Choirs. Thank you for having me in your space.


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