My work as a stagehand took place in world class theatres.
I walked through the same stage doors as Pavarotti, Nureyev, Carol Channing, Judi Dench, countless others. Opera, ballet, musicals, plays, London is regarded as the theatre capital of the world. The city’s earliest theatres, like Shakespeare’s Globe, all open-air, date back to the late 1500s; but less than 100 years later, they all went dark. In 1649, Charles I was beheaded and theatres continued in secrecy at great risk, often in converted indoor tennis courts. After 18 years, the Restoration of Charles II allowed the newly patented Drury Lane and Covent Garden to burn candles in their chandeliers, marking a new phase in theatre history, with indoor theatre. My own career in theatre saw another big shift, away from conventional scenery of flats and flying pieces, to the spectacles made possible by advances in lighting, sound and computerization. Working high standard, world class repertoire took teamwork and skill, all of which left its mark on me. I don’t have to prove myself. Do I still have self-doubts? Of course! A paradox? Yes
Second generation Irish, raised in England and the Midwest, returned to Britain after college in the Northwest.
I am a pacifist. I believe each human being has an inner light and no one has the right to extinguish that light. I am, therefore, fervently non-violent. I returned to London because I did not support the Vietnam War. Determined to find employment that had nothing to do with the “war machine” and everything to do with [dialogue and] advancing society, I went into British theatre as a stagehand, initially to write about my backstage experiences. Theatre was my first career, spanning two decades. Although I worked a few musicals, just to earn a living, I saw theatre as the place where debates could be acted out onstage by living people, the actors. I had no desire to enter film or television simply because the interaction between an audience and the actors was, in the immediate sense, non-existent.
I started writing my impressions from working backstage when I was in my early twenties, and it’s my goal to put them together in a memoir. I’m genuinely surprised I still want to finish my “stage[hand] book”...after all these years, why bother? But I know there’s no other book out there by a stagehand. Besides, my experiences chronicle a transition in British theatre, particularly (and ironically, considering my stance on TV and cinema) [how] stage machinery [affects] the role of the stagehand. When I got my first job in theatre in 1971, actors were still alive who performed using grand gestures, big makeup and of course, projection. Two or three years later, big musicals were using tiny microphones and the sound was being mixed live. This was huge. Whispers were audible for the first time. And the lighting did away with the need for garish makeup. I say all this because [every] day I think my stagehand’s perspective on this transition [will] somehow contribute to theatre history.