Backstage at Robinson Crusoe
January 15, 2009
At this time of year many pantomimes have already finished, while some still have a few performances left before the magic disappears for another year. So when we were offered the opportunity to go backstage at the Theatre Royal, Newcastle, and watch a performance of Robinson Crusoe and the Caribbean Pirates we jumped at the chance.
We have followed this show since Michael Harrison (producer and director of the show, as well as MD of Qdos Pantomimes) started writing it over a year ago so this visited rounded off the whole process. We had already reported on the writing and casting during 2008,then sets coming alive as the technical rehearsals started and finished with reviewing the whole production on press night.
Now to see the production from the cast and backstage crews perspective is not only very interesting it is a rare opportunity. During our visit Michael Harrison unexpectedly arrived at the Theatre Royal and had already started work on the synopsis of next year’s production Cinderella. So as we finished reporting on this year’s show, the whole cycle has begun again for a show opening in eleven months time.
When I arrived at the stage door I was looked after by Holly Handel, Deputy Stage Manager. The whole backstage crew were very welcoming and there was no hint that the show had been running twice a day for several weeks, everyone seemed so very fresh and full of energy. The team, which was a mixture of Theatre Royal staff and crew especially brought in for the pantomime did appear to get along together very well, with several already looking forward to returning to the Theatre Royal later in the year with the musical Jolson.
I was placed in the wings next to Holly as she made announcements to the cast that the show was about to begin and for the audience to take their seats for Act 1. The sound of excited children drifted from the auditorium to the wings and having seen the show already, they had a good right to be excited.
As I had been given the opportunity of covering last year’s show backstage ( as well as having met most of the cast at the press conferences) they did recognise and acknowledge me with a wave and a smile. The stars of the show Danny Adams and Clive Webb have become firm favourites at the Theatre Royal over the past few years and each of their pantomimes break the previous year’s box office record. Returning with the father and son team this year are Chris Hayward and Kathryn Rooney, both of whom were in last year’s hit production of Aladdin.
The opening of the show, featuring a pirate ship sailing on to the stage through clouds of dry ice, is worthy of any West End show and still looked dramatic from the wings. I was careful to try and not get in anyone’s way as pirates raced from the stage, but when Blackheart (the villain for the piece), played by Phil Corbitt, had finished his opening scene with the Mermaid (Kathryn Rooney) he strode off stage straight towards me and just as he disappeared from view from the audience, he thrust out his hand and announced “Hi I’m Phil pleased to meet you” . In the gloom of the wings having just watched him open the show and frighten the audience, it was a surreal experience shaking hands with a smiling, evil pirate. During the course of the next two and a half hours I became used to the brief chats we had as he waited for his entrances.
Beside me Holly was giving other crew members their cues as the show progressed and stage hands were preparing for the next scene. Also the chorus, children and main performers waited for their next entrances.
When the time came for the “slosh” scene I moved upstage to watch the crew cover the stage with plastic sheeting before positioning the rocking cabin in place. Shortly Danny and Clive would be soaked to the skin again, much to the audiences delight, every year the scene is wetter than before and true to form this year surpasses all forerunners.
I found myself standing between the stars of the show at this point and Clive told me he had knocked his ribs in the first few performances such is the force of the cabin rocking when they are being doused in water. As the scene started I was quickly moved back towards Holly, otherwise I would have been soaked to the skin from where I was standing apparently.
Seconds later I was joined by Kathryn Rooney waiting to make one of her few entrances form stage left. Following last year’s show Kathryn was meant to rejoin the cast of Half A Sixpence, which played the North East a few weeks later. However, when I reviewed the show I was disappointed to find she was not appearing. Kathryn remembered this and was eager to tell me she had chosen not to rejoin the tour, but by making that decision she had the opportunity to perform in a workshop version of the musical Billy Liar, with Lee Mead.
As the scene finished Danny made his way in to the audience, soaking wet, and the crew watched as he remodelled the hair of some unsuspecting member of the audience. The lady and her party could not stop laughing as she ended up with a wet Mohican hairstyle.
Soon it was time for the 3D sequence, when the audience wear glasses to see the amazing effects. However for Holly it is not a few minutes rest, as I expected, as during the sequence there are several lighting changes, which mean more cues to control.
While this was going on one of the Theatre Royal stage crew took me from the wings, up through the theatre to the gallery to prepare for Danny’s high flying entrance on to the stage for the end Act One. It had been many years since I had visited this part of the Theatre Royal and to be standing alongside the cast one minute, then look down on them from the highest seating area while they continued to perform the scene you had been watching in the wings was very disconcerting. Graham Taylor from the Theatre Royal stage crew past me some 3D glasses to watch the end of the scene as he checked the ropes and harness for Danny. However I became so engrossed in the action that I forgot to take the glasses off, much to Graham’s amusement.
Seconds later Danny arrived, in a different costume, through a small door at the side of the gallery. He acknowledged me as he was strapped in to a harness before moving along the edge of the gallery to wait for his cue. Once the rope to the stage was in position, he pushed himself off and glided across the audiences to the stage to finish Act One. From the view point I watched hundreds of smiling faces looking up at Danny as he descended across every seating area of the theatre.
Holly told me she has tried the slide herself, stating it is great fun once you leave go of the sides of the gallery. I will take her word for it. I have always wanted to try flying (as they do in Peter Pan and other shows) but this slide I will leave to the experts.
When I was up in the Gallery, I suddenly remembered the times I had sat up there as a child. In those days you could not book a seat or enter through the main theatre doors. You used to queue in Shakespeare Street at a separate entrance, which had its own box office (which I believe is still there today). After paying for the tickets, which could not be pre-booked, it was a race up the cement staircase to the Gallery, or Gods as it was known, and the quicker you got there the better the seat. I recall there were no backs just wooden forms which had a padded seating area. How times have changed (or as my seven year old daughter would put it “that’s what they did in the olden days”).
Once Danny had safely reached the stage the rope and harness had to be carefully replaced ready for the next performance, safety is of course paramount and no chances are taken.
We then returned to the stage where Act 2 was being set. The scenery for this show is very large and the sets from Act One are moved during the interval to allow the Act 2 sets to move in to position. After the performance this is reversed ready for the next show.
Act 2 is less frantic that the first half, yet I found myself sharing the wings with gorillas, monkeys, Chris Hayward, in his amazing array of costumes, and Titan the Robot. Noticeably every time Chris left the stage, he was off at break next speed to prepare for his next entrance in another one of his fantastic designs.
Holly controls all the pyrotechnics for the show, and there are a lot of them and warned me when to place my fingers in my ears as there are explosions on stage which are very loud in the wings.
All too quickly I could see the children of the chorus in their finale costumes and while the action was taking place at the front of the stage, they were lining up on the staircase that had been positioned for the final scene. As the children and chorus members started to take their curtain calls, the principal performers were making quick changes ready for their entrances.
As the curtain fell after several curtain calls, the cast quickly dispersed and the stage crew started to set the stage for the next show, in one and a half hours time.
Clive, Danny and Chris are all back in the next pantomime, which is Michael Harrisons new production of Cinderella. I for one can’t wait.
I would like to thank Holly, as well as all the production and backstage crew for making me so welcome on my visit. Also the cast who allowed me to share their world for a few hours and Michael Harrison who made the whole thing possible and allowed Whatsonstage North East to follow Robinson Crusoe and the Caribbean Pirates, from its concept stage through to performance so we could understand the months of hard work that go in to making a successful pantomime.
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