Nonie’s Blog
Hi my name is Nonie and this week I have been doing work experience at acta Bristol. Some of the things I have done as a part of this are testing the lighting and sound, choosing and preparing the lighting for the choir’s performance, preparing props for the year 6-7 show and managing them backstage and preparing a game for the Thursday session. We have also done some smaller jobs such as buying and labelling water bottles, coin counting, organising the stationary cupboard.
One of the things I enjoyed the most was probably managing the children during their performance. We had to go backstage with them and make sure they had their props ready, make sure they were quiet and make sure they were all ready to go on when they needed to be. Another thing I enjoyed was choosing the lighting for the choir’s performance. It was very fun as we got to go into the lighting box and see what colours worked well to create an atmosphere but also make sure the choir would be well lit enough. It was a good experience as it gave us the chance to input our ideas and make our own contribution to a show.
A couple things I have learnt how to work both alongside other people and individually and how to handle more responsibility. I have also learnt new skills such as how to control the lighting/sound.
Overall I have really enjoyed this experience and it would definitely encourage me to go into a career in theatre in the future. It has shown me how interesting putting a show together can be and all the different aspects there are to it.
Charley’s Blog
Hi I’m Charley and I did my work experience placement here at acta. During the time I was here, I got to try lots of new things and got involved in lots of different jobs and activities. On the first day working at acta, I got a taster for nearly all the important steps to building up the performance. I got to sit in the light box and test all of the lighting and sound which I enjoyed. After this, we got to organize the costumes for the performance that night. We had to make sure that all the costumes had all the parts to it and nothing was missing to save hassle before the actual performance. We then went and put away other costumes that weren’t in use. It was very interesting and cool to see all of the costumes that acta owned. After this we set up the stage for the performance. This involved putting chairs and water backstage and making sure all the props were put in place appropriately.
During the performance, we were stage managers and had to make sure that everyone had their props ready and we got to tell everyone to be quiet! The Tuesday also consisted of the same, sorting out the stage and backstage areas and the costumes. As I myself am a member of acta, I had my performance that evening and got a chance in the day to practice my lines. My favorite part of Wednesday is when we got the chance to sit in the light box and choose what lighting we wanted for the choir performance in the evening. We got to play around with the lighting and then sit in the chairs where the choir were to be seated and see if the lights were too bright etc until we had found the perfect lighting. We got to use all the colored lights to make a really cool affect. On the Wednesday, we were introduced to the oldest group at acta. We made refreshments for their session and we got to host a game. We also watched their run through of their performance and even got involved. Later in the day, we were given a budget of 10 pounds and we got to spend it on snacks for all the performers that evening, including us!
What I enjoyed most about my time here at acta was how lovely the team are here and they made me feel very welcome. I also enjoyed the element of independence, especially when I got to choose the lighting for other performances. The team here were also very careful and kind to us and tried very hard to make sure they didn’t over work us, offering short breaks when they felt we needed them. After my week spent here, I picked up a variety of skills which are very useful for me to develop. I learnt how to work as a team but also how to work by myself and take on my own responsibilities. Not only this, but I learnt how the performances are put together and created which was very interesting to me as I have been in a few performances here myself and it was great to see all the steps needed to make everything work. I feel like after this experience, working in theatre does highly interest me. I would specifically love to work here at acta myself as I really enjoyed myself. The different elements of work within theatre really interested me because I have learnt there is much more than just us as the performers and directors.