Case study: theatre technician

Dan Staniforth Dan Staniforth has eight years experience as a theatre technician in the performing arts, starting with productions at university, Edinburgh Fringe Festival and the London Fringe.

In his quest to work in theatre he has paid the rent with bar jobs, temporary administration jobs and telesales while he spent his evenings stage managing fringe shows in London. He has now been paying the rent with paid theatre work for almost four years.

Top Tips

• Enjoy your work
• Love learning more about your areas of expertise
• Learn how to drive

Career Journey

Q: Can you explain what you do?
A: I am responsible for the technical aspects of productions. Working as part of a small team, I try to deliver the Designer and Director's visions to the stage. I tend not to define myself in terms of my role, as I have played many roles in my time, and each one encompasses so many things. I do however, wear black clothes and listen to rock music.

Q: What are your main responsibilities?
A: As one of two technicians, I build the set - realising set designs practically and safely while keeping costs down. I source, edit and design sound, and occasionally am required to operate sound. I rig and focus lights and have done lighting designs for several shows. While the show is on I am responsible for the backstage areas, quick changes, prop moves, and door pages. We also undertake building and theatre maintenance throughout the year.

Q: What did you do before this?
A: I worked at a drama school, as a Technical Stage Manager, before that I ran a venue in Edinburgh for the Festival as Front of House Manager, before that I was Stage Manager on a tour of a one man show, and before that I was a Customer Service Administrator in some soul destroying temporary job.

Q: What training/education did you go through, and do you consider it to have helped you in your career?
A: I studied Psychology and Neuroscience at University, which was interesting and stimulating, but has not helped me a great deal in my chosen career. I love learning and I am a big believer that with certain exceptions, people should study what they are interested in, not what career they want. The most relevant examination qualification I have is probably my Design and Technology GCSE. When I set off for University I had no idea that I would end up working in theatre, it was a happy chain of accidents in my first year that started me on this path. When the time came to leave University I looked at some technical theatre courses, but in the end I was too deep in debt to contemplate spending more money on a course from a Drama School, so I left with the experience that I had and decided to try and make it from there.

Q: Would you have imagined you'd be doing what you do now five years ago? Ten years ago?
A: Five years ago I would have hoped I would be further on up the career ladder, but in the same direction. Ten years ago I was seventeen and wanted to be a Biotechnology Grad working as a Genetic Engineer.

Q: Looking back over your career, what (if anything) would you have done differently?
A: I don't really do 'what ifs' so this is a difficult one to answer. I might have worked harder on my degree and less hard at the bar where I worked in my third year of University, and I would have liked an A in my Chemistry A level, so I would have worked harder there as well, but nothing major - certainly not career wise. Had I learned to drive when I was seventeen (I got my license this year) my career path could have been very different, as I have missed dozens of opportunities because I couldn't drive. But now I can!

Q: Describe a typical working day. What did you do today?
A: At the moment I'm on show, so I am in work from 2pm till past 10pm in the evening. I arrive and help build set and scenery for the next show, perhaps do a lamp round (making sure no bulbs are out in the building) and repair any props that were broken in the last performance. At five thirty rehearsals stop and we re-set the show ready to go for the evening, then at six I get a dinner break, which takes us through to checks (making sure our re-set was complete) and then at six thirty we start preparing for the show. Once the show is up, I help with quick changes and generally making sure that backstage runs smoothly. Once the show is over we clear the stage ready for rehearsals the next day and go home. Tired.

The Industry

Q: What do you think are the issues affecting your industry at the moment?
A: I do not claim to have a very complete understanding of the whole industry. I know funding is being cut, which is making the lives of smaller companies much more difficult, and bizarrely, the technical side is often one of the last areas where pay is offered. There is a huge expectation of people working for free at the beginning of their careers, and that makes competition for the paid jobs enormous. I had a friend who left University to become a merchant banker, and whilst describing how competitive it was he pointed out that three hundred people applied for the position he finally got. I was one of the last four people up for a PA position in a London theatre where there were over seven hundred applicants – this for a job paying under fifteen grand a year. Theatre work is hugely underpaid and oversubscribed, which from a certain point of view is a good thing, because only people who really care about their work do it, but at the same time we lose a fair number of the best people to more highly paid industries.

Q: What are the issues affecting you personally?
A: On a personal basis, the biggest issue affecting me is the growing number of jobs that demand a specific qualification in what I do. When I left University I did not have the money to do a technical theatre course, and had enough experience to make continuing on my current path a valid possibility, but more and more the jobs I am applying for have as part of the person specification a need for a qualification. Experience seems to count for less and less nowadays.

Q: What do you think needs to be done to tackle these issues?
A: That's beyond my pay grade to be honest – I can't blame theatres for wanting qualified employees, it's a good idea, and I can't comment on the courses themselves, never having done one. It would be nice if I could get me a piece of paper that counts as a qualification without having to give up working and pay thousands of pounds of tuition fees

Advice on Applying for Jobs

Q: If someone was applying to work with you what skills and qualities would you be looking for?
A: Ideally you need to be intelligent, practical and have vast amounts of common sense – qualities which are often in short supply. Experience counts for a lot, and for those bits you don't know yet, learning quickly is useful. An inquiring mind. If you enjoy taking things apart and finding out how they work, this helps. On a more basic level, woodwork, electrical knowhow, knowledge of the lighting desks, software and sound equipment as these will be used daily.

Q: In interviews, what mistakes do people make most often?
A: I can't answer this, I don't interview people, and I have never had the courage to call someone up post-interview and ask what I did wrong.

Q: Why do you think so many struggle to get into your industry?
A: People think it is easy, or they try and get into technical theatre as a route to becoming an actor. The hours are long and the pay is rubbish, and the amount of work you need to do for free before getting paid is mindboggling – I'm not sure people appreciate this, and it's possible that was just me!

Q: If you could offer one piece of crucial advice for people wanting to 'get on' in your industry, what would it be?
A: Enjoy your work, love learning more about your areas of expertise, and learn to drive...

The Future...

Q: What do you see for your future?
A: Onwards and upwards! I'm still small feed, so I am hoping that I will continue learning more about the industry and exactly where I wish to make my home. View from Stage Tallescope