Writer:
Kate Herbert
July 11, 2011
Accidents will happen anywhere, any time.
Theatre may be all artifice but the accidents that happen on and off-stage are
all too real. Julie Nihill cut her hand on broken crockery n a Playbox show. Dan Spielman cut his had on a
broken beer bottle just last week in KTTP 's The Share. Anni Davey fell from
circus rigging during a Circus Oz show in Perth ten years ago and Heather Tetu
circus performer broke both ankles at Jupiter casino some years ago.
there are candles cigarettes, electrical
cables and lamps, pyrotechnics, guns, knives, high stages, scaffolding, ladders, ropes, stage fights, choreography,
acrobatics, concrete floors , unconventional venues, movable seating, stairs to
climb, dark backstage space, furniture to negotiate, tricky props to
manipulate, flammable costumes, and the list goes on and on and on...
Actors are dropped down trap doors (Ross
Williams in Man the Balloon), work with knives (Julia Blake and Victoria Eagger
in Salt Playbox) they climb up stacks of chairs (Julie Forsyth and Paul
Blackman in the chairs MTC) or perform on very steeply raked stages wearing
corsets and high heels (Trelawney of the wells MTC) or hang from harnesses
above the stage (Margaret Mills in Angels in America)
No wonder the MTC has a consultant
physiotherapist on call to advise on health and safety issues for actors.
If the actors do not do the warm up advised
for them when working on a raked stage, then the production manager cannot
control the damage to their backs, says Louise McRoberts.
The Melbourne Theatre Company has a
rigorous safety procedures which were developed over the last few years by Ian
Cooksley with Mc Roberts. it is clear that much of this material is now part of
the new Safety Guidelines for the Entertainment Industry produced in draft plan
by the MEAA (Media and Entertainment Arts Alliance).
Risk assessment, says McRoberts, is the
first step in protecting actors against injury. When working in the Arts centre,
when any hazardous activity is proposed the VCA requires a risk assessment.
When NYID performed in a city car park this
year, an occupancy permit was requited. Jackson says that the City of Melbourne
is particularly rigorous about safety unlike some other councils. "They
require a detailed evacuation plan. They give a provisional permit until they
check whether the plan complies with their regulations.
"We traded off on safety lights by
providing five trained fire wardens for each show"
In theatre, there is says Production
Manager of NYID, Paul Jackson, there can often be a split between the
production workers and the creative team in relation to safety procedures. The
creative workers may think the production people obstructionist when they raise
safety issues. The production team may think the creative personnel don't know
how to realise their vision.
Louise McRoberts, lecturer in production
and stage management at VCA and former Stage Manager at Melbourne Theatre
Company, says that the practical solutions need to be provided by the
production manager in order to meet the needs of the director or other creative
personnel.
In the draft plan, almost every contingency
is covered although I could not find anything specifically related to use of
glass on stage. McRoberts says that sugar glass can be obtained in Melbourne
bout hat it is very expensive. Small companies on smaller budgets cannot afford
to sue it. In A Little Night Music a sugar glass champagne glass was smashed
every night.
Jackson says that budget is often the
constraint for small companies. It compromises safety al the time.
Venues such as La Mama and the Carlton
Courthouse are death traps, says Jackson. He believes that profit margins
compromise safety.
"In the end the concern about safety
has to be balanced by the fact hat very little does go wrong." " You
cannot legislate on every possibility in the theatre because theatre is about
pushing the boundaries. " "We
all have horror stories in the theatre but more accidents happen on building
sites and that is the most heavily regulated industry."
"The most I can do is bring in a
specialist," which is what he did with Front (Melbourne Workers Theatre)
The scaffolding was signed off by a certified rigger. However, Jackson says, he
checked every bolt himself every night of the season just to be sure.
Says Jackson, "The reality in the
theater is time line versus budget versus creative drive."
Jackson believes that the major impact of
the safety guidelines will be on the major organisations and venues. What we
need is qualified production managers working in each company.
MEAA's representation of production workers
in theater is appalling he says.
In Canada all production crew wear hard
hats. The rules are different not only in different councils but in each state.
Hopefully this plan will regulate to some degree the variables between
companies, states and ...
By Kate Herbert
No comments:
Post a Comment