Act 1, Scene 1.

Sydney Opera House

“There’s water leaking into the orchestra pit!” On hearing those words, Opera Australia Head Mechanist Dan Paine snapped his head away from his computer and looked in my direction. I was standing at the doorway of the designated Opera Australia (OA) office/chill out zone within the Sydney Opera House green room, where Paine and half a dozen of his OA crew were in various states of rest and relaxation; reading books, sending emails and napping. Barely a second passed before Paine, having ascertained that I was in fact not joking, rose swiftly to his feet and headed for the doorway. “Let’s go,” he called to his troops, who all abruptly jumped into action.

I watched Paine, barely 30 years old, with his shoulder length, ginger hair and trucker’s blue singlet as he came towards me – leading the charge. The look on his face suggested a mixture of curiosity, calm urgency and determination to sort out whatever this problem may look like when he got to the pit. He and the crew marched out the door, through the green room and headed swiftly to the scene like a posse enroute to a shootout. Other backstage mechanists from the Opera House crew realised that something was up and joined the mob. I followed closely behind Paine, excited and intrigued to see how we were going to stop a 1000 litre on-stage water feature from soaking the 30-piece orchestra playing below in the middle of an opera....

The event described is indicative of what challenges are thrust upon the backstage crew at the Sydney Opera House (and crews anywhere for that matter). I'll get back to the water issue eventually but in the next post I will backtrack a little, so I can share my experience of being a fresh-faced, greenhorn stage hand working deep inside the belly of one of the world's most recognisable buildings. 

                                                                                

Act 1, Scene 2: Applying for the job

I had only moved to Sydney a few months before I started working I had come down from the mid-north coast, 44 years old, on a mission to kickstart a filmmaking career that had been slowly dying of malnutrition. I moved into a share house in Manly with a bunch of other people and put down my last $1000 on 2 weeks rent and bond. As I was a little desperate to eat, I signed up for the rock n roll and started frantically searching for work. Somehow, while scrolling the internet, I stumbled on an advert with a brief calling for stagehands at one of the most iconic buildings in the world. As this was a subscription-based, job networking website, I couldn’t access more information or any application links. But I just knew it has to be the Sydney Opera House, so after a few phone calls I had an email address and put my application together.

Although, I was a filmmaker, I did have a Minor degree in Theatre Arts and had worked some pretty big shows from the time I was 18 years old at the Perth Entertainment Centre. I actually worked there for 10 years on and off on everything from Neil Young, ZZ Top, INXS and Walt Disney on Ice! So while I did have stage experience and it looked good on my resume, I thought it useful NOT to mention that it had been about 15 years since I last tread the boards.

There were over 200 applicants for what is an annual intake of stagehands. A mere 20 of those were chosen for a 3–panel interview – which included me. Of that, 10 of us successfully made it through to the medical and onto the induction process. We received a new pair of boots and two sets of long pants and long sleeve shirts. We were told to get a basic tool-belt kit together: a hammer, a few screwdrivers and a ratchet with a number of fittings specific to the bolts and nuts used on the job. Of the ten guys that started, two left in the first week (for reasons that will become apparent).

This is how it works: every winter opera season, Opera Australia (who have offices in Sydney and Melbourne) hire out the 1500 seat Opera Theatre and stage at the Sydney Opera House. They have their own crew of directors, choreographers, stage managers, set builders, backstage mechanists and of course – opera singers and performers. The orchestra comes from the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. During the height of the season, three to four operas could be running in various states of production at the same time, with two in performance and another one or two in rehearsal and/or set construction. Opera Australia bring everything they need to the Opera House and pretty much dominate most of the storage space in the building for the entirety of the season. At the same time, their crew numbers are built up with Sydney Opera House personnel, including lighting crew, stage managers, carpenters and casual backstage mechanists like me. The SOH crew are essentially employed by the SOH but leased to Opera Australia.

I met the Opera Australia backstage crew on my first day. A circle of about 30 personnel stood around in the loading bay waiting for the first truck loaded with staging gear and sets to arrive. At this stage, I wasn’t sure who was who. I could see a number of nervous greenhorns, like me, a few guys with SOH shirts and a number of other characters with stern looks on their faces. These guys, I would learn, were the OA crew. Some of them were third generation theatre technicians. Their somewhat aggressive posture and manner was very off-putting. It wasn’t until much later, that I learnt where it came from.