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.
No comments:
Post a Comment