An insight of working with a small theatre company

This week I began working on the upcoming play 'Under The Overcoat'. On Sunday evening I went to the choreography rehearsals and met the director, Theodora Voutsa, daughter of Kostas Voutsa - a Greek actor, director and writer.

My job title for this show would Prop and Costume Assistant. I gathered all the information regarding props and costume that I would need to do my work from Theo - this was the first time I think I had ever taken a notepad somewhere and actually used it. Turns out they are indeed, very, useful thing to carry around. 

I also met Gaby's other intern, Eve and we cracked on right away delegating between us which props we would resource separately and which we could shop/hunt for together. This plan was important to make sure everything would be done on time. 

Within the English Theatre of Rome we work with a very small budget. This taught me about the finances when working with a small independent company. I feel that my personal skills in being frugal and logical when it comes to money could really be utilized within the theatre. 

As design assistant I took the opportunity to contribute my visual ideas for the performance such as the set design and also took on the role of creating some of the more complex costume pieces - In this case the traditional Bengali head-pieces for the bride and groom.

Please read a more recent post on this here: Bengali Head Pieces

This week opened my eyes to realise that I am a good problem solver and logical thinker. There were occasions where a particular strategy or idea was suggested and I voiced my opinion on how it could be done with more ease and efficiency - I was credited with good feedback from that.

I am self-teaching myself some basic Italian and I have arranged with to meet a friend of Gaby's each week and have an hour of language exchange. The idea is we both bring a text book and set each other some 'homework'. Our first lesson really helped my pronunciation and also his language skills too. To aid my learning I have began to create illustrated pages with common Italian phrases and words. As a visual worker, I think this will help me memorise words more easily.

Over the weekend we were really busy which was good for me as I work well under pressure. Eve and I resourced most of the props and transported them to the University where we would be holding the show and rehearsals.

Watching the rehearsal taught me a little about how theatre works from the acting side of it, which is new to me. I was interested to learn and see more. Theo held an exercise to draw out sadness in the class and show how this method can be used to portray convincing sad-acting. She had everyone, myself included, think of a nearest and dearest person who is currently alive - and imagine them dead. Then we wrote a list of things we wished we could have done with them. It was honestly heart-wrenching, it reduced half the group to tears. I actually thought this was really interesting, the point of it was to show how if you are convincing, the audience can relate to the character and are instantly more involved and it makes for a realistic show.

I started to realise how important communication is within work. I found I could sometimes be a quite solitary worker, not informing others of my progress or keeping them up to date with where I am with my work. I learnt that this was not always the best way to go and that sharing your progress can not only ease the worry of others but also allow people to offer me help if needed. Basically it can be a lot easier for me and others if I do so.

Another duty of mine was to take the reservations. I had learnt already how to work with the database and I am polite by nature, so sending lovely emails back to the customers was a fairly easy task. 

We met met the wives of the Indian Embassy employees and they taught us about the traditional clothing worn for Bengali weddings, which fabrics would be used and which colours were popular too. They bought in their own garments (which were incredibly beautiful, one was even her old wedding sari!) and offered to lend us their own clothing and jewellery to use in the show, I arranged to meet them later in the week.

Some of the stunning gold jewellery brought by the ladies of Embassy

If could compare this experience to project research like we do on our modules at university, this would be the best source of primary research. Learning first hand from traditional Indian women was so fascinating, and indisputably accurate - unlike some information you can find on the web. This really showed me how vital primary research can be and I will use as much as I can in the future. 

Monika demonstrating how to correctly wear a sari

After showing I could work well, Theo and Gaby decided to up my role and hand me the full responsibility of costume and props. I started to study the characters, think about their personalities and show I could reflect that in their clothing. I found this process similar to the work I did creating customer boards and designing clothes for that market during my second year at University.

By this point I had also moved into my new apartment with Michele my new house-mate, an older Italian man who was renting a room for a good price in exchange for the lodger (me) dog sitting 2-3 days a week. I was settling in and learning my way around. 

New canine companion, Chira

That feeling when you arrive in Italy, your new home

Saturday morning I arrived in bright sunny Rome.

I wasn't nervous beforehand. In fact, I wasn't even really scared - which is surprising when, at this point, I didn't even have a place to live. I was going to a foreign country where I didn't speak the language, I didn't know my way around, or a single person for that matter, and I had no idea how the public transport worked.

The truth is, none of that hits you until you step out of the train station onto the warm concrete, sun beaming down, your 34 kilo grams of stuff in your hand (and on your back, and on your arms) and then you have the thought:

'OK. So what now?'

My actual first step was get a coffee. My first Italian coffee. I could sit at a cafe and plan my day to see what the hell I was going to do. I had three houses to view, and as I did not have the foggiest on how to get around Rome, this was my first challenge.

My view from that little corner cafe

With only a name, address and an Italian mobile number for each house I asked in the cafe I was drinking at for some help. That instantly made me realise how much you take for granted knowing your way around somewhere - or at least how the transport works. I was lucky, the man spoke some English and actually lived about 5 minutes away from one of my addresses. He gave me directions that required me to use the metro and the bus and off I went.

Leaving my life in the train station luggage hold, my day continued with a clueless exploration of Rome and some of the grotty apartments it had to offer. 

That evening I met my boss, Gaby, at the theatre - I hadn't spoken to her until I arrived in Rome due to the fact the Erasmus placements are applied for through the university rather than student to employer. I actually think this is a little strange, I think it would be more beneficial for students to have a chance to chat with their future boss first and present themselves.

The was a show on the night I arrived at the theatre - this really was the best possible to instantly throw me into the theatre and give me an idea of how it all worked. I was introduced to lots of people that night - which, at the time, was quite a nerve-racking experience for me. Previously, as silly as this may sound, I hadn't had much interaction around adults on a same-level kind of way. They had always been parents, or teachers.

My first day was packed with challenges. Sussing out a new city, practising a new language and meeting lots of new people. I learnt that the best way to tackle things is without the worry and too much planning. The most important thing for me on my first day was communication. Asking for directions, asking for help and asking how to read the metro maps. The challenging aspect of this was the language barrier.

I was sleeping at Gaby's bohemian flat until I found my own place - needless to say I slept well that night.

My first week of work started on the Wednesday, 2nd October. As I expected I began with email work and database. It was my duty to send out mass emails to the theatre contacts regarding a show change. This was a really long process however it taught me the fundamentals of the companies mailing system and the importance to the company of promoting through the mailing list. It was their primary advertising method.

The next Saturday, a week after arriving, we had another showing at the theatre. My responsibility was to meet and greet the guests and ask them certain questions to gain market research. We wanted to know how they had heard about the theatre most importantly as this is key to knowing your target places to advertise. It was also important to take down the emails of any new customers so that they could be added to the mailing list. 

My first night I was a little shy, approaching a group of people to ask them questions was not something I had done before. I did my job, yet I can't imagine I was exactly exuberating confidence.

During the show I conducted a head count of the audience. The number would be used later when looking at the financial aspects such as profit and turnout.

I ended with seeing the guests out, thanking them for coming and also slipping in a little advertisement for the upcoming show. This role really helped to improve my people skills and the next night (Sunday we had another showing) I was already beginning to feel more relaxed. I learnt the importance of knowing your clientèle and how they know about you. This is vital for targeting promotion as accurately as possible.

I would just like to note that these are being re-written from progress logs I kept from my arrival here. This was written the week commencing May 12th 2014. 

(Well done self for dramatically improved writing skills)