Quote:
Originally Posted by katex
Hi back darling Billcat, well you have nearly got it correct. Stage Manager, of course, would certainly let the cast know that the curtain is ready to go up (or pulled in smaller theatres), but the Callboy's job is to let each actor know 'during the course of a show' when their 'cue is due' so they don't miss it.
Extremely responsible job I can assure you.
As for call girl (was just trying to make a joke of it you understand) .. they did looked at me rather strangely, and didn't quite get the humour. Think I should have said in a more PC way .. Call person... 
Glad you enjoyed the panto .. nowt like it is there ? |
Hello to you as well, katex. With the Lancs weather I've been hearing about today, must be a cold view toward the water!
Nope, nothing here like a panto, nor anything like the old Player's Theatre music hall shows I used to attend in London. It's a lot of fun to attend new types of shows.
Okay, understand the callboy job. Yes, it would be a very responsible job, especially in shows with a large cast. Never worked with one, as the groups I work with handle it a bit differently. Virtually all of the groups I have worked with have intercom systems that serve the green room and the dressing rooms, and actors are expected to keep track of their upcoming entrance cues. Seems to work very well, as I can't recall anyone having to improvise to cover for a missing actor (save for an outdoor production of Henry V in 1974, where we did
not have intercoms and Pistol fell asleep in the woods! Some very interesting "Shakespearean" improv by Fluellen, until Henry covered by entering early for the next scene.).
Of course, in shows with a large number of children - "Annie" and "Oliver" come to mind - someone is often assigned to manage the kids. Even then, it's not so much a matter of them being unready for their entrances, but being a bit too ready and underfoot as a result.
I've another blocking rehearsal for "Forum" tonight! Can't wait until we get through the early stages of rehearsal and get to work on really running the scenes.
I understood the humor of "callgirl," but humor doesn't always play the same in the US as in the UK. In the UK, wordplay gets better results than over here, as do humorous references to sex (and the various "naughty bits" of human anatomy). For example, the play, "No Sex Please, We're British" managed a run of almost a decade in London, but closed on Broadway is less than a month. Perhaps it could be attributed to a somewhat more repressed or puritanical attitude over here. Just, well, different!