When a stage gets really dark, how do actors know where they're going?

[HerculesMulligansHat]

Today's least relevant and most useless question!

@AcornAutumn

Different theatres will have different light trails

But yes, it's very low lighting. Dame Judi Dench said her last theatre performance would have to be her last on account of macular degeneration.

I saw her fairly recently in A Winter's Tale, and noticed how they very subtly arranged things so that there was someone taking her arm or her hand as she came off and on. But she moved around the stage fine, and her performance was absolutely superb.

I remember reading how, in Oklahoma!, Maureen Lipman was on stage on her own at the beginning and Hugh Jackman used to stand in the wings doing his best to make her laugh.

@CompleteBarstool

I can't answer the question about lighting but I was lucky enough to have a guided tour backstage of a big theatre and the thing that I found most strange was the strange angle of the stage.

It tilts downhill towards the audience which I wasn't expecting.

Was it Theatre Royal Drury Lane? That has a very high rake (I've walked across the stage, very disconcerting, and hats off to the actors and dancers who perform on raked stages).

@HerculesMulligansHat - take a look at Carrie Hope Fletcher's channel on YouTube. She's a West End actress/singer who has done loads of vlogs backstage - great insight into what goes on

Dressing rooms at the RSC are quite far from the stage and on a different floor. When performing there you don't go to the backstage area until you've had your call. You are also not allowed to use the lift for 90 minutes before a performance starts in case it gets stuck 😂

Spent a fair bit of time in the dressing rooms and green room. Also there's a nice cast restaurant and depending on the show, you can go and have your dinner if you time it right.
Backstage at the RSC you can have a bit of a chat (there's generally a bit of fuss and chat in the quick change areas) and you're quite far back from the wings ordinarily.

I've performed in two West End Theatres - backstage in one of them (Gillian Lynne) was really tight and any noise would be picked up in the auditorium. Also completely dark backstage there, but not enough room to bump into much.

In terms of lights it's really dependent on the theatre. There's often a blue lamp directed at the floor, certainly tape and quite often one of the backstage team with a torch, but it wholly depends on this show and the theatre itself.

I am a backstage manager for local youth theatre companies. Backstage is great fun with a team of volunteers. You have to think fast on your feet when doing costume changes. The stage crew and dressers give each other space as you can have a scene change happening at the same time as a costume change and we can't get in each others way. We use head torches.

take a look at Carrie Hope Fletcher's channel on YouTube. She's a West End actress/singer who has done loads of vlogs backstage - great insight into what goes on

Thank you, I will!

@HerculesMulligansHat

Oh, and what is it like backstage? Are you allowed to talk or is it all very quiet and serious?

I used to work in theatre. When you are same show repeatedly it gets boring so you muck about a lot. I worked on a panto once. Two shows a day gets repetitive so we used to dare each other to do things. In one scene I was on stage but behind some scenery. I would hide in the scenery which would then be pushed onto the stage so I could operate a smoke machine. One dare was that I should do it topless. So I sat on stage, hidden by scenery, in front of thousands of people, with my boobs out.

I used to be a dresser on Les Mis on the West End. You could have hushed conversations in the wings and there were lights so you could find your way about - there was a table where I had to pour fake blood into a bowl for the actress playing Eponine to splash all over herself! The backstage area could get quite rowdy if you were far enough away in the dressing rooms! There's always loads of little pathways and hidey holes in theatres though, and you have to keep quiet in those. I used to have to change Mr Thenardier's wig in the corridor by the ladies toilets!!!

A raked stage brings a whole new level to pointe work for ballerinas! And for those doing tumbling/acrobatics too as the slope on the stage makes it just that little bit more difficult. Misjudge and you can end up head first into the orchestra pit!!

I don’t know but having walked into a wall at work today ( not an actor or a stage ) because it was dark - the combo of u asking this question n me reliving that earlier has made me laugh my head off so random !

@CompleteBarstool

I can't answer the question about lighting but I was lucky enough to have a guided tour backstage of a big theatre and the thing that I found most strange was the strange angle of the stage.

It tilts downhill towards the audience which I wasn't expecting.

It’s called having a rake. Some are worse than others.

Those who have worked in theatres, is it true that a light is literally kept on all the time on stage, when all the other lights in the theatre are off (at night, and when the theatre is "dark", so the first person to go on stage can see where they are going?

During previews of a show, the director and several from production will be in the audience. Can be annoying to be sat near them muttering and taking notes.
I've seen Sonia Freedman the producer dancing in the aisles during a big number and cheering every song.

I don’t know if they still do but pantos used to have muck up matinees on their final days. Or the same if a particular cast member was leaving a long running show. The West End production of Legally Blonde did muck ups a lot.

@SkepticalCat

Those who have worked in theatres, is it true that a light is literally kept on all the time on stage, when all the other lights in the theatre are off (at night, and when the theatre is "dark", so the first person to go on stage can see where they are going?

Ghost lights.

It’s more symbolic than anything.

I went to Songs for a New World at the Palladium in October, the first West End show (though a few off west end shows were already running) & they started with just the Ghost Light on stage. It was very moving.

@HerculesMulligansHat - this is a good one, the last performance of Les Mis before theatres closed again for tier 4.

@Comefromaway - Ghost lights that's it, thank you.

Theatre in the round brings a whole new set of challenges! I was once in a student version of Beckett’s Endgame in the round where I had to make my ‘entrance’ by sticking my head out of a bin midway through the first act. This meant I had to be fully costumed and made up in my bin onstage before the audience was admitted, a good three quarters of an hour before my cue. Very hot and cramped. Once the actor playing Nagg had passed out before his cue from the heat.

Back stage lighting is not what u think as normal lighting.
The lights in the wings (side of stage) and back stage are altered depending on the onstage lighting.
Those who wait/work in the wings are used to a lower light level. Eg, keep your eyes closed from changes - dark - light , or light - dark.

There are also working ‘blue’ lights, we use.