Pat Heigham
I recall working on a play which starred Dame Edith Evans.
On general floor sound duties, I had to make sure that the foldback LSU10 was positioned correctly from time to time.
Not always there.
On the take, I was leaning at the back of the speaker, when Edith stopped the recording, and pointing with her stick, announced in her famous wavery voice: "That man there! He wasn’t there on rehearsal!" (I was most likely attending to something else).
I have a theory that she had forgotten her dialogue and was alibi-ing an excuse! And I wasn’t in her eyeline!
Roger Bunce
That one reminds me of an incident with a new Director in Pres. A. We had rehearsed everything reasonably well. Then we ran to record – and he went to pieces. His explanation, afterwards, was, "I was distracted by that red light. It wasn’t there on rehearsals."
Pat Heigham
Well, It wouldn’t have been, would it!
John Howell
Similarly we were just about to go on air in TC7 with a bit of “Aardvark” nonsense when Director Christine Hewitt asked, “Could someone stop that red light flashing?” With great presence of mind for an early Saturday morning, I hit the intercom button and said, ‘Don’t worry, love, it stops flashing when we go on air”.
Pat Heigham
Talking of directors:
I remember working on a production of "Wait A Minim" which was running on the London stage. Dutch TV had secured rights to televise a studio version, so the BBC lent facilities to the Dutch company to shoot the show. A crib card was constructed for the Dutch director with cartoon images for ‘Pan Up, Pan Down, Track L, Track R’ etc. with the English script, although most Dutch nationals speak excellent English.
One of the instruments in the show, was an Mbira made from tuned flattened metal tongues, which were flicked by fingers, and held at chest height by the player.
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I was impressed with my SS who decided the best way to mike it, was to fit the player with a lanyard BK6B personal.
It was a splendid show – such a shame that we didn’t have our VHS machines in those days!
