In August-September 2014, I was part of the Young Person's Tech Team for Wakefield Youth Music Theatre's production of Lionel Bart's Oliver!
I was in control of the radio microphones for the duration of the shows. This involved distributing and fitting the microphones to the members of the cast, ensuring all switches of microphones mid-show were completed and testing the microphones pre-show.
I was also in charge of the ''hot mic''- if a microphone became faulty mid-performance then I would have to switch the existing microphone with the ''hot mic''. Fortunately, I only had to use the ''hot mic'' once in a performance.
This was a great introduction to the backstage of a professional theatre. I was lucky enough to work alongside John Trenouth who was operating the sound desk. This allowed for some crossover as controlling the levels for the radio mics meant I experienced the full 'radio mic cycle'. John has considerable experience in the theatre, he mentioned that this was his 62nd production he'd been involved in. His depth of knowledge and friendliness helped me immensely throughout the show and I learnt a great deal from him over the course of the production.
Thanks to everyone who voted and played our song. With your help we made the line-up for the Crooked Ways Festival 2013 and enjoyed our festival debut. It was also great being backstage and meeting some of the other bands there.
