Dramas of life backstage

It’s 11am and a full three hours before the audience for the matinee of Blood Brothers starts pouring into the foyer of the Grand Theatre in Leeds.

Aside from a school party which is making its way around the impressive Victorian building as one of the theatre’s heritage staff attempts to inspire them with tales of its glamorous past, the auditorium is empty. Well, almost.

Stage left, a few steps from a painted skyline of Liverpool, the backdrop familiar to anyone who has seen Willy Russell’s musical, is an old sofa. On it, some of the technical crew responsible for bringing the show to life each day are deep in conversation. Mostly the talk is focused on what they are going to have for dinner when the curtain comes down on that evening’s performance. At the moment, curry seems favourite.

Come 2.30pm, the technical crew will be at their various positions, manning the lighting and sound desks and ensuring the scenery moves into position as it should. One wrong button pressed and the whole show could come to an inglorious halt, but there’s no sign of nerves, in the wings there’s no room for stage fright.

“Things go wrong of course they do,”says Chris James, Blood Brothers’ Sound Number One. He joined the show in February last year but has been touring with other musicals for the last five. “The cast’s radio mics occasionally decide to switch themselves off and when we were in Bristol the other week the desk blew up.

“Fortunately it was before the show started and everything can be fixed. Like everyone else faced with problem technology, the first thing we do is switch it off and switch it back on again.”

He makes it sound simple, but as his hands move over the mixing desk, playing the various faders and volume controls like a piano, it’s clear that it’s not. Everything from the distance of the stage to the position of the theatre’s speakers has to be taken into consideration and, when the show moves to a new venue, as it does each week, everything has to be reset. However, at the Grand Theatre, life is made a little easier.

“These old theatres were obviously built before casts had head mics, so the natural acoustics had to be first rate. Here we look out over the stalls and the sense of emotion you get from the audience is extraordinary, musicals do seem to have a real effect on people.”

Chris’s deputy, Matt Williams, adds that a few nights ago they watched one woman struggle out of her wheelchair to join in the standing ovation. While he stops short of claiming Blood Brothers can work miracles, the public appetite for the show and the rest of Bill Kenwright’s musical output is undeniably insatiable.

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Whistle Down the Wind, Cabaret and Jesus Christ Superstar have all been given the Kenwright treatment and it pretty much possible to see one of the company’s shows in a different theatre every night of the year – Blood Brothers alone has been touring for 15 years.

It’s a slick musical conveyor belt and for the travelling band of techies, administrators and musicians who make it run smoothly, that means months on the road, moving from one B&B or basic apartment to another. Matt says he recently gave up his own flat, because he got to see it so little and when others do make it home it’s often just to sleep .

For the Leeds run, most of the Blood Brothers crew have been living in flats on Kirkstall Road. The decor doesn’t sound up to much, but they’ve got their own kitchen, so for once don’t have to live on takeaways.

“Food is probably the one thing that occupies our minds the most,” says chief electrician Matthew Harper, the man who controls every lighting change in the show.

“Home cooking is the one thing we all miss, so whenever we get a chance we will all cook for each other. Our deputy stage manager travels with a touring kitchen and if she sees an oven she’ll start baking cakes. Not surprisingly, she has no problem finding someone to share with.”

Right on cue, Rachel Williams, the DSM arrives. She’s not brought any cakes with her this morning and as the rest of the back stage crew make their last minute checks, she has one last flick through her prompt book. When the performance starts, she will call every lighting and sound change, ensure the sets are in place for each new scene and in between will make sure the cast have their entrances timed to the split second.

“We have three different sets depending on the size of the theatre, so the first thing I do when I get into a new venue is talk to the production carpenter to see what pieces of set we’ve got in as that affects the running of the show,” she says pointing to a series of instructions written on different coloured post-it notes.

“Part of my job is to check the show is still up to scratch and that everyone is sticking exactly to the script. This show has been running for ages, but every audience member has paid to see it and they deserve to see the best possible production.”

At the end of each week, after the final Saturday night performance, a massive removal operation begins. Packing up the lighting rig and set takes until about 3am and then it’s onto the tour bus for a few hours’ sleep before the whole cycle begins again.

It’s not a life suited to everyone, but musician Louisa Ridgway says she couldn’t ask for a better job. While the trumpet and saxophone players spend the performance in a windowless basement, as Second Keys, Louisa takes her place behind a keyboard in the orchestra pit, an arm’s length from the front row of the stalls.

“We definitely have the best deal,” she says. Louisa was recruited by Bill Kenwright’s company after training at London’s Trinity College of Music and joined Blood Brothers in February. As with the cast, the musicians and backstage crew are employed on six-month contracts, but most end up renewing again and again.

“People often ask me how I can do the same show day after day. It’s a cliché to say that for us every show is different, but it is. Playing these kind of scores for two hours each night is therapeutic, it’s the best job in the world.”

There are 31 cast and crew on tour with Blood Brothers, a small company in comparison to something like Oklahoma or Seven Brides for Seven Brothers where you can add another dozen to that number. No-one wants to name any names, but admit that other productions have their fair share of egos. However, all are on message when it comes to Blood Brothers. Everyone you speak to insists it’s one big family. As is if to demonstrate, the show’s leading lady Niki Evans arrives and, before checking into her dressing room, pops her head round the stage door to say hello. She’s only had two hours sleep and with her hair scraped back and no make-up she couldn’t look more different from the carefully-groomed diva who got through to the semi-finals of The X-Factor 2007. She joined the cast of Blood Brothers the following year, playing the central role of Mrs Johnstone, whose twin sons are separated at birth.

“I’m not feeling so good today,” she says halfway through a sausage sandwich.

“One bottle of wine too many, but give me 10 minutes and I’ll be fine.”

After a spell in the West End, Niki has been on tour for much of the last two years. Her husband Darren looks after their two sons while she’s away and while the family are only together one-day a week, they have, she says, settled into a routine.

“I’m away from home six days a week and much of the seventh is spent doing the washing and the food shopping, but I can’t complain, the last four years have been brilliant. Before The X-Factor, I’d never seen a musical, in fact I’d never even been to the theatre. Being part of something like Blood Brothers has been pretty special.”

Niki disappears into her dressing room, and with the rest of the cast on their way, the backstage crew make the most of their last few minutes alone in the auditorium. Dire Straits’s Money for Nothing booms through the speakers and expert lighting man Matthew shows how he can control the entire rig from his iPhone, making the lights dim by sweeping his finger up and down the screen.

A few yards away, wardrobe manager David Hoy is fitting a new member of the Blood Brothers cast. Suzi Power is in the final week of rehearsals and when she joins the show proper as part of the ensemble she will be required to go through 14 costume changes, most of them involving head scarves and overcoats.

“It might not be the most glamorous wardrobe, but I love it,” says David, who when not required in the theatre is normally found trawling the rails of charity shops. “Blood Brothers begins in 1959 and ends in 1983 so there is a real range of styles and I’m always picking up new pieces. In fact I spotted a jacket in a vintage shop just this morning that I’ll be popping back to buy later.

“I’ve been working on Blood Brothers since 1997 which I guess tells you a lot about how special this show is. The other day I saw some costumes belonging to Opera North. I’ve done my share of extravagant shows and I thought, ‘Gosh I remember that world’, but not for one minute would I want to swap this for anything else.”

By 1.30pm the stage is cleared. The backstage crew just have time to grab some lunch, while the cast go through their vocal warm-ups. An hour later, Niki is waiting in the wings as the musicians wait for their cue. She’s still tired, but for now sleep has to wait because in the best musical tradition, the show must go on.

Leeds Grand Theatre continues its run of Bill Kenwright productions with the final two performances of Jekyll and Hyde today, followed by Dreamboats and Petticoats from August 8 to 13. Call 0844 8482706, www. leedsgrandtheatre.com