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Stage Management Student Gets Hay Fever!

2 February 2012

Filed Under:

Production and Design

Sarah Osborne, a final year Stage Management student, is currently on a six week placement on a new production of Hay Fever, starring Olivia Colman, Lindsay Duncan and Kevin McNally, which starts in the Noel Coward Theatre, West End, in February.

She told us how she’s getting on:

“Once I’d been told I was allowed a placement I took it upon myself to find one. The dates of the placement couldn’t have been more perfect: I started on the first day of rehearsals and will be able to see the rehearsal process through to technical rehearsals and previews. This has been really beneficial as I am seen as an integrated member of the team and not just as the ‘stage management placement’. I’ve also been invited back for the opening night, although unfortunately I’ll just miss it!

It’s great to be working alongside so many RWCMD graduates! Erin Murphy who graduated 2003 (stage management and technical theatre) is Deputy Stage Manager, Amy Morgan (pictured left in rehearsals), who graduated 2008, plays Jackie Coryton, and Anya Murphy who is understudy to several characters, graduated in 2010.

At the moment we are still in rehearsals at Battersea Arts Centre, but we’re moving to Noel Coward theatre next week. Among the many jobs I’ve been doing I’ve been : helping the assistant stage manager research and resource props, aiding the deputy stage manager in rehearsals, resetting for the appropriate scenes, co-ordinating understudy auditions, running through lines with the cast, and running errands around London for the company stage manager…

It’s brilliant to see professional stage manager’s in the real world. As this is my last placement before I graduate I can’t express how beneficial this placement has been to me. The placement has also been great for making contacts within the industry, particularly in London. I’m really excited about leaving College and getting into the industry for real. It’s definitely made the prospect of professional work less daunting!”