JumpCut is a close nit team of four female artists that have produced and performed their debut performance of Username. What an incredible show it was. I have now completed my role as stage manager for the first time. I was lucky enough to sit in the perspective of an audience member whilst performing all of my duties from the tech box. Throughout the process, I have witnessed everything from all the way back to discussions about the performance day, to it now being fully formed. On 19th May 2015 I saw the actors of JumpCut perform with more commitment, vigour, and determination than ever before. They ruined their faces, trashed the room, and created chaos for an online identity that they will never be happy with.
From this performance I have realised that as stage manager, you should be aware of mistakes that may arise during the performance and be prepared for the unexpected. Taking control and trying to mend mistakes without the audience noticing, or any communication with the actors is a difficult and risky job. Within the performance of Username the actors use a live camera feed and unfortunately one of the actors set the camera down in the wrong place. I had to make a decision to either skip a cue and perform a live voice over through the microphone or carry on with the cue which was supposed to come next. Due to the nature of our performance it did not matter that I spoke this command live. I made the decision to skip the next cue and perform a live voice over, instructing in exactly the same way, but telling a different actor to do so instead. My thought was that the actors would have become flustered with the mistake trying to get the camera back to the right person. In our feedback from members of the audience, this act went unnoticed and my decision seemed to be the right one. As it was my first time being stage manager and I managed to cover a slight mistake, I feel much more confident with this role and believe I can carry on as stage manager for other shows in the future.
Thank you to everyone who supported and came to see JumpCut’s debut performance Username. The feedback we have received is tremendous. I would have never imagined the performance to be as humorous as it was. Personally, I was sat in the tech box laughing along with some of the great satirical moments within the piece which was never performed with this much intention as it was on the 19th May. Our feedback mainly consisted of comments about the humour of the piece, emphasizing the laughter they had just encountered. The long, vigorous process has made me extremely happy with the outcome and I am proud of what we have achieved as a company.
This has been Username by JumpCut.
Works cited:
JumpCut. (2015) Username. Lincoln.
Stacey Hartley – Stage Manager