Welfare

Doing a show, while being a great experience, can sometimes be stressing especially during the weekend just before opening. It's not easy to juggle theatre, degree, social life and sleep for an average Cambridge student. It is very important to remember that your welfare is more important than the show.

This page serves as an open platform to discuss welfare-related issues.

Balance & Boundaries

Shows can be exciting and engaging things to be involved in, but they can also seem all-consuming. It's worthwhile to set boundaries for yourself in terms of time, energy and responsibility, so that your commitment to a show doesn't extend beyond what you intended to give. There are a few ways you can hold onto these boundaries:

• Timetable your hours spent working on a show and stick to them. This prevents it becoming a never-ending job.

• Make sure your producer knows any commitments you have during the get-in or show week. Make sure you stick to these unless you're certain you can skip things - it's very easy for someone to tell you to skip a lecture or a social activity to work on a show. This becomes a concern during get-ins, but provided you've warned ahead it should be fine.

• Ensure you know what you are and are not expected to do. Different shows will set up roles differently depending on peoples' experience and availability, so it's good to know where your responsibility ends.

Long Hours/Time Out

ADC Theatre and Corpus Playroom

During the Get-in Weekend, it is common that the technical team stays a long time inside the theatre, especially if it's an ADC Mainshow. There is a time-out rule that No one can stay in the venues for more than 16 hours in one go without an 8 hour break. Everyone must have a break lasting at least 8 hours or longer, you cannot pop out of the theatre for a couple of hours and return to continue working.

It is the Producer's and Technical Representative's responsibility to ensure everyone follow the time-out rule and get enough rest.

Overnights

Working overnight is only typically done in the ADC Theatre, in order to rig and plot lights before the get-in occurs for a main show. They will occasionally happen to finish off work for big shows (eg. to complete get-in for LTM). They tend to start early on a Sunday morning as soon as the previous week's main show has finished their get out, and they will go until the work is done - often meeting with the start of the main get-in.

Planning an Overnight

Often, a production team will assume that the lighting designer is planning an overnight, and importantly is willing to do an overnight. This should not be assumed and should be discussed well before the get-in weekend. If you are uncomfortable doing an overnight or just don't want to have to stay up all night, that is very valid - it just means things will need to be planned and scheduled differently, especially considering the tight timeframe for a get-in.

If you decide to do an overnight, you need to have someone present as Technical Representative who has been part of an overnight before. They are responsible for running the show and all health and safety issues. Ideally you'll get a team of a few people (at least 4 in total) to be there, as things can go much quicker with more hands, and you can all get to bed.

Feel free to contact the CUADC Technicians Rep and Technical Director if you need any advice about an overnight, or are struggling to find people to help.

Doing an Overnight

Staying in the theatre overnight is not an option that should be taken lightly, and you should ensure you are prepared. You need to make sure you're well rested rather than already being tired when you arrive, especially considering the larger risks present when working at height and with mains electricity.

Food and breaks are also an important consideration - even if you've eaten well during the day you will definitely get hungry in the early hours. Common practice is to buy some frozen pizzas and cook them in the ADC kitchen. It's also good to bring some other snacks - biscuits, fruit etc. as rigging the lighting is hard work and you'll need to keep yourselves going! Make sure to plan breaks in which you can eat these snacks, rest your weary bodies and take stock of what you're doing and what's left.