Casting a play when nobody can take six weeks off
Folake and a London fringe director compare notes on casting with actors who have day jobs, evening rehearsals, and the moment you realise the best audition will not be available.
The generator died during the second act
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Show notes
The generator died during the second act
Folake sits with a stage manager who has run shows in Lagos for fifteen years and asks her about the night everyone in Nigerian theatre has heard about: the generator failing halfway through act two, with a full house and no backup.
- The 90 seconds of silence, and the decision to keep going
- Finishing a play by phone torches and one battery lantern
- What the audience did, which nobody expected
- The kit she has carried to every show since
- Why stage managers are the real directors after opening night
If you have a backstage disaster story, send it to Folake through Witspeak. She reads them all.
Transcript
Good evening, or whatever time it is where you are. I am Folake Adeyemi-Oni and this is Half Hour Call, the show about theatre from the wings, where the real drama lives. Today I am with a stage manager who has run productions in Lagos for fifteen years, and I have been trying to get her on this show since the day we started, because of one night. Act two, full house, a play I had directed, and the generator died. Total darkness. Ninety seconds of silence that felt like an hour. What happened next is the reason I still believe in live theatre. We talk about finishing a play by phone torch, about what the audience did, and about the bag of equipment she has carried to every single show since. Stage managers, this one is for you. You are listening on Witspeak Podcasts.
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