30/09/2020
Such a sad time....post shared not created but an important truth for our industry at present.....
“Vanessa Feltz, on BBC Radio London this morning, spoke with members of our industry about the plight the industry.
No shaming. No, Get a job, but insightful questions and a listening ear.
She fully understands our loss.
She very eloquently read out a large part of an email I sent to the show in the early hours; a revision of my letter in March.
Dear Vanessa,
My name is Harry. We’ve not met, but my friends & I have been with you for most of your life.
Remember those pantos you went to as a child?
We built and painted the magical sets, hauled on ropes backstage to create those wonderful scene changes, made sure the right performers entered the stage in the right place at the right time.
We created the explosions that brought the Genie from the Bottle.
We, flew Peter Pan, across the stage!
We’re the people your parents bought the programs from, the interval ice creams for you to enjoy, and after you’d gone, we were the cleaners who came to clean, the wardrobe ladies who repaired the costumes, the lighting designer that tweaked the lights, the stage managers who fixed & re-set all the props so the following performance would be as smooth and joyous as the last; & the next & the next & the next…
That’s us.
And as you grew up, do you remember the bands you went to see?
What about the promoters, the sound & mains engineers, the lighting techs, the he roadies, the humpers, the ticket sellers, the guitar techs, the video ghouls, the merchandise sellers, the generator man, the interval bar – Do you remember any of them?
That was us.
Maybe you’ve been to the ballet, a concert, the opera or a play?
Those were my friends, the people who worked, out of sight, to make it wonderful for you.
I’m sure you must have been to a conference, as a reporter, delegate or speaker?
My friends are the people who unloaded the trucks, hung the trusses, secured the internet, built the seating, the stage & backstage, laid the carpet, lit the auditorium, the stage, rigged the sound so there’s no echo; wrote the schedules &refreshed the backstage catering, long, long before the first-footfall of a Speaker or Delegate.
We arrange your hotels, your coach trips, rail passage, we cater for your dietary needs, provide support for your disabilities, your time schedules; arrange your connections, your flights.
Then we fit your belt pack and help prepare you for the audience, as the logistics team usher in the delegates, fill the seats - while all the exhibition stands head for a coffee!
We’re the Smoke & Mirrors people, the Magic Makers.
We’re backstage.
You don’t see us; you’re not meant too
But we are always there.
A friend, out of shot, walked on stage and whispered in Davina McCall's ear!
Another took a glass of water to Theresa Mary.
Another guided Jessica Innes to the podium…
We gave you David Bowie, The Spice Girls, Pink Floyd, Take That…
Without us?
They are just a bunch of friends.
In a field.
What would you do Vanessa, if you woke up one morning and found you’re not allowed to perform anymore, and that your ‘celebrity history’ counted for nothing?
That is where my friends & I are now.
We’re no different to anyone in your street; we work, we have a job. It’s just that it’s been taken away from us.
From the 70’s to today, the UK has led the world in Events.
The World comes to us for our expertise, our passion. For the commitment and experience we have to put on some of the most startling extravaganzas ever seen, and still be humble enough to produce a conference for 50 in a Heathrow hotel.
It’s not just ExCel, the NEC or the O2. It’s Manchester Central, the Cruicible, the BICC, the EICC, the ICC and countless hotels.
It’s the restaurants that feed the pre-show, post-conference parties.
It’s the Summer Festival circuit; V, Reading, Shambala, Glastonburry, Green Man, End of the Road.
It’s the Winter Gardens in Blackpool. Glorious Goodwood – Winter Wonderland!
We are the people who work in every regional theatre, in every county, throughout the United Kingdom, we are the Arts Centres, the Community Halls, the Football Stadiums, the Folk clubs, the Comedy Clubs…
We are everywhere.
We are the hundreds of thousands of people who make these events, conferences, concerts, spectaculars & shows, fireworks, happen.
Hundreds of my friends gave you the Commonwealth Games…
The Thames Pageant?
The Jubilee?
Thousands of my friends worked ridiculous hours to give you the Olympic Games..
And all the while hundreds of thousands of my friends, kept the rest of the UK’s theatres open; gave you local concerts, gigs, games, races & shows.
We are the flesh that puts body on the backbone of the Event Production Houses, the Agencies, the Lighting, Video and Sound Companies.
My friends and I have enabled companies, promoters & ourselves to generate billions of pounds for the economy.
We have families, rent, mortgages, loans. We budget on the work we have coming in, but there is none.
After weeks and months of planning our ‘Product’, it’s instant; it is gone in a moment. We can’t increase output to gain this year back. It is lost.
We are all small fish, but part of an incredibly large shoal”
