TheatreCraft, London’s largest free event for 16-25 year olds seeking non-performance careers in theatre returns on Monday 14 November.
The annual careers fair has a new home for 2016 at the Waldorf Hilton Hotel, and offers attendees the opportunity to participate in numerous workshops led by theatre professionals, explore a vibrant marketplace of exhibiting theatres and organisations, seek one-to-one advice in the Ask The Experts zone, and interact with peers in networking hubs. Register for free at the TheatreCraft website.
We spoke to James Seabright, one of the many industry professionals who will be giving a free workshop at this year’s event, about the work life of a producer. His productions include the Olivier Award winner Showstopper! The Improvised Musical as well as The Boys In The Band at the Park Theatre, Potted Panto which will run at the Garrick Theatre from 10 December and Trainspotting which plays at The Vaults from 3 November.
An average day for me involves:
Working at my office in the Palace Theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue, having meetings around the West End, and seeing a show!
The people I work with mostly are:
Delightful theatre types, ranging from actors and crew to marketing, technical and theatre staff.
The best part of my day is usually:
That exciting moment when a new project appears, or we hear that one of our shows has had a great performance somewhere.
I usually finish work at:
The point I fall asleep.
The most glamorous part of my job is:
Opening nights.
The least showbiz part of my job is:
All the preparatory work involved in opening nights.
The advice I’d give to anyone wanting to do my job would be to:
Avoid doing it at all costs unless you cannot imagine doing anything else with your every waking moment.
To find out more information and to register for TheatreCraft 2016 visit theatrecraft.org