"Don’t feel the need to share your knowledge or opinions unless asked"

Hometown
I was born in Beijing, brought up in Bonn and London and now living in Scotland

What do you do?
I’m self employed as freelance production electrician/ technical stage manager/ lighting designer

How long have you been at it?
About 10 years working for myself

What was your very first role in theatre?
First paid role: technician at Man in the Moon pub theatre (famous London fringe venue, now closed) or casual LX (lighting technician) at The Place–can’t remember which came first now

First unpaid: Lampy (again, lighting technician) at school from age 11 and ASM (assistant stage manager) with local am-drams from age 13

What have you done in theatre?
I’m currently a production electrician for Purple Sheep Lighting and Forced Entertainment, and a freelance lighting designer/production electrician and a visiting lecturer at Rose Bruford College

I’ve also toured with Scottish Opera, worked as chief electrician at Hackney Empire, been house electrician at The Shaw Theatre, toured Europe as technical stage manager/lighting designer with The Cholmondeleys and The Featherstonehaughs, taught at Mountview and East Berkshire College and done lighting design for many shows including Aladdin at Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds and various Diva Opera performances across Europe.

Have you got qualifications?
I got my A-levels and started a degree, but got slung out for doing too many plays

What did you do before you worked in theatre?
I had a job putting up shelves in a research laboratory, and ended up as an electron microscopy technician at Barts Hospital

How did you move into working in theatre?
I found it quite easy. The notion of having a ‘proper’ job was more of an aberration. I had been lighting shows and working with bands anywhere that would have me even before my teens. And the moment I was offered an insultingly small amount of money to be abused and exploited, I leaped at the opportunity.

What did you want to be when you grew up?
I wanted to be a scientist, or to have a really big bright torch

What do you do all day?
For the company I have been working with for the last year or so, there are three possible types of working days:
(1) Travel. As it is an international company, there is a great deal of this. It can be flying, or it can mean driving a truck across Europe.
(2) Fitting up. Typically we rig LX, focus and set-up sound on the day before our first performance day, then, depending on which of the five shows currently in the repertoire we are doing, we lay the set out and go to the pub.
(3) Performance day. Generally speaking I will light the show in the late morning as the performers sort themselves out on stage. They will then sound check bits, and I’ll check lighting as they do it. Around about 5pm everyone will get bored and decide that they have done enough, and that will be it until performance time. Sometimes there will be press/TV, in which case lighting may be required pre-show.

What’s the best thing about your job?
I love not working in the UK. Over here you are treated like a mixture of pond scum and something stuck on a shoe. Generally speaking, overseas you are treated with professional respect, the theatres are clean and well equipped and the staff are plentiful and frequently helpful.

And the worst?
The worst thing? Turning up to a UK arts venue, to be asked ‘Where’s the LX plan?’, knowing full well that the paperwork was all sent to the production manager weeks previously and he hasn’t bothered either to look at it, or to pass it on to the poor infantry who are supposed to put it up.

The second question I dread, is ‘Do you need all those lights?’ The only answer to that should be ‘No we don’t really. The lighting designer only drew them on the plan so you’d have something to do.’

Sometimes we are too accommodating, and try to put up with all of that, when truly what companies should be doing is saying ‘no, we won’t accept this.’ The industry depends on the drama schools turning out a steady stream of cannon fodder each year–people who will put up with the shoddy management, poor pay and intolerable working conditions just because they love the idea of it all.

What’s your dream job in theatre?
I would like to earn enough to be able just to create (ie to just work as a lighting designer). There is a lot to be said for recreating other people’s work for them. It keeps you rooted in reality, but even now, after too many years, there is nothing better than the satisfaction to be gained from the creative process.

Got any wise words for someone who wants to be where you are now?
The best advice? Don’t do it! Theatre is a shallow profession and it is possible to progress a long way professionally by standing still and doing very little. Out there you will find that for every diamond geezer there are a hundred mediocrities who will steal your ideas, lie to you and abuse you.

But if this still hasn’t put you off, then grab all the training you can get, make contacts (despite my undoubted pessimism there are many helpful and friendly people out there). Even if you have been lighting shows since you were in a pushchair, and you can recite the DHA gobo catalogue backwards, don’t feel the need to share your knowledge or opinions unless asked. Never be afraid to ask questions, especially if there might a safety issue involved.

Finally, keep in touch with people. If you work with someone and enjoy it, tell them. It is very easy to lose touch with your friends, and requires some personal effort not to.

Read profiles of top industry figures on the Entertainment Technology website