If you can see yourself as a backstage whiz, there’s great news. A shortage of skilled theatre technicians means that those who complete good, accredited courses can look forward almost 100 per cent employment.

Technical jobs in theatre include stage managers, technical mangers, lighting designers, sound engineers, carpenters, the list goes on. There are as many ways in as there are jobs, but a good start is to find an accredited course.

The Conference of Drama Schools (CDS) produces an up-to-date guide to professional training in technical theatre, which lists every course at its 22 drama schools. The courses range from one to three years and you will graduate with either a degree or a diploma in stage management and technical theatre. You should also check out the online guide to technical training courses at UK colleges and universities.

Fees

Most of the three-year courses are Government-funded, which means you pay £3,070 a year tuition fees, but can apply for maintenance and fee loans. You only start repaying these once you’re earning more than £15,000 a year. Some of the courses offer full funding via the Dance and Drama Awards to around 60 per cent of their students, but others will have to pay the full fees. If you choose an independent course you will have to pay the full fees of up to £10,000 a year with no access to maintenance or fee loans. More information on funding is available in the CDS guide. The National Council for Drama Training accredits technical courses offered by drama schools.

Accreditation

Hilary Strong, director of the National Council for Drama Training, offers advice on choosing a course: “It’s important to check that your course has been accredited, because this shows that it has been assessed by the industry as being appropriate for today’s job market. “You should also be looking at the involvement of outside directors and designers in the programmes, facilities on offer for backstage and technical training and how many shows you will be working on.”

Martha Everett, 23, finished her degree in stage management and technical theatre at Guildhall School of Music & Drama in 2005. She now works as a freelance stage manager. She advises those thinking of following in her footsteps: “You need to take every opportunity you can, phone people up, apply for jobs you never think you could get, be really self confident and most of all relax and have fun, no one likes an uptight stage manager.” The courses mentioned so far are largely in higher education, for those who have left school or college at 18. But there are also options if you’re a 16-year-old school leaver looking for a further education course.

National Skills Academy

The National Skills Academy for Creative & Cultural was set up to help plug a shortage of skilled theatre technicians. The role of the Academy (which is a collective of employers and colleges, rather than a specific place) is to accredit the courses already available and design new ones. Pauline Tambling, Managing Director of the National Skills Academy, said: “There are currently a lot of courses focussing on performance and not so many concentrating on the off-stage, back-stage and technical side of things. We will be trying to re-focus the courses available, get more industry involvement and look at plugging gaps.” More information about the NSA can be found at www.nsa-ccskills.co.uk.