Half Moon Trainee Alumni

“The training is completely different to everything I have ever done before; lighting and front of house particularly. I loved every minute of it.

Doing lighting has given me the ability to control lights which I feel I might have to do in any job I want to go into. I do another programme with Rich Mix and I can now use those skills for them too. I knew about front of house and how it works but now I know where everything is and how to work with the public in a more polite manner. And I know how you control yourself and how you talk in a difficult situation. They’re definitely transferrable skills. I always thought about being a facilitator and wanted the knowledge of how to make a workshop diverse and inclusive. I now have the knowledge to support young people with disabilities and understand how to get them involved in the right way.

It was good to have all the disciplines with the same amount of time in each and was spread out well. I actually really enjoyed the safeguarding training and to me it was the most important. I don’t know much about being self-employed yet but I’m excited to learn. I’m still looking for more training experiences with acting and stuff and I feel like this training and the trainee role will help me move on to other things too.”

“When I first started the programme I wanted to learn more about Access, as it is something I’m thinking about doing in the future, but for now I want to focus on the technical side of theatre.

I chose to do lighting because I want to hone the skills I already have as Technical Theatre is something I want to do as a career. So far, I have learnt how to patch a desk and the ‘intelligent’ and ‘non-intelligent’ ways to do this. The difference is that ‘intelligent’ lights use a DMX cable which you can daisy chain together. That makes it easier than inputting each light separately. You just set a different address for each of the lights.

I’ve been working on gaining more confidence and asking questions. The team here are great and always help you understand what you’re doing.”

“Time for an update. Since the last update I have become more confident with my role as a Technical Assistant. I have learnt that in small-scale theatres you don’t just do the tech, but the maintenance as well. This is definitely good for helping with life skills. I have learnt how to do a stock check (checking what and how many lamps we have). I also made a log of everything in the props and costume cupboard —that was a lot of fun!

Back to the Tech side of things. I have learnt how to set-up for a touring show. How you mark and colour code the lighting stands and lights. For an easy set-up, I have also learnt that the lighting levels differ depending on the venue. For example: if the show was touring at a school, lighting levels need to be higher (so they are brighter.)

I have thoroughly enjoyed learning all the new technical skills. It has really helped me develop as a person in terms of confidence. I feel more out of my shell.”