101 Dalmatians
REGENT'S PARK OPEN AIR THEATRE
When infamous Cruella de Vil (Kate Fleetwood) sets her sights on a new Dalmatian fur coat, there’s trouble ahead for Pongo, Perdi and their adorable litter of puppies. Based on the classic story set in the heart of Regent’s Park, this new musical adaptation, packed with puppetry, is perfect for a summer’s day.
101 Dalmatians was the second production that I worked on as Stage Technician at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre as part of their 2022 summer season, and my first time working on original musical which contrasted in many ways to any of my prior experience in which I would be able to research the original material. This job ended up being a lot of learning on the job and was a real test of my adaptability as due to the original creatives being right there in the space, from one day to day (or in fact one hour to the next), things could change completely!
​
A new show coming in also meant working with another set of new creatives and cast, as well as working closely with the new team of stage management and helping them to get to grips with the space. This was also my first experience of a changeover between shows at Regent's Park, which really showcased the versatility of the space as it was kitted out with a whole new set that utilised the space in a completely different way, meaning I had to quickly gauge the best way to utilise and manage the backstage space we had in order to best advise the new teams we had coming in.
​
As well as of being my first time working on an original production, 101 Dalmatians came with a lot of other firsts for me, including; working with children, working with animals, working with puppetry, working with a manual tracking system that carried large tracking treads, a cage and a bed - the latter of which was cut during previews. I additionally operated several manual sliders cues at the back of the stage, reset a kabuki cloth within the cage set piece before every show and rigged and operated the pyro that fired in the finale.
A photo, from the audience, of the stage after a long day of tech
The inside of the cage where the puppy head puppets were hung ahead of the cast entering.
The view from Stage Left on a sunny matinee.
Myself and the fox puppet featured in Act 2
My track during this show was less hectic than the previous show, mainly due to the fact that there had to be more focus on managing the safety and accessibility of the backstage space. This meant that my track was less busy and I had more opportunity to float and mitigate problems where they arose, while my stage crew carried out the more operational cues such as manning the sliders.
​
An example of one of my 'safety' cues was pushing the cage onstage in Act 2. Throughout the process, the cage had been inclined to jump the track, a problem that was dealt with the stage team however it was still a rather unpredictable piece of set and therefore I was placed as one of the operators alongside an ASM, to push the cage on, stay inside it while it was onstage and then take it off.
This came in handy in instances when we had to redirect the cage when it jumped the track, and additionally in a scenario when a cast member dropped a prop (a torch) and it jammed between the stage floor of the bottom of the cage, rendering it immobile, meaning I had to cut apart the torch, while in the cage onstage, in order to stop the jam, so the cage could move enough for us to take off again.
A lot of the rest of my track involved manoeuvring the large set pieces backstage (including a bar, a mobile par wall, the cage, the large set. of treads and two letters from onstage in Act 2) in order to optimise the storage - which was something like a big game of tetris each show, however we soon found a system and with plenty of help from various departments we managed it make it work.
​
All in all, while different to my initial experience at Regent's Park, I had an amazing time working on 101 Dalmatians and found my skill set and ability to adapt growing tenfold as a result.
PROFESSIONAL SHOTS by MARK SENIOR
