Getting more for your money

When working towards a performance within a theatre company, it is important to make the most of all the money that you have. This means that where possible, a company should try to gain props, costumes or even pieces of set for free. When our set designer decided that the production would have two large wooden angels either side of the stage, we immediately knew that sourcing and purchasing this wood would take some time. We wanted to try and get the wood as soon as possible in order for the cutting and painting to be completed. After some research, the price for the amount of wood we wanted would come to around £30-£40, not including delivery. As this price was quite high, I decided to try and see if one of the builders merchants would give the wood to us for free.

Outside the LPAC there was a building site whereby the library was being extended. Because of this they used large boards of wood to fence off the building area. Thinking that they may have some of these board going spare, I decided to ask them if we could have any for free. With a smile and a little bit of persuasion, we managed to get one full board and two half boards for nothing. This was also beneficial because of the sheer size of these boards. Anywhere else we could have got them from would have cost us in delivery, where as the location of this building site was right next to the LPAC, costing us only the kind help of a few technicians to come and carry the wood to the scene dock for us. By acquiring this wood for free, we were able to spend more of the set budget on things such as paint and fabric for the other angel.

Other props such as a double piano stool would have taken the majority of the props budget away. The LPAC props store only had one seater piano stools available. With a few quick phone calls to members of my family, I managed to get not only a double stool, but a mirror, some sheet music and a few dust sheets to save the theatre company some money in the budget. The double stool became essential to the performance during the piano tuner and countess’ scene as there is an intimate moment between the two of them that requires them both to be sat together by the piano. By acquiring this specific prop for free, it allowed other money to be spent on props such as fake blood, that took some experimenting to get right. If a theatre company (like ours) is on a very tight budget, it is important to try to save as much money as possible by ‘begging stealing and borrowing’. Being able to communicate with other people and businesses makes this task a lot easier as the right approach may lead to a freebie or discounted items. I have found through being a stage manager that there are times when being ‘cheeky’ and asking for a little more is always the best plan of attack as long as it is done in a professional way. It is clear that this approach worked as I managed to save over £80 of the set/props budgets.

Another example of gaining things for free would be during the rehearsal process. I made contact with Lincoln City Football Club for rehearsal space and Sam Taylor for our photography and graphic design. Both of these contacts were very useful to the theatre company as a whole, our branding was created for us with accompanying brand manual to keep consistency and we were granted over 16 hours of free rehearsal space. These contacts are displayed in our programme to help advertise their businesses in return for helping our theatre company.

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Alex Urbanczyk