What is a Deputy Stage Manager?
There is usually a small team of people (the stage management) whose job it is to look after the rehearsals, ensure that the actors know when they are needed, that all the properties (or an appropriate substitutes) are available for rehearsal, that the floor of the rehearsal room is marked out to indicate the shape of the stage and all entrances and exits, that all furniture is in the right place and is moved at the right time, that the movements of the actors in the play, the ‘blocking’, is recorded on special copies of the script, and not least that vital supplies of tea, coffee and biscuits are available to all the company. When the play moves from the rehearsal room into the theatre, the stage management team, led by the stage manager, assisted by a deputy and usually two assistants, takes control of the technical rehearsals. It is truly a backstage role and those that play it receive little or no publicity or public acknowledgement of their work, but without their teamwork and pro
