Theatre Photography: Aladdin

The Woodville stage with the Aladdin sets ready to be assembled.

The theatrical ‘get-in’ is a bit like moving house. You arrive at your new home early in the morning with all your worldly possessions piled in the back of a van. Before you can unload, you need to deal with all the stuff the previous residents didn’t take with them. 

There’s furniture to be unloaded, lights to be put up, and the sound system to be installed. Inevitably, something doesn’t quite fit and you don’t know where the kettle is. Junk food is eaten! Tomorrow, the rest of the family arrives, and you’re having a party in less than a week. So, this needs to get done, no matter how long it takes. 

Members of the stage crew unload the scenery on to the Woodville stage at the start of a long day.

The backstage team assemble the Aladdin sets on The Woodville stage.

The production Sound Engineer at the sound desk.

Musical Supervisor, Toby Higgins, in the Woodville pit.

Empty stage at The Woodville theatre, Gravesend.

A member of the backstage team trimming the cloths.

The Production crew have a long day assembling the sets.

Stage Manager, Ross Steinberg and Production Manager, Freddy Teubler on the Woodville stage.

Ross, Freddy and the backstage crew unload, lift, carry, assemble, adjust, move, jiggle and trim. It’s going to be a long day – a very long day. When you’re done, it’ll look great. The guests will be amazed. But no one will realise quite how much work it took, and then, it all needs to come down again.

Thanks to Tom at Wicked Productions and Mandy at The Woodville.

Aladdin Stage Manager, Ross Steinberg, on the stage with Woodville Technical Manager, Roland Baker and members of the backstage team.

Sets for Aladdin stacked on the Woodville stage.

Technical Manager, Dan Stratford, setting the lights for Aladdin at The Woodville.