0:00:41 > 0:00:43It's a lifestyle, it's not a job.
0:00:43 > 0:00:46For me, this isn't a job. It's a lifestyle.
0:00:46 > 0:00:49I'm a dancer when I wake up, I'm a dancer on Sundays,
0:00:49 > 0:00:53when I have the day off, I'm consistently a dancer.
0:00:53 > 0:00:58Whether that means nursing something that I'm going to need on a Monday,
0:00:58 > 0:01:02or doing Pilates on a day where you might not be working...
0:01:02 > 0:01:04It's a lifestyle.
0:01:04 > 0:01:09I couldn't imagine actually... having a job.
0:01:14 > 0:01:18I was waiting for my sister when she was taking ballet classes.
0:01:18 > 0:01:21I was an American football player.
0:01:21 > 0:01:25I went into the class, I started taking class
0:01:25 > 0:01:27for probably about a month and a half.
0:01:27 > 0:01:29It was sort of love at first sight.
0:01:29 > 0:01:33I loved ballet in particular
0:01:33 > 0:01:34because it was really clear to understand for me.
0:01:34 > 0:01:37There was no grey area, things were right and wrong.
0:01:37 > 0:01:39Things were really easy to understand.
0:01:39 > 0:01:41I started dancing when I was 14.
0:01:42 > 0:01:45After that, I moved to ballet boarding school,
0:01:45 > 0:01:47started dancing professionally.
0:01:52 > 0:01:56It's difficult for me to break movement down individually.
0:01:56 > 0:01:59So I try and remember choreography as a sentence,
0:01:59 > 0:02:01as if I'm speaking to you, so that I don't go
0:02:01 > 0:02:05"Where... did... you... go..."
0:02:05 > 0:02:08So the transitional steps play in like you speak normally
0:02:08 > 0:02:10in sentence form.
0:02:14 > 0:02:17And if it's a sentence, it's easier to remember for me.
0:02:17 > 0:02:19Sounds bizarre, but, yeah.
0:02:25 > 0:02:28I think even beyond the physical skills,
0:02:28 > 0:02:30you need a dream and a lot of focus.
0:02:32 > 0:02:34I have a dream for myself. I envision myself
0:02:34 > 0:02:38doing great things in dance and developing myself as a dancer.
0:02:38 > 0:02:41That vision, it's very much tunnel vision.
0:02:41 > 0:02:44It's, "I'm going to dance, I'm going to dance well
0:02:44 > 0:02:46"and this is what I want to do."
0:02:46 > 0:02:49Anything I've got to do to make myself do that, then I'm on it.
0:02:49 > 0:02:52So, everyone close up, close up, this way.
0:02:52 > 0:02:56What you need as a dancer is a good technique
0:02:56 > 0:03:02and the most important of all is, I think, it's wanting to dance.
0:03:02 > 0:03:05Because it's a hard career, it's a hard training career.
0:03:05 > 0:03:07It's a lot of hours in a building,
0:03:07 > 0:03:11It's a lot of competition between the artists.
0:03:11 > 0:03:16So you need to have a big, artistic soul
0:03:16 > 0:03:22to overcome all the mountains that, you know, will face you.
0:03:26 > 0:03:30You gain a self-control. You gain, I think, a discipline
0:03:30 > 0:03:32that many people lack in the real world.
0:03:32 > 0:03:36And we have that from the age of eight.
0:03:36 > 0:03:38- She takes it from you... - And we go one, two, three...
0:03:38 > 0:03:40'As an artist, if you aren't versatile,
0:03:40 > 0:03:44'you may just fall into repetition
0:03:44 > 0:03:49'and you may just get bored. I think it is important'
0:03:49 > 0:03:52to always move. Move on, or move side, or move back,
0:03:52 > 0:03:55whatever you want to do, but just always move.
0:03:55 > 0:03:58And so, for that, I think a dancer should be
0:03:58 > 0:04:02as versatile and flexible as possible. Within their characters,
0:04:02 > 0:04:07within their techniques, within their style, within their movement.
0:04:07 > 0:04:11I think it gives you... It makes you richer as an artist.
0:04:14 > 0:04:19When Chris approached me and said that he was considering
0:04:19 > 0:04:24tap shoes for the role of the hatter, or the mad tapper,
0:04:24 > 0:04:28I was so excited. I started tapping when I was about eight years old.
0:04:28 > 0:04:31It was one of the first things I really focused on.
0:04:31 > 0:04:34My family's not in the arts world.
0:04:34 > 0:04:36I come from a motor sport family
0:04:36 > 0:04:38in the suburbs of Sydney.
0:04:38 > 0:04:44So probably the furthest place that you can get from here.
0:04:44 > 0:04:49My sister was a gymnast and she inspired me.
0:04:49 > 0:04:54She was always so competitive, but in a good way.
0:04:54 > 0:04:56Wanting to achieve more and more and more.
0:04:56 > 0:04:58She's seven years older than me,
0:04:58 > 0:05:00so it was a good example to have around at a young age.
0:05:00 > 0:05:06So I went along, did a jazz lesson where she was doing a bit of dancing
0:05:06 > 0:05:09and that soon became tap and ballet as well.
0:05:09 > 0:05:11I just loved it.
0:05:12 > 0:05:16I've seen dancers who have everything physically...
0:05:16 > 0:05:20naturally...but they're lacking something and that, I think,
0:05:20 > 0:05:23is just sheer determination.
0:05:23 > 0:05:25You have to want it.
0:05:25 > 0:05:28You have to want to be the top of your game,
0:05:28 > 0:05:30you have to want to do a step,
0:05:30 > 0:05:33"OK, I achieved that, but I can do it better."
0:05:35 > 0:05:39Dancers always have niggles and injuries that you're dealing with.
0:05:39 > 0:05:44There are so many rewards that come with being a dancer as well.
0:05:44 > 0:05:48As a child, you know, you fall in love
0:05:48 > 0:05:50with that feeling of dancing around.
0:05:50 > 0:05:55It really is an incredible feeling, you feel free.
0:05:55 > 0:06:00In Billy Elliott, in the film, like, he really does explain it well.
0:06:00 > 0:06:03It's like electricity.
0:06:03 > 0:06:06And to be able to do that as your profession,
0:06:06 > 0:06:08to be paid to do that,
0:06:08 > 0:06:12and to explore yourself and your artistic qualities
0:06:12 > 0:06:14on a daily basis is something that, I think,
0:06:14 > 0:06:17dancers really, really cherish.
0:06:17 > 0:06:19Face this way.
0:06:19 > 0:06:22You come out from behind,
0:06:22 > 0:06:24And you say, "That's my baby!"
0:06:24 > 0:06:29One, two, three, four, five, six, seven...
0:06:29 > 0:06:32'For me, I approach most things'
0:06:32 > 0:06:34with the movement side of my brain
0:06:34 > 0:06:36and, I think, for a story ballet,
0:06:36 > 0:06:39you need characters that can be, er...
0:06:39 > 0:06:43very well communicated through movement.
0:06:43 > 0:06:47'So that's one reason why Alice seemed like a good choice to me.'
0:06:47 > 0:06:52Just disappear like that. That's it, yeah. Good.
0:06:52 > 0:06:54As soon as I was asked to make a full-length ballet
0:06:54 > 0:06:56for the Royal Ballet and I chose Alice,
0:06:56 > 0:07:00I knew that I'd love to work with Joby Talbot again.
0:07:00 > 0:07:04We'd worked on a piece called Fools Paradise for my company Morphoses
0:07:04 > 0:07:07and the world that he created
0:07:07 > 0:07:08for that abstract work
0:07:08 > 0:07:10was so full of fantasy.
0:07:10 > 0:07:14The orchestral colours, the sort of textures
0:07:14 > 0:07:16that came out from the pit, were so unusual
0:07:16 > 0:07:20and had such imagination,
0:07:20 > 0:07:24that it gave me the confidence to say, "OK, I'll do Alice in Wonderland
0:07:24 > 0:07:27"if I can do it with Joby."
0:07:27 > 0:07:30And on top of that, I knew I needed to work
0:07:30 > 0:07:33with a really experienced theatre designer.
0:07:33 > 0:07:36And someone like Bob Crowley,
0:07:36 > 0:07:40who I could share my vision of Alice with,
0:07:40 > 0:07:43but who ultimately would give this Alice
0:07:43 > 0:07:45a real personality of her own.
0:07:45 > 0:07:50For Alice, it was necessary to be quite prepared structurally.
0:07:50 > 0:07:54So Joby goes away and writes a passage of music
0:07:54 > 0:07:57and within that passage of music, there are certain plot points
0:07:57 > 0:08:01that have to occur. Let's take, for example, when she first falls down
0:08:01 > 0:08:02the rabbit hole.
0:08:02 > 0:08:04She has to come to,
0:08:04 > 0:08:07regain consciousness from banging her head on the floor.
0:08:07 > 0:08:11She has to have her first encounter with the Queen of Hearts
0:08:11 > 0:08:15and the Knave of Hearts and the White Rabbit.
0:08:15 > 0:08:19And then we just go about making that all come together with movement.
0:08:19 > 0:08:22There's very little prepared,
0:08:22 > 0:08:25as far as the movement is concerned, before I get in the room.
0:08:25 > 0:08:29I'd much rather work with the dancer and discover that together.
0:08:29 > 0:08:31A four, a five, a six, a seven, eight.
0:08:31 > 0:08:34One, two, three, four, five, six, seven...
0:08:34 > 0:08:39'I became a dancer because I saw a production'
0:08:39 > 0:08:44of Ashton's La Fille Mal Gardee, a ballet that's been in the repertoire of the Royal Ballet
0:08:44 > 0:08:47for many years. And then I went to a local ballet school
0:08:47 > 0:08:48and I was good at it.
0:08:48 > 0:08:52When you're good at something and encouraged you start to learn to love it.
0:08:52 > 0:08:56But I think I loved it pretty much from the beginning
0:08:56 > 0:08:59and it's everything that I've known from the age of eight.
0:09:00 > 0:09:04I went into choreography at school, was encouraged.
0:09:04 > 0:09:09At the Royal Ballet School, it was part of the curriculum and, again,
0:09:09 > 0:09:13I must have shown some talent early on because I was really, really encouraged.
0:09:13 > 0:09:15That's all I needed, really.
0:09:15 > 0:09:18'A sort of push forward on the path of being a choreographer.
0:09:18 > 0:09:20'I stopped dancing when I was 28,
0:09:20 > 0:09:23'which is more than 10 years before I needed to.
0:09:23 > 0:09:27'But I did it because I was really passionate about choreography
0:09:27 > 0:09:31'and I think I had danced enough. I felt like I'd danced enough.'
0:09:31 > 0:09:33Read. And...
0:09:33 > 0:09:38'When you look at a traditional classical ballet vocabulary,
0:09:38 > 0:09:41there are only a certain number of steps and it's up to you'
0:09:41 > 0:09:46to combine those steps creatively and find new ways of...
0:09:46 > 0:09:53New angles of showing those, you know, that catalogue of steps.
0:09:53 > 0:09:56And then, on top of that, finding the right ones
0:09:56 > 0:09:59to describe a personality or a situation.
0:10:01 > 0:10:04A narrative full-length story ballet is a huge undertaking
0:10:04 > 0:10:09and you have so many elements competing for your attention.
0:10:09 > 0:10:10You have music, lighting,
0:10:10 > 0:10:14you have costume and then you have to sit back again and say,
0:10:14 > 0:10:17"OK, this isn't working and this is pulling my eye
0:10:17 > 0:10:20"to the wrong part of the stage. I'm telling two stories,
0:10:20 > 0:10:23"but one needs to have more volume on it than the other,
0:10:23 > 0:10:30"so one has to recede because we need to know exactly where to look."
0:10:30 > 0:10:32So the only time you really know
0:10:32 > 0:10:34that you've got it right or not,
0:10:34 > 0:10:38really is when the curtain goes up in front of an audience
0:10:38 > 0:10:39and they react.
0:10:39 > 0:10:43And with a full-length story ballet like Alice in Wonderland,
0:10:43 > 0:10:46the most terrifying thing is it happens on opening night.
0:10:53 > 0:10:56My job, as composer,
0:10:56 > 0:10:59is to try and find something new
0:10:59 > 0:11:01and present it in a new and extraordinary way.
0:11:01 > 0:11:03Obviously, I have the extraordinary orchestra
0:11:03 > 0:11:09of the Royal Opera House at my disposal and it's very exciting.
0:11:11 > 0:11:14My idea is the moment the curtain goes up, I want the music
0:11:14 > 0:11:16to be completely, extraordinarily magical.
0:11:16 > 0:11:21So it's not scored for simply a normal orchestral set-up.
0:11:21 > 0:11:25There's voices in there as well
0:11:25 > 0:11:28and some other slightly odd orchestration
0:11:28 > 0:11:30and every percussion instrument ever invented.
0:11:30 > 0:11:32Three, A...
0:11:34 > 0:11:38You know, two hours is a long amount of music to construct
0:11:38 > 0:11:41and there needs to be through-lines and an awful lot of variety
0:11:41 > 0:11:45within that, but all within this strange, magical world
0:11:45 > 0:11:47that Lewis Carroll set-up.
0:11:49 > 0:11:52I always thought my music might go well with dance.
0:11:52 > 0:11:54When I was at college, I did some things
0:11:54 > 0:11:56with choreographers and enjoyed it.
0:11:56 > 0:11:58And then I met Chris
0:11:58 > 0:12:01and he seemed to very much like working with my music.
0:12:01 > 0:12:03I guess what choreographers like about it
0:12:03 > 0:12:06is that it's got a kind of strong sense of rhythm.
0:12:06 > 0:12:09Rhythm is very much to the fore, but at the same time,
0:12:09 > 0:12:12it's not completely cold. I mean, it's also quite emotive.
0:12:15 > 0:12:18Having worked in both classical music
0:12:18 > 0:12:22and dance, and also film music,
0:12:22 > 0:12:25I have experienced all the kind of different avenues
0:12:25 > 0:12:29I need to be exploring in this. Film music sits behind the action.
0:12:29 > 0:12:33Of course, in ballet, in dance music, it's in front of it
0:12:33 > 0:12:37and they are dancing TO the music.
0:12:37 > 0:12:41I mean, it's there in front and everything else is unfolding.
0:12:41 > 0:12:43It's kind of triggered by it.
0:12:43 > 0:12:48I found it quite hard to get my head round to begin with.
0:12:48 > 0:12:51I kept thinking, "OK, so I'm going to do falling down a rabbit hole.
0:12:51 > 0:12:56"Well, I've been told that lasts between one and two minutes, maybe.
0:12:56 > 0:12:59"So, I'll write some..." and I'd write some music
0:12:59 > 0:13:02and then, "Let me get the picture up, I'll see how it sounds
0:13:02 > 0:13:04"against the images." And then "Oh, hang on.
0:13:04 > 0:13:07"There aren't any images."
0:13:07 > 0:13:10No-one's choreographed anything or done any design or anything at all.
0:13:13 > 0:13:17So when I was writing the music I was trying to find something
0:13:17 > 0:13:19that had... Kind of has
0:13:19 > 0:13:25one foot in the 19th century and one foot in the 21st century
0:13:25 > 0:13:30and is very magical and odd
0:13:30 > 0:13:35and seems to have some inner logic,
0:13:35 > 0:13:39so that you feel that you're looking into
0:13:39 > 0:13:43Wonderland, where things work differently but they do work.
0:13:45 > 0:13:49My job is to try and write very characterful music
0:13:49 > 0:13:52for the different characters, so we have a musical theme
0:13:52 > 0:13:54for Alice herself.
0:13:54 > 0:13:58She's a bit more grown-up in our version than in the book.
0:13:58 > 0:14:00I think she's probably more like 13 or 14,
0:14:00 > 0:14:04which means that she can have all this beautiful, romantic
0:14:04 > 0:14:06yearning orchestral music.
0:14:14 > 0:14:17And the White Rabbit has a sort of scurrying,
0:14:17 > 0:14:21celesta, nervous thing. And also, he's always checking his watch,
0:14:21 > 0:14:25which is a great device musically, because you can have clock-ticking
0:14:25 > 0:14:26whenever he comes along.
0:14:28 > 0:14:30She'll be in a scene, talking to whoever,
0:14:30 > 0:14:33and he'll appear, so you can hear this tick-tick and his little melody.
0:14:36 > 0:14:40I'm trying to think of what to write for the Caterpillar.
0:14:40 > 0:14:45We've gone for this slightly north African, kind of percussive thing.
0:14:49 > 0:14:52Basically, everything's taken me three times longer
0:14:52 > 0:14:54than I thought it would
0:14:54 > 0:14:58and I'm completely happy with it all.
0:14:58 > 0:15:01Yeah, it's taken me longer than I thought it would.
0:15:01 > 0:15:03And as regards to what I'm... I mean,
0:15:03 > 0:15:07I'm learning, I'm learning so much.
0:15:07 > 0:15:09About writing something this big,
0:15:09 > 0:15:13about ballet in general, about story-telling in ballet.
0:15:17 > 0:15:19It's really pretty.
0:15:19 > 0:15:23'I knew Christopher Wheeldon from school. I'd worked with him.'
0:15:23 > 0:15:24As I'd gone through the company,
0:15:24 > 0:15:28he'd chosen me to be in the corps de ballet of some of his works
0:15:28 > 0:15:33and then I got to do a soloists part in some of those works
0:15:33 > 0:15:39and then a couple of more serious roles, but I'd never created
0:15:39 > 0:15:42anything with him more than a corps de ballet role.
0:15:42 > 0:15:46So I didn't really know how it was going to be, so it really was
0:15:46 > 0:15:48a journey and we started at the beginning.
0:15:48 > 0:15:52You know, I really got to know him and the more I trusted him,
0:15:52 > 0:15:54the more he trusted me,
0:15:54 > 0:15:56The more we could develop ideas together.
0:15:56 > 0:16:00And I really felt like we shared the whole creative process.
0:16:00 > 0:16:02Yeah, working on the bush...
0:16:02 > 0:16:05I was born in Devon
0:16:05 > 0:16:09and I was sent to ballet because there was a wonderful teacher
0:16:09 > 0:16:13that my mum had heard of and she taught in the town hall.
0:16:13 > 0:16:15I was nearly four
0:16:15 > 0:16:19and she was this amazing lady that apparently
0:16:19 > 0:16:23gave your children discipline and great posture.
0:16:23 > 0:16:27My mum thought, "Great, that's just what happy-go-lucky Lauren needs."
0:16:27 > 0:16:29Because I was a bit of a terror.
0:16:29 > 0:16:32I definitely wasn't a girly-girl,
0:16:32 > 0:16:35but I wasn't a complete tomboy either.
0:16:35 > 0:16:39The music was always heaven to dance to.
0:16:39 > 0:16:43I just could never, ever imagine doing anything else.
0:16:43 > 0:16:46It just felt like the most natural thing in the world for me to do.
0:16:48 > 0:16:51With ballet, there's a natural progression.
0:16:51 > 0:16:55You start with a pre-primary exam and then you do a primary exam
0:16:55 > 0:16:58and then you start with grade one up to grade five or six
0:16:58 > 0:17:02and then you go into some different grade.
0:17:02 > 0:17:06It's just the natural thing. You do one, you do well, so you're inspired to do the next,
0:17:06 > 0:17:09and the next, and you watch the older girls,
0:17:09 > 0:17:12you see them doing really hard steps and you want to do that.
0:17:12 > 0:17:16You go and watch ballet and you get excited and you want to be as good.
0:17:16 > 0:17:23There's so many different ways you can dance, your body can express.
0:17:23 > 0:17:28The way you move your leg has an emotion to it as well.
0:17:28 > 0:17:34So already, as a role, you think, "How dynamic is this person?"
0:17:34 > 0:17:37Or, "How lyrical is this person, how soft is this person?"
0:17:37 > 0:17:44And so you have dynamic through your dancing. Also, you think about,
0:17:44 > 0:17:46"How would that person hold their head?"
0:17:46 > 0:17:49You know... Is she...
0:17:49 > 0:17:53You know, a timid, shy person?
0:17:53 > 0:17:57Is she alert? Does she want...? And it's those things.
0:17:59 > 0:18:03Ballet is incredibly intense, physically.
0:18:03 > 0:18:07Mentally, it's so stimulating,
0:18:07 > 0:18:12that to come down from a show or something, it takes forever.
0:18:12 > 0:18:15And emotionally, you put everything into it
0:18:15 > 0:18:17so that's also another side to it.
0:18:17 > 0:18:22But the day-to-day wear and tear of a dancer's life,
0:18:22 > 0:18:26I think, is what's most gruelling yet rewarding.
0:18:26 > 0:18:31You know, you get...very, very little free time.
0:18:31 > 0:18:35Your life needs to revolve around being the best dancer you can be.
0:18:35 > 0:18:38That involves making sure you've got enough sleep,
0:18:38 > 0:18:42get to bed early, eat well and work hard.
0:18:42 > 0:18:46There aren't many days when a dancer isn't feeling niggles.
0:18:46 > 0:18:50It's really hard because you don't want to stop.
0:18:50 > 0:18:52But you know, ultimately, if you don't stop,
0:18:52 > 0:18:55then you're probably putting too much strain on your body.
0:18:55 > 0:18:58What's really good is, after your first couple of serious injuries,
0:18:58 > 0:19:03you start to learn, "Go off, look after yourself, come back."
0:19:03 > 0:19:08It's just time. There are, you know, opportunities to come.
0:19:08 > 0:19:11But it's hard to learn that.
0:19:12 > 0:19:15Creating a full-length ballet,
0:19:15 > 0:19:19at first, is really daunting. How, from a blank canvas,
0:19:19 > 0:19:21do you get to a huge production?
0:19:21 > 0:19:25But actually, it does grow quite naturally
0:19:25 > 0:19:28in the way that, as soon as you put a story,
0:19:28 > 0:19:31or emotion, and you attach that to steps
0:19:31 > 0:19:33and your muscle memory then retains those,
0:19:33 > 0:19:37it becomes just a matter of just telling that story.
0:19:37 > 0:19:41You know, bringing those steps to life with characters and with props
0:19:41 > 0:19:43and with movement and all the different aspects
0:19:43 > 0:19:46of the piece. So it feels like a really natural process.
0:19:46 > 0:19:49I wish I could do every ballet like this.
0:19:56 > 0:20:01Being on stage is incredible and it's so exciting.
0:20:01 > 0:20:03You could do what you want on there.
0:20:03 > 0:20:05You know, you've been given the stage,
0:20:05 > 0:20:08you've been given the steps, but ultimately it's up to you.
0:20:09 > 0:20:12When you're out there, it's freedom.
0:20:32 > 0:20:35So, that's her jacket, which has been briefed in.
0:20:35 > 0:20:38- We're doing the trousers in the same fabric?- We can if you want.
0:20:38 > 0:20:40We're going to use the stripe...
0:20:40 > 0:20:42'I was taken to the theatre as a child.'
0:20:42 > 0:20:45I just loved going to the theatre
0:20:45 > 0:20:49and then... But I wasn't really conscious of design as such,
0:20:49 > 0:20:53until I saw a production of Oliver! that Sean Kenny designed,
0:20:53 > 0:20:54which was the first production.
0:20:54 > 0:20:59And that's when he stripped all the theatre away and painted the back wall
0:20:59 > 0:21:01of the theatre and exposed the lights.
0:21:01 > 0:21:03Then I thought, "I've got to look into this
0:21:03 > 0:21:06"a bit more," so my appetite was whetted by that.
0:21:06 > 0:21:10Then I thought I'd be an actor for a while.
0:21:10 > 0:21:14Then I was asked to take over in an amateur production.
0:21:14 > 0:21:18The designer fell off a ladder and broke his leg
0:21:18 > 0:21:22and someone said, "You can draw and paint, would you do the set?" and I went, "OK."
0:21:23 > 0:21:25And then that's how it all began.
0:21:25 > 0:21:28And here I am today!
0:21:28 > 0:21:30It's ridiculous how these things start.
0:21:30 > 0:21:32How you get started in anything, you know.
0:21:32 > 0:21:34The one with the black cross...
0:21:34 > 0:21:35'Unless you're curious
0:21:35 > 0:21:39'and nosey about things, you'll never become a stage designer.
0:21:39 > 0:21:42'Because it's all about being a magpie, you know.
0:21:42 > 0:21:47'You're constantly delving into different periods, different worlds, people's lives.
0:21:47 > 0:21:49'Being able to draw and paint helps.
0:21:49 > 0:21:53'It's not absolutely vital, I don't think.'
0:21:53 > 0:21:57People can do that on computers these days, there are programmes.
0:21:57 > 0:22:02But I'm still a pencil and paper man, you know. Still on the back of an envelope,
0:22:02 > 0:22:06or the back of a beer mat kind of designer,
0:22:06 > 0:22:11and I don't use the computer to design on.
0:22:11 > 0:22:14I will use the computer
0:22:14 > 0:22:17to manipulate things and stuff like that, but I don't design on it.
0:22:17 > 0:22:21I think it's a three dimensional art to stage design
0:22:21 > 0:22:24and I don't want it all happening on a screen
0:22:24 > 0:22:28we go from drawings to models pretty quickly.
0:22:28 > 0:22:31Model-making skills are useful.
0:22:32 > 0:22:34The set comes first.
0:22:35 > 0:22:38Once I have some sense of what the space will look like,
0:22:38 > 0:22:41I will then know what somebody looks like inside it.
0:22:41 > 0:22:45So I never do the costumes first. I wouldn't know where to begin.
0:22:47 > 0:22:51I thought, "I don't know what to do with Alice In Wonderland."
0:22:51 > 0:22:54I had no idea what the nature of this beast was,
0:22:54 > 0:22:57because, you know, there's 100s of ways you could go about
0:22:57 > 0:22:58interpreting this story.
0:23:00 > 0:23:02I didn't have a way into it until I heard
0:23:02 > 0:23:04more and more of Joby's score.
0:23:07 > 0:23:10It's the music that inspires you as much as the subject matter.
0:23:10 > 0:23:16I tried to get around the whole John Tenniel illustration side.
0:23:16 > 0:23:20That's what's in my head. I grew up with those illustrations.
0:23:20 > 0:23:22They're in everybody's childhood DNA.
0:23:22 > 0:23:28But I then looked at a lot of films and I just wanted, you know,
0:23:28 > 0:23:33to sort of re-inform myself about what had already been done with it.
0:23:33 > 0:23:36I didn't see any ballets of it and I re-read the book.
0:23:36 > 0:23:39And stretch. It would be nice if there was a little bit of...
0:23:39 > 0:23:44I thought we had to have one reference. It would be perverse not to.
0:23:44 > 0:23:48I knew it would be the Cheshire Cat,
0:23:48 > 0:23:50because you'd be cheating the audience
0:23:50 > 0:23:52out of the pleasure of that, I think.
0:23:52 > 0:23:57And the way around that was not to do it as an illustration,
0:23:57 > 0:24:02but to make the illustration three dimensional.
0:24:05 > 0:24:09I prototyped virtually every single costume.
0:24:09 > 0:24:13Certainly ones that might be problematic in terms of choreography.
0:24:13 > 0:24:17So when Chris was rehearsing,
0:24:17 > 0:24:21I would bring him in something so he could see it on somebody.
0:24:21 > 0:24:25And he's only had to change a few steps.
0:24:25 > 0:24:30Beautiful. OK, good.
0:24:33 > 0:24:36OK, so we've got the sliders open
0:24:36 > 0:24:38and the trap up, just confirming.
0:24:46 > 0:24:48Good, yeah.
0:24:48 > 0:24:50Alice is a very busy show.
0:24:50 > 0:24:52There are so many cues.
0:24:52 > 0:24:59Lighting cues, projection cues, scenery cues, fly cues, sound cues.
0:24:59 > 0:25:01There are 14 scenes in Act One
0:25:01 > 0:25:03and it is fast-moving
0:25:03 > 0:25:05and there isn't much room
0:25:05 > 0:25:07for anything to go wrong.
0:25:07 > 0:25:09'So it is a big challenge.'
0:25:09 > 0:25:13Can we come and re-set the bag? Thank you.
0:25:13 > 0:25:15I have a team of three in the stage management.
0:25:15 > 0:25:19Myself, a deputy and an assistant.
0:25:19 > 0:25:23I'm responsible for running what's happening on-stage
0:25:23 > 0:25:27and my deputy is calling the show on the book in the prompt corner.
0:25:27 > 0:25:31Curtains up on line three...
0:25:31 > 0:25:34My assistant runs one side of the stage, I run the other
0:25:34 > 0:25:36and also oversee all the scene changes,
0:25:36 > 0:25:38make sure we're ready to go into the next scene
0:25:38 > 0:25:41in performances.
0:25:41 > 0:25:45Another element is a risk assessment.
0:25:45 > 0:25:48One has to write a risk assessment and, while one tries to do that
0:25:48 > 0:25:51and foresee any possible risks
0:25:51 > 0:25:52prior to coming to the stage,
0:25:52 > 0:25:55it's only really when you hit the stage that you suddenly see
0:25:55 > 0:25:57the real hazards
0:25:57 > 0:26:01that are involved. So that's something that is quite big
0:26:01 > 0:26:02when we come to the stage.
0:26:02 > 0:26:04Lauren!
0:26:05 > 0:26:09I was brought up in a theatrical family, always wanted to act.
0:26:09 > 0:26:12I had an accident when I was 15, lost my confidence
0:26:12 > 0:26:16and decided from then on that I was going to go behind the scenes
0:26:16 > 0:26:19rather than in front of the scenes.
0:26:19 > 0:26:22I was at the Central School of Speech and Drama
0:26:22 > 0:26:25where I did the stage management course
0:26:25 > 0:26:27and then was lucky to get a job with a company
0:26:27 > 0:26:31called The Actors Company that was headed by, among others, Ian McKellen.
0:26:31 > 0:26:35And I was with them for about 18 months. That was a fantastic start.
0:26:35 > 0:26:39With The Actors Company, I was an assistant stage manager.
0:26:39 > 0:26:42Responsible for props, setting props,
0:26:42 > 0:26:45finding rehearsal props. From The Actors Company,
0:26:45 > 0:26:50I went on to deputy stage manage with other theatre companies.
0:26:50 > 0:26:52Musicals in the West End.
0:26:52 > 0:26:54For working with a ballet company,
0:26:54 > 0:26:58of course, the first thing is one has to be able to read music
0:26:58 > 0:27:01because all productions are cued
0:27:01 > 0:27:03using a musical score.
0:27:03 > 0:27:06So you have to be able to read music.
0:27:07 > 0:27:11I think getting on with people,
0:27:11 > 0:27:17collaborating with different artists, choreographers, designers,
0:27:17 > 0:27:22working with different temperaments in dancers,
0:27:22 > 0:27:25which are all challenges.
0:27:25 > 0:27:28But actually, they're quite nice challenges to overcome.
0:27:28 > 0:27:31Does he need anything or is it so he knows...
0:27:31 > 0:27:32- It's just if you see him.- Cool.
0:27:32 > 0:27:34I think that's very much a stage manager's job
0:27:34 > 0:27:40to keep the atmosphere good in rehearsals, on stage,
0:27:40 > 0:27:45in the wings, probably between the dressing rooms, as well, in a way.
0:27:45 > 0:27:48If the team is good at its job,
0:27:48 > 0:27:51then it creates a much easier atmosphere to work in.
0:27:51 > 0:27:53Every day is a challenge,
0:27:53 > 0:27:57especially working with a ballet company. You've got a different ballet
0:27:57 > 0:28:00in rehearsal, in performance,
0:28:00 > 0:28:03a different cast to work with many times,
0:28:03 > 0:28:06so no day is ever the same.
0:28:06 > 0:28:09It's not like working on a West End show,
0:28:09 > 0:28:12where probably eight shows are the same a week.
0:28:12 > 0:28:14I'm not sure it's a good lifestyle, really.
0:28:14 > 0:28:17If you want a life outside of the theatre.
0:28:17 > 0:28:21Because of the hours. It does demand quite a lot of one's time
0:28:21 > 0:28:24and you never really switch off.
0:28:24 > 0:28:28But I absolutely love it, so I wouldn't change it for anything.
0:28:45 > 0:28:47Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:28:47 > 0:28:49E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk