A THEATRE held its first careers open day for schools and colleges to promote opportunities in the creative industries

Theatr Clwyd opened its doors this week to show local schools how creative trades and professions play vital roles behind the scenes.

More than 120 young people from eight Flintshire schools, including Castell Alun in Hope, Ysgol Treffynnon and Deeside Sixth Form Centre, spent half a day at the theatre to find out how this year’s rock ‘n’ roll panto, Dick Whittington, was created from designer Adrian Gee’s paper drawings, fabric swatches and scale models of the sets, scenery and stage props.

The visit concentrated on four production departments - electrics, scenic, wardrobe and production.

Senior members of staff from each described their own career development and then demonstrated the skills needed to do their jobs.

The group was treated to a spectacular display of lighting and sound.

Exploring the panto theme, wardrobe offered insights into the process of making costumes for the characters King Rhydian the Rat, Fairy Bowbells, Tommy the Cat and Alice Fitzwarren.

Makers and the designer need to balance the importance of fabric weight, the need for comfort and flexibility along with durability sufficient to withstand the rigours of two months of physical performances when creating costumes for the show.

In the workshop the theatre’s scenic artists explained the process of painting large-scale backcloths for the stage on the paint frame and showcased other scenic skills, including using a stencil to decorate large pieces of scenery and the all-important use of glitter on the sets. This year’s show has used a record quantity of glitter.

Production manager Hannah Lobb explained how the entire production process is co-ordinated and, with stage crew, the show’s stage management team, technical staff and actors Peter Mooney (Dick Whittington) and Toby Falla (Tommy The Cat), the young people were taken through the hidden mechanics of a scene change, with lighting and sound cues from the stage manager audible over the loudspeakers.

Alice Newbold, a student at Ysgol Maes Garmon, said: “I’ve learnt about the other side of theatre, and there is a huge team of people making brilliant shows possible.

"We should have more open days like this in secondary education so we can see what’s out there for us.”

The session ended with a questions, including details from the actors of their careers and personal tips and hints about training for the stage.

At the end of the session Gwyneth Rees, careers co-ordinator and head of business studies at Ysgol Mael Garmon, said: “It was great for the children to be able to seek advice from professional actors. You can’t learn things like this in books- seeing is believing.

“Creative learning is so important to the pupils who want to follow a creative career, and holding an open day where they can see all the different opportunities that are available and which path to take earn a living is undoubtedly magnificent.

“We hope to come back next year to be inspired again and get young people excited about their future.”