Mark Shenton talks to five leading performers who have toured regularly about the challenges and demands of touring in a musical theatre production
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Gay Soper is a veteran actress of the musical and legit stage from the West End to the touring circuit and Europe. Here she has some advice for performers going on the road for the first time to help them on that adventure.
“Over the last few years, I’ve toured continually. But as you get older, your home creature comforts matter more and more, and you miss home desperately. It’s much easier to tour when you’re young, open to experience and an adventure.”
* Be practical and down-to-earth. You need to organise yourself very well before you go. If you’ve got your own flat or home in London or elsewhere, you have to make sure it is safe. Maybe get a pal to move in while you’re away to look after everything.
* If you’re travelling by train and under 26, getting 16-25 rail card will save you a fortune – it’s a third off all rail travel. Then you want to book your train tickets well in advance to get the cheapest tickets you can. If you hate noisy carriages, remember there is a quiet carriage, but you have to book yourself into it.
* If you’re travelling by car, make sure the car is in good working order before you leave, and your MOT is sorted. And always allow lots and lots of time to get wherever you’re going.
* Plan where you’re going to stay well in advance. Normally you’ll be staying in digs, and it’s best to book as much in advance as you can – the best digs go very quickly. If you have friends who have already left drama school and have toured, ask them if there’s anywhere nice that they’d recommend. Otherwise, get a digs list from the stage door of every theatre you’re touring to. Usually they will be able to email them to you.
* The choice is usually between living in somebody’s house and renting a room off them, or getting bed and breakfast, or sometimes you can do self-catering and get an apartment that two or three can share. This is often the preferred option as you can come and go as you please, buy your own food and cook, and you don’t have to think about other people. If you’re living in someone’s house, find out if they’ve got children – if they’re running around and making a noise first thing in the morning, that may be annoying for some people. And if you have an allergy, you may not want to be in digs that has animals. If you are driving, find out if there is parking nearby – and if so, is it free or do you have to pay. If you don’t have a car, find out how close they are to the station and to the theatre, and whether it is in walking distance. If it isn’t, find out how you are going to get around – is there a bus, a tram, or a taxi rank nearby?
* If you have a friend or partner visit and they want to stay, don’t assume it is okay – ask your host first. If you want to drink, scream and shout late at night, it’s best not to do it in the house. Find restaurant or late night bar and be careful and quiet when you come in. And at end of the week, be sure to leave your digs in a clean and tidy state. Be considerate of your landlord or landlady. If you give theatre people a bad name, they will stop letting rooms out to theatre people.
* Use your day times well when you’re touring. Don’t lie around all day, unless the role is exhausting, of course. Educate yourself about the cities you are visiting – it’s very likely you will not have been there before, so it’s worth looking out for what museums and galleries, churches and other old buildings there are. If you’re by the sea, go for a walk along the beach, if you’re near the moors or countryside, use your car to see it, if you’ve got one. I’ve found it an incredible education.
* Looking after yourself and be careful with what eat. Try not to eat completely rubbish food. Try to have healthy food or your energy will suffer.
* Make sure you’re a good company member and part of the team. Socialise with them, but not to excess. And try not to have an affair on the road – many a marriage or relationship is broken up as a result. Sometimes, of course, it can lead to a wonderful new relationship, but sometimes it can ruin a perfectly good one that is already there. It will be a temptation, but you’ll probably regret it and make a mess of what you’ve left behind at home.
* Never underestimate how important your company manager, DSM and ASM are. If they are good at their jobs, it can make a huge difference to the smooth running of the show. So don’t dismiss them.
* Every theatre is a different size, so you will need to be sensitive about how much or little projection you’ll need to use, especially for plays – musicals usually have sound systems. So try out the acoustic. Go out on the stage at the beginning of the first week, do some of your lines and see if your fellow actors can hear you in the back row or the gods. Don’t think it doesn’t matter – you’ve got to be able to be heard right at the top and right at the back, or you’re failing in your job.
* You’ve got to feel the size of the stage – sometimes they’re wider, deeper or shallower than others. And auditoriums have different shapes too, so you may need to adjust the angle of your head, so that people way on the sides can see you properly. And don’t forget to look up – we call it ‘cheating up’ – so that people in the gods can see your face.
* Some stages will have a rake. If you’re a girl wearing high heels, it could be tricky to negotiate. So put those high heels on and walk about before your first performance.
* Remember audiences will vary from city to city – some are more reserved than others. As a rule of thumb, the further north you go the more wonderful, open-hearted, generous and enthusiastic they are. In a play, you may get a fabulous whopping great laugh in one city, the next week you’ll be doing the same thing and think they’re dead. They may not be, they may only be smiling. Don’t let it put you off and throw you.”
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Adele Anderson has toured frequently, especially as a founder member of Fascinating Aida – which is launching a new show later this year – but also in plays and musicals. Below are some of her reflections on touring.
“After 30 years of touring the UK, it doesn’t have any more surprises. We always used to make an effort to go and stay in nice hotels or visit stately homes, but now it’s all about the work – we turn up, do the job and drive off after. Mostly we stay in Days Inns on motorways. Traffic has got so much worse, and we don’t want to be battling to get out of town first thing in the morning. Also you can bring dogs there, which Dillie Keane does.
“Life is so much easier than when we first started out – we didn’t even have mobile phones then. And I don’t know how we used to tour before we had SatNavs – lot of planning had to go into it.
“If you’re doing lots of one-nighters, make sure you’ve got a good tour booker. We had to train ours – we used to call him Laughing Dave. He’d book us Carlisle, Bath and King’s Lynn in succession and when we’d say, ‘That isn’t going to work’, is it, he’d just laugh at us and we’d still have to do it.
“We used to drive ourselves for years and years for very long distances, but then I had a car crash with the others with me, and now we have a driver. We make a bit of money so we can afford to have one.
“The UK is a beautiful country, and if you’re touring at this time of year, try to give yourself a little bit longer to get there. Don’t go on the motorway – take another route and just enjoy. Touring in Dillie Keane’s van, we’re above hedge height, so we can see so much more and enjoy the countryside.
“Thank God for Waitrose and Marks and Spencer in service stations – it means you can always get something decent to eat on the way to your booking. Even if there is no green room, they’ll at least have a microwave, so you don’t have to go to the nearest fish and chips shop as you used to.
“Plan where you will do your washing. Some theatres allow you to do personal washing, but not all of them, and launderettes are closing everywhere. If you’re in digs, you’re okay, but if you’re doing one-nighters, it’s different.”
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Connie Fisher, who won the BBC reality TV show How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria? to star in the West End in The Sound of Music, has subsequently toured the UK in it, as well as in Wonderful Town last year.
“Over the last two tours, I think I’ve visited virtually every city in the UK, apart from Hull and Stoke, and I had a good experience in every single one.
“I’m not a digital girl, but when you’re on tour, there’s one essential touring pack – a smart phone and an app called Near Me. I’m not good at geography, but it helps you find your nearest gym, leisure centre, NCP car park, Wagamamas or Subway. Near Me is a brilliant app that helps me out a lot, as long as you can get a signal, that is. In most dressing rooms there is none.
“My husband sweetly but foolishly proposed to me the day before I left on a UK tour. So I organised a celebratory engagement party when we were on tour. The cast become your friends and family much more on tour. In town, I was much more independent, since you can still see your usual friends. I like competitive nature of being in town, but you make more friends on tour.
“I try to buy something from every city I visit – I bought my wedding dress in Edinburgh.
“You have a new first night at every date. Some people didn’t like that, but I think it keeps us on form. A production can sag in the third week, but this reminds you to keep it fresh.
“I don’t go to the pub very often, but if the cast were going, I would. On tour, if the leading man and woman are happy, the rest of the cast are happy. And if there’s one sour grape, it filters through like poison. I was lucky with the casts of both tours – every single person wanted to be there, and that’s the joy of touring. You don’t go on tour unless you really want to. Sometimes in town, people who work there just want to get home and will speed up the curtain call to do so. On tour, there’s never any rush.”
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Claire Sweeney has toured in Fosse, Shout, Legally Blonde and Educating Rita over the last few years.
“Working in town is almost like a proper job – you get to go home every night to your own bed. But on tour, the only routine is the show. I never like the first day in a new place – you have to get settled into where you’re staying and the theatre. And then, just as you’re starting to get a feeling of comfort, it’s time to move on again.
“The benefits of touring and what I enjoy about it – especially the first time I did it – is getting to see the length and breadth of the UK. I’ve been to places I wouldn’t normally get to.
“Provincial audiences can be different to West End ones. Humour changes wherever you are, and they will laugh at different places depending on where you are.
“On Tell Me on a Sunday, which was a one-woman show, I had [musical director] Jae Alexander with me, and he’s my best friend so I had company. Otherwise a one-woman show can be very lonely. I invested in a Land Rover for the tour, which was like having an apartment on wheels – I could fit everything in. And I like to get in the car on a Saturday night after the show and come home so I can wake up in my own bed on a Sunday morning. That makes such a difference.”
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Michael Xavier has toured the UK in the first UK tour of Miss Saigon, the international tour of Mamma Mia! and last year in Wonderful Town. He also runs a weekly Sunday theatre school every week in London.
“The first big difference in touring is that you don’t get to sleep in your own bed. And you’re not only away from home but also your partner – touring life is so much easier when you’re single, and more fun when you’re not leaving anyone at home. It can be difficult being away from the person you’re with and put pressure on your relationship.
“The upside to touring is the fun you have with the company. If you’re working in town, most people have a commute and a routine, whereas when you’re touring there’s much more of a family feel. You don’t want to go home to your digs and sit on your own or talking to your landlady after the show, so you’re more likely to hang out with the company and drink a lot more. You consume a lot more alcohol on tour.
“There’s more of a sense of camaraderie on tour. In a year, you see everybody crack at some point – everyone has times in life when they’re not happy, or something is going on at home, and it’s great to have a support network around to help each other through it.
“The opening night is the most exciting part of a show – you’re performing in front of a fresh audience every time. On tour, you get to do it loads – whereas in the West End, there’s just the one opening night.”