It happened to me, I went along to see my son who was 10 at the time, at the dress rehearsal for Shrewsbury Amateur Operatic Society's production of 'Oliver' he had landed the lead role and was at Shrewsbury Music Hall..

This is the interior of The Music Hall as it was in 1840

Notice the stage area is now where the seating is, compare it with the picture above.

I am sitting in the auditorium waiting to take a few photos of him when I am approached by the shows Director and Choreographer Miss Gillian Gregory, I will tell you more about her later.

I was informed that the production crew were short of help backstage, and would I be interested in helping out. I had acted myself, but this was something I had never done, so I took up the offer and walked up on to the stage.

I was asked to help move scenery around the very cramped backstage area, this stage has no wings so there is no room for storage and everything has to be carried off to another room, this can be very hard work, especially if the scenery and props are heavy.

All work on stage during any performance has to be done quickly, silently, safely and efficiently, quite often in very poor light or in the dark.

Backstage crew must never be seen or heard by the audience, timing is critical and there is no margin for error. After a seven day run of 'Oliver' I was hooked on the job, the adrenalin rush is incredible and very addictive. As soon as the production had finished, I offered my services for the next one.

Since then I have worked on all The Shrewsbury Amateur Operatic Society's shows. More information on SAOS can be found at www.shrewsburyoperaticsociety.co.uk

I was more than impressed with GaGa although they

Were very good sound alikes, they did not dress for the part. Mercury however, were just like watching the real thing, the beauty of this job is that I can stand within 3 feet of the performers and not be seen by the audience, it is an incredible priviledge to be in this position and I am extremely grateful to be here, better still I am actually being paid to do this.

Talon were fantastic ! Having never seen The Eagles, this was amazing, I have copies of their music at home and Talon were just like listening to the real thing, they opened and closed the show with Hotel California and sung all the other classics in between, the guys played for just over 2 hours to a full house, stunning show .

As assistant duty technician (stage) I am responsible that happens onstage and backstage during a performance, this includes calling the act from dressing rooms and liaising via a headset (cans) with the duty technician who is either in the LX box (lighting control room) or on the sound desk that is situated above the audience.

I did my first ever 'Singalonga' tonight, it was The Rocky Horror Picture Show, basically the film is screened with subtitles and the audience come in fancy dress as characters from the film, these people take it very seriously and they really take part in the show, I haven't laughed so much in ages, some of these costumes are outrageous to the point of being indecent, my daughter who was in the audience, was blissfully unaware that she was sitting next to her head teacher along with her husband, they were both in costume and heavilly made up, did she get a shock when they spoke to her.

The next singalong was great fun, The Sound Of Music, this time my son and daughter dressed as nuns and joined in, people were talking for days about the number of nuns wandering round Shrewsbury that night, most of them were men.

That's me far left waiting to help fancy dress competitors off stage

To stand on a stage and look out on a huge sea of faces looking up at you is something I will never forget, it was amazing.

Two days later and it is all over, the fireworks have all been fired, the crowds have gone, the musicians have gone and once again the army of technicians move in to take it all down again, another very late night for me.

I got to meet the lovely Lesley Garret, she is a really nice lady and made time to talk with the crew and posed for photos with my daughter.

Richard Shelton (the demon Doctor from Emmerdale) is a smashing bloke with an incredible singing voice too.

I was the envy of many in the crowd and I made a point of showing off my backstage crew pass with pride.

During the Get Out I found one of the Sugababes stage passes, something to put in my scrapbook.

The Westenders are coming ! This is a group of performers who specialise in the West End musicals bringing the big shows from London to the rest of the country, a guaranteed sell out.

I worked with The Westenders last night, what a fantastic bunch they are ! All of them have had major roles in all of the West End musicals, they decided to get together and tour with their music. Brilliant performers combined with great voices and costumes made the show a memorable night, a full house as predicted, I just hope they come back again, they were very grateful for the work the backstage crew had done throughout the day and thanked the duty tech. and myself publicly, an awesome performance !

I have just volunteered my services to work on a show with Kevin 'Bloody' Wilson, I am told he is Australian and a very funny man, I have also been told that I will be doing 'Follow Spot', something new for me to try. I have never been a follow spot operator so I am looking forward to the experience.

   KEVIN 'BLOODY' WILSON

Well I have just got home having done the K.B.W. show, he was hilarious, no holds barred, political correctness out of the window and every swear word imaginable, the place was sold out and I had the best view in the house, follow spot, up in the roof of the theatre, the only disadvantage being that I had to follow him as he wandered all over the stage, I had to stand and my arms and legs went to sleep because of the position I was in. I literally had to climb up into the theatre roof space, crawl over a curved wooden ramp and climb down a second ladder to drop into the follow spot box. The spot I was using was a Korrigan, almost six feet in length, but very simple to operate. It got very warm up there and I was glad that a fan had been supplied, the view into the auditorium was terrific, I could see almost everyone in there, bald heads stood out like pink discs, very amusing.

.. A show of two halves, each being an hour and ten minutes. Kevin and his crew were wonderful, I was given a tour Tee Shirt  and a plectrum for my guitar mad son.

I have just been reading Kev's tour blog, it seems he was pretty chuffed with the information I gave him about the theatre, here is an excerpt from that blog.

Marcus Brigstocke

I have just finished another show and I know it sounds corny, but this guy was even funnier than the last, yep it's Sunday and it can only be comedy club, Caroline Quinlan and Marcus Brigstocke. Carrie, as she likes to be called, warmed up the audience using information gleaned from me and her own unique material, she was hilarious and had everyone gasping for more after her 25 minute opener before the interval.

I have just had what I can only call a surreal experience, working with the MR MEN  characters all of who were at least 9 feet tall and several feet wide. The artistes in the characters were all young women in their 20s, they worked extremeley hard, they only had to move around as the whole show was on mini disc but they were exhausted at the end of the two performances and they had to do their own get out, so our help was greatly appreciated. The kids loved it, we had two full houses, you should have heard the noise, very much a panto type show (He's behind you etc.) Hilarious fun for all the family and the technical crew.

The crew had the best show of all, because the costumes were so cumbersome, the girls inside had a very restricted view, each time they tried to leave stage, they took scenery, props and even the backcloth with them. To see Mr Happy bouncing off the wall as he tried to make his exit was hilarious, he even took a chair with him without knowing it.

It's almost December and that can mean only one thing, Pantomime season, I have just spent several very hectic days, helping to convert a theatre stage into a panto stage, I never knew it involved so much work, when the set is complete I will post some photos, until then you will have to make do with the crew being silly at the end of a busy but productive day.

It's me looking from inside the 'Secret Cave'

I spent most of the day at the theatre  today with the cast of the pantomime, it is going to be a great show.

My last event of the season, turns out to be the hardest, I am inThe Square in Shrewsbury to prepare for BBC Radio Shropshires annual Carols In The Square, this year will be featuring the classical girls 'All Angels' they are tipped to be number 1 in the classical charts for this Christmas.

We started building the stage and speaker platforms at 11.00. We then had to put up barriers to create a 'Backstage area) that was secure. Various other pieces of equipment, cables, amplifiers and all the bits and pieces needed to satisfy health and safety are carried manually from The Music Hall and placed in situ.

By 17.30 everyone  is ready, the crowd is about 10,000. The Wem Jubilee band are on stage, the kids from the Shrewsbury Youth Choir are in place and the male voice choir have taken up position. The Mayor and his wife are seated at the front and we are all ready for the live broadcast at 18.00.