Lights, sound, action

Press, 2 December 1987, Page 22

Lights, sound, action

Karel Hamm’s job as production co-ordinator for “A Chorus Line” really starts when the curtain goes down. That is when he and the production crew have to pack out of the theatre and move onto the next venue to set up before the cast arrives.

The lighting is the most important aspect of this particular production and the lights are always first unpacked, he says. Then the eight panel moving set, then the sound equipment. Because so much equipment is needed for the show, it is hired in the country where the show is playing. “Usually we cannot always get what we really want and have to make do

with the best we get,” Karel Hamm says.

For the New Zealand season lights have had to be brought in from Australia.

The production crew on the show numbers nine and the technical equipment and set are their responsibilities. Karel Hamm got his job through the German producer of “A Chorus Line,” for whom he had worked before. He had worked on a number of tours in Germany including the Tina Turner tour before joining “A Chorus Line.” From the time he played in a band at school he was interested in a career in theatre, whether on stage or off. He has found it offstage

but would welcome the chance to perform also.

“There are many musicians in Germany — the competition is very

The competition is great also for jobs as production co-ordinator or technical director. He credits his own success as a combination of luck and the confidence to show he could do the job. “It is very difficult for young people to get into theatre in Germany. We have no unions there as you have in New Zealand. There’s something wrong — a gap there somewhere. People can’t get work without experience. How do they get experience if they can’t get work?”