Tom Clutterbuck: Seafront washout was a lesson for the overambitious by Tom Clutterbuck

Ambitious projects are good, right? We must keep pushing the boundaries of what we can do artistically and practically to continue engaging

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 2:00am on September 27, 2017☆⚑

Tom Clutterbuck: Managing the Edinburgh Fringe workload can be a struggle for freelancers by Tom Clutterbuck

As a freelancer, it is very difficult to know when you're taking on too much work. When you are your own boss,

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 2:00am on August 23, 2017☆⚑

Tom Clutterbuck: My top tip for Edinburgh Fringe? Hire a professional technician by Tom Clutterbuck

The Edinburgh Fringe is upon us again. As a technical designer and operator with a sideline in comedy, I find myself in

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 2:00am on July 26, 2017☆⚑

Tom Clutterbuck: Stress is the elephant in the room for theatre technicians by Tom Clutterbuck

I have previously spoken about the importance of a tech's ability to be calm under pressure, but I'm beginning to think that

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 2:00am on June 28, 2017☆⚑

Tom Clutterbuck: I found tour accommodation that was better than home by Tom Clutterbuck

Earlier this year I moved house in a narrow gap between tour dates. It was hectic, but felt like clever planning because

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 5:00am on May 31, 2017☆⚑

Tom Clutterbuck: Stage managers are a disorganised technicians' best friend by Tom Clutterbuck

I've never been a particularly organised person. As such, it seems bizarre to me that, as part of the remit of being

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 2:00am on May 3, 2017☆⚑

Tom Clutterbuck: Technicians are here to help, but we can't fix everything by Tom Clutterbuck

When your job appears to be to know the answer to all the questions, it's very hard to draw a line between

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 2:00am on April 5, 2017☆⚑

Tom Clutterbuck: Technicians are experts, not shiftless layabouts in heavy metal T-shirts by Tom Clutterbuck

"They don't know what they don't know." These words arrived during a conversation I had recently with a producer. We were discussing

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 2:00am on March 8, 2017☆⚑

Tom Clutterbuck: Knowing how a trick works doesn't necessarily spoil the magic by Tom Clutterbuck

When you're doing the tech for a magic show, you get to know most of the secrets. Even if we don't have

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 2:00am on February 8, 2017☆⚑

Tom Clutterbuck: No matter how small, all venues should have a technical expert by Tom Clutterbuck

A couple of times this year, I have taken shows into venues that do not appear to employ an in-house technician. By

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 2:00am on December 21, 2016☆⚑

Tom Clutterbuck: At times we need a jack of all trades, at others a master of one by Tom Clutterbuck

The other day, two different people called me with two unrelated technical issues on the understanding that I would be the best

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 2:00am on November 23, 2016☆⚑

Tom Clutterbuck: Keep the show running by controlling your urge to panic by Tom Clutterbuck

When teching shows, every one of us has messed up a cue or two. No matter how many controls are in place

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 2:00am on October 26, 2016☆⚑

Tom Clutterbuck: Working within constraints can be so liberating by Tom Clutterbuck

I am currently working as lighting designer and technical stage manager on a palindromic play, Ross Sutherland's Party Trap. It's pretty complicated,

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 2:00am on September 28, 2016☆⚑

Tom Clutterbuck: When theatre becomes a soap opera off stage by Tom Clutterbuck

For many of us in the industry, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe is full of ghosts. Whether it be the memories brought up

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 2:00am on August 31, 2016☆⚑

Tom Clutterbuck: Theatre clears the mist from my mind by Tom Clutterbuck

I've never been great at concentrating. A 500-word column takes me a surprising amount of time to write. When I'm in the

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 2:00am on August 3, 2016☆⚑

Tom Clutterbuck: Conditions backstage can be as bad as a crack den " but it's home by Tom Clutterbuck

I can't speak for everyone working in theatres, but having worked mostly as in an-house tech in the West End, it can

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 2:00am on July 6, 2016☆⚑

Tom Clutterbuck: It's time for techies to drop the lingo by Tom Clutterbuck

I've never been comfortable doing theatre turnarounds. After 10 years in the business, I still enter a fit-up or get-out with a

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 2:00am on May 11, 2016☆⚑

Tom Clutterbuck: Improv allows technicians' glorious failures to shine by Tom Clutterbuck

I am a perfectionist. Not in the good way, meaning I have a back catalogue of fully formed masterpieces. It's more in

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 2:00am on April 6, 2016☆⚑

Tom Clutterbuck: Forget footballers " some kids dream of being theatre technicians by Tom Clutterbuck

Backstage is not everyone's first choice of job. Let's admit it, most people go into theatre because they love watching shows. This

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 2:00am on February 10, 2016☆⚑

Tom Clutterbuck: Why technicians make excellent therapists by Tom Clutterbuck

After a solo show I was tech managing on tour, someone asked me a pertinent question about how much of my job

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 2:00am on November 25, 2015☆⚑

Tom Clutterbuck: It's a solitary life when you do six shows a day by Tom Clutterbuck

On September 2 I returned home to Norwich after a full run at the Edinburgh Fringe. For most of August I teched

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 7:00am on September 30, 2015☆⚑