Monday, August 20, 2018
Safety: The Show Must Go On - Or Does It?
TheatreArtLife: Rough day at the office? Equipment issues? Running low on operators, maintenance technicians, show callers or artists due to illness? Well, for all those cast and crew members working in the circus, resident theatres, cruise ships, rock tours or anywhere else in the live entertainment industry, we have all heard the old saying, “The show must go on.”
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As technology progresses, so does the entertainment industry. Shows become more ambitious, demanding, and potentially more dangerous. But it shouldn’t be that way.
Safety should always be the number one priority, so I do believe that “the show must go on,” is an incomplete statement. There need to be a set of parameters that ensure the safety of all involved in order for the show to go on, and if those parameters are not met, something must be fixed before the show may go on. You will never reach the desired result by cutting corners.
Jay Withee explored multiple facets of the issue of safety, notably, the acceptance of intelligent machinery as an important system of checks and balances in ensuring a show runs smoothly, consistently, and safely. Automation is something that I have thought extensively about in recent years in relation to the future of theater and subsequently my employment – primarily in the context of fearing being out of a job. But the most profound point that Withee made in the article was that a machine cannot replace a human operator as long as there are other human components.
A lot is changing in the industry today, so it is more important not to lose sight of the big picture as we adapt.
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