Prompt

Sue George - sitting as she often does in the prompt chair!

One of many jobs behind the scenes is that of prompt. Sue George has recently been one of our regular prompts who sits in the chair just behind the curtain. Sue has been the prompt for more plays than she can remember and she enjoys having the power over all the cast! She says that it is so nice to have the cast being so lovely to her in the weeks leading up to the production!

But what does a prompt do? Well, the prompt has the most important job, of holding the play together, especially when the actors go wrong! It may be that the actor forgets their lines, in which case a short reminder of the line will usually suffice. The real skill, however, comes in when a page or two or even more, containing some vital piece of information is skipped. This is when the prompt has to know the play very well and bring the actors back to where they should be. It is therefore very important that the prompt doesn’t get carried away watching the play.  As Sue says though, you do need to  be careful about not prompting when you don’t need to - as the actor will often remind you of your error on countless  occasions!