Behind the scenes: Diana Childs (part two)

With the ballet being performed by the Company most Christmases since its creation in 1990, Diana has had plenty of time to hone her judgement. 'I was involved from the first day of the first rehearsal, and I've done every single performance we've done', she states. 'I'd have to check my records for an exact number but it's way over 300.' The unfortunate by-product of this is that Diana has never seen Birmingham Royal Ballet perform the piece, her only chance to see the production coming when it was performed by a Japanese Company. Through no fault of the Company in question, her experience was not as enjoyable as you might expect.

'We lent [The Nutcracker] to a company in Japan that liked Sir Peter's work very much,' She remembers. 'A handful of us were sent over to teach them how to run it, and once it was finished and on, I watched it and it was the first time I'd seen it. But throughout the whole performance I was thinking about the stage directions and thinking about what should be happening. Because I know the score so well, I just hear my cues and think 'Fly cue one', and 'go', and you can feel yourself wanting to say these instructions. I tried really hard to watch my friends dancing the piece, and to enjoy it, and even went to watch it a second time, but still found myself watching the scenery!'

For those who have seen the ballet, this attention to the scenery is understandable, as it is John MacFarlane's set which provides arguably the most special effects of the performance. Likewise, it also requires the most managing from backstage.

Diana explains the potential for trouble: 'There's a big transformation scene when Clara falls asleep – or is she asleep? – and the room grows. I have to control every single part of that transformation so that everybody knows what they have to do and at what time so that nothing crashes into each other. There's a very real risk of that – if one part of the scenery doesn't go out before the fireplace turns round, it can crash, and if the fireplace doesn't turn quickly enough then the scenery coming in from above will hit the top of it.'

Diana must constantly be prepared to think on her feet. 'Sometimes I just have to make a very, very fast decision because sometimes something might go wrong that's never happened before. A tree might have to fly out and every day it flies out perfectly, and suddenly in the middle of a performance it gets caught. And I have to make the call as to what to do about it.'

One problem, for example, is air conditioning, which is a killer for live theatre. The moment the curtain goes out you've got all this open space and get air currents moving around the stage and auditorium. This means that all of the silk scenery starts to move. They're hung only about eight inches apart, so you might have a situation where one gets caught on another. And that's the hardest thing about Nutcracker, because there's so much moving at different time, and all the light is just on the dancers so it's so dark up there, and there can be delays that mean you’re going to miss cues, so you’re constantly making judgement calls. But that's what's so exciting about it.'

The team also have contingencies for a host of worst-case scenarios. 'One thing which we have thought about for example, is what if the motor broke on the goose and it stopped working?' she reveals. 'How would we get it down and would we stop the show? Would I bring the curtain in? Thankfully we have a whole plan for what we'd do, but I'm not going to tell you what it is because I'm hoping it will never happen!'

ENDS