Street theatre logistics: small-format touring

What does a ten by eleven metre playing area require?

For a working overview of street theatre logistics, the French journal lescousins.org covers the same ground from the régisseur's side of the barrier.

A ten by eleven metre playing area is not a stage. It is a working rectangle that must be flat enough for a fall, clear enough for a rig, and bounded well enough that the audience knows where the show begins. In practice, the company arrives with a plan for that rectangle and measures it on site before anything else is unpacked.

The surface matters. Asphalt is fast and hard. Packed gravel drains but rolls underfoot. Grass hides trip hazards and turns to mud after rain. A ten by eleven metre area on a slight slope will need the playing zone shifted uphill, because the audience will settle downhill and the sightlines will follow them.

Marking the perimeter is the next step. Four corners, then a line the public can read from standing height. Tape is cheap and disappears in wind. Rope and stakes hold but create a trip line. Chalk works on stone and vanishes on grass. Most companies carry two marking systems and choose on arrival.

The perimeter is also a safety line. It separates the audience from the rig, the cables and the moving parts. It must be visible in daylight and under the lighting the show carries. If the show runs at dusk, the marking needs a reflective element or a low light that does not wash out the playing area.

Reading the technical rider before the van is loaded

The technical rider is a contract of physical facts. It states the dimensions of the playing area, the power available, the supply points, the load-in route, the load-in time, the number of people the venue provides, and the curfew. A rider read at the venue is a rider read too late.

Power and supply needs are usually the first constraint. A small-format street show may run on a single sixteen-amp supply, or it may need a generator. The rider should state the draw in amps, the voltage, the connector type, and whether the supply is clean enough for audio. A shared supply on a festival site will carry noise, and the rider should say what the show can tolerate.

Water and waste matter if the show uses them. Aerial rigging points matter if the show hangs anything. Vehicle access matters if the van is also the dressing room. Each of these is a line in the rider, and each line is a question the régisseur will ask on site.

The rider also carries the schedule. Load-in, technical check, performance, load-out. A small-format show can be set and struck in under two hours, but only if the load-in route is known and the power is where the rider says it is. When the rider and the site disagree, the site wins, and the show adapts.

How is capacity calculated for three hundred to a thousand spectators?

Capacity for three hundred to a thousand spectators is calculated from the ground, not from the poster. The first figure is the standing density the site can hold without crowding the perimeter. The second is the number of exits the site can offer. The lower figure governs.

A common working density for a standing street audience is around two people per square metre in the main body, with lower density at the edges and near the front. A site that holds a thousand at that density may still be capped at six hundred because the access route cannot empty it quickly.

Seating changes the calculation. Benches or chairs reduce density and increase the footprint. A seated audience of three hundred needs more ground than a standing audience of three hundred, and the perimeter must move outward to keep the front row at a safe distance from the playing area.

The mayor's authority is the final word. In France, the maire holds the police power for public space, and the capacity figure is declared to the mairie before the event. The company provides the technical facts, the organiser provides the site, and the mayor signs the threshold. A show that sells more tickets than the declared capacity is a show that can be stopped.

Safety, first aid and evacuation under the mayor's authority

Safety thresholds are set by the site and confirmed by the mayor's office. The key figures are the time to evacuate the audience, the width of the exit routes, and the distance from the playing area to the nearest public road. A small-format show in a square has different thresholds from the same show in a park.

First aid is a posted resource. The organiser states where the first-aid point is, who staffs it, and how a casualty is moved out without crossing the playing area. The company states its own first-aid provision and its incident procedure. Both are written down before the first performance.

Evacuation is rehearsed in the briefing, not in the moment. The audience must be able to leave in more than one direction, and the directions must be clear without a microphone. A single narrow exit behind the audience is a threshold problem, not a comfort problem.

The mayor's authority also covers the curfew and the sound level. A street show that runs past the declared hour can be stopped regardless of the audience. The company plans the running time with the curfew in mind, and the rider states the latest start that still allows a full show.

What is the daily life of a touring company?

Daily life on tour is a sequence of places, not a sequence of shows. The company drives, finds the site, measures the playing area, reads the site against the rider, sets up, performs, strikes, and drives again. The show is the short part.

Scouting is continuous. A company on tour reads every square it passes for slope, surface, access and power. The notes go into a file that becomes the next season's routing. A site that looks good at noon may be unusable at eight in the evening when the market stalls are still up.

Fees and seasons follow the same rhythm. A small-format street company may work a summer festival season, a spring and autumn season of village dates, and a winter of residencies. Fees are set per performance, with travel and accommodation separate, and the contract states the cancellation terms.

Residencies and coproduction agreements are the stable part of the year. A residency gives the company a place to build a new show and a local partner to present it. A coproduction agreement shares the cost and the risk between the company and the venue. Both are written, and both are read before the season is planned.

Learning the trade happens on the road. A régisseur learns to read a site in ten minutes. An artist learns to hold a playing area in wind. A programmer learns to match a company to a square. The knowledge is practical, and it is passed on in the load-in, not in a classroom.

The perimeter is the show's first contract

The marked perimeter is where the audience agrees to stand and the company agrees to perform. Everything else, the rider, the capacity, the safety thresholds, the fees and the seasons, is built on that line. A small-format street show that respects the line can travel for years. A show that ignores it will be stopped once and not booked again.