intervals

I consider 20 minutes to be the perfect interval. Smokers need the opportunity to get outside, either before or after obtaining liquid refreshment, then there's the queue for the Ladies....always longer than for the Gents. (insert humble plea to new venues and/or architects who might, by magic, read this to seriously install double the usual ladies' cubicles). On the subject of blackouts I tend to fall in with Na, ten seconds is really about it. However, there are exceptions. If a BO is likely to go beyond 10 seconds due to a tricky change of some kind please bring in some relevant music or sound scape. It helps the audience to know that what they're experiencing is just a bridge to the next scene (it also covers the cough they have been holding in, the shoe shuffles as people shift in their seats, etc.) One of my favourite memories is of a production of "Same Time, Next Year". We did the changes in full light, props and crew were dressed as hotel staff, a song that was relevant to the year the play had reached was played. It all worked and gave time for the two actors to do full changes including wigs. On a similar vein I recently saw a production of "Dangerous Liasions" where the crew were dressed in period and moved the furniture on the unit set to establish that we were now in a different scene. There were a couple of brief blackouts, mostly to permit actors to be revealed in position, and the whole thing flowed. It's not always appropriate to do this sort of thing but it's worth remembering. PS: Na, I dislike being asked to leave, but that's mostly because I'm nosy and want to see what they're doing. "Life is too short to stuff a mushroom"