In Short+Sweet to make your piece work you may find yourself using a set and props. This takes time to pre-set so it will be ready for your performers when they come onto the stage at the beginning of your piece and also time to remove at its conclusion.

There will be a stage crew to move set pieces and set up props but for the sake of keeping the night running swiftly and not making the audience sit too long between works we place a time limit of 30 SECONDS on this scene change for both set up and removal. In practicality the set up of one work is happening simultaneously to the removal of another and so we work with a total change between plays of no more than one minute.

Short+Sweet is a festival of Ten Minute Works of Theatre and Dance and therefore we expect that more often than not your requirements will be simple but if you can keep the scene change within the time allowed you are welcome to do whatever you like. In assessing whether you have exceeded your allowable time we are flexible and understanding, however if the Festival Director, Festival Producer or Stage Manager believes that your set up is causing the scene change to run too long you will be asked to modify your requirements.

Things to consider when thinking about what you need on stage to make your work successful:

  • Keep it simple!!!
  • Do you really need that piece of set? Do you really need those props?
  • Keep your set pieces as light as possible (carried by two people maximum!!!)
  • Try to keep you set pieces small as storage is limited.
  • Try to choose generic pieces of furniture (ie. only use an arm chair if a normal chair absolutely wont do)
  • We prefer the stage crew to set up as much as possible but can your actors bring on personal props?
  • Will there be clean up from spills (eg. water on stage) – this will count against your scene change time and people have been disqualified for messy scene changes.
  • If you have beautifully crafted cardboard or similar free standing sets make sure they are easy to set up and will stand up by themselves (do they need weights? supports? do you have clear instructions on the back?)