13.09.14 — Journal
Citizen Khan
This Thursday me, my mum and sister hopped over to Salford Quays to meet up with my Auntie & Uncle for a quick meal at the Lowry Centre, and then headed off to Media City UK to form part of the audience for a live recording of Citizen Khan!
In order to gain access we had to queue for a wristband, but to our dismay when we made it to security we were informed that due to the high volume of the cast’s family and friends who had been able to book priority tickets, they had run out of wristbands for the evening’s show. We were, however, handed bingo-style numbered tickets instead and told to hang around in the hope that some priority ticket holders wouldn’t show and we would be able to sneak in.
We milled around outside the studio and I, being my usual inquisitive self, wandered off and found a map of the studio building and found my way to another of the sound stages. It was the largest there, and I had a nosey in – but it was dark and so I wandered back to the news that we could go in!
We eventually got our seats right at the back left of the studio, but they were seats nonetheless and so we settled down and the show began!
Adil Ray and the rest of the cast were brilliant (he stopped by to tweet me and Ellie after the show!) and we laughed pretty much non-stop for the three or so hours of filming.
I was enthralled by watching how the setup worked and functioned, and also spent a lot of my time staring up at the jungle of trussing and lighting which was suspended from the studio roof.
In case you didn’t know, from a young age I have been obsessed and intrigued by lighting and it’s use in films, live productions and general interior designs. I have been amassing a personal collection of stage lighting for years, and my job at Burnley Youth Theatre has also allowed me to dabble in technical theatre work over the years – so as you can imagine, being on a studio set was like heaven for me!
I am once again inundated with work this weekend, and so will probably not get the chance to leave you guys with another post. I shall do my best to get one out early next week – I have a list as long as my arm of things to report back on, including an awesome cycling trip to Blackpool with Danni – argh!
Update: You can view me and Danni’s cycling action here. Promise not to laugh.