ABSTRACT
The management of the rehearsal process and performance requires a close working relationship with the director and performers, as well as with makers and technicians. For the majority of the production team the stage management are the main point of contact with the rehearsal room and as such are responsible for recording and communicating developments to all relevant parties as this information becomes available. The spectacles mounted at the Hippodrome and Coliseum in Rome; Aztec sacrificial ceremonies; English medieval mystery plays; the Court theatre of the Restoration period: all these must have been managed. The make-up of a stage management team today will vary according to a number of factors: the scale and budget of a production, the type of organisation or type of production itself. It is useful to consider the role of stage management as a whole, rather than assuming that different members of the team have particular responsibilities.
