Richard Berry Interview: Becoming a Stage Door Keeper & Long Working Hours
Title
Richard Berry Interview: Becoming a Stage Door Keeper & Long Working Hours
Date
12 September 2017
Description
Oral history interview with Richard 'Dick' Berry, Stage Door Keeper at the Theatre Royal for nineteen years from 1992 to 2011.
What's the story?
Richard Berry, known simply as ‘Dick’ by all staff, artists and visitors was a long-serving Stage Door Keeper from 1992 to 2011.
Born in Nottingham in 1946, Dick had a few jobs prior to working at the Theatre Royal, including a long stint as a milkman.
Dick always had a friendly welcome for all visitors and his jokes and sense of humour were notorious. This is still very much evident in these interviews.
In this interview Dick talks about how he got the job of Stage Door Keeper (excellent letter writing skills!) and the long working hours attached to the role:
When I first left school I started out in Engineering. I used to make pit props – there’s a blast from the past! Then that, sort of, died and so I went into the dye and finishing trade, working on the stent which dresses the fabric. That, sort of, went as well, so I ended up being a milkman for about eight years. And that got me working with the public, which I really enjoyed, being a milkman. I know it was early morning, but early finish. It was nice working with the public. And then I was made redundant from that because it went over to franchise. I didn’t want the franchise, so I was out of work about a year and it was advertised in the newspaper. So I applied. And I’ve got really good letter writing skills. I put the right words in here. I used words like “rapport” in the letter. It looks good, doesn’t it, you know what I mean? “I’m good at this. I’ve got a good rapport”. And that’s how I got the job. That way.
Long hours. It was different from what I imagined. I think, as a Stage Door Keeper, but it was very long hours. I used to start sometimes first in and last away. I’ve been in here 8 in the morning and gone home at 2 the next morning. There was only ever two Stage Door Keepers, which we were mostly covering seven days a week. That was between two of us. Great long hours. So we’d do a big long hour one day and the next day we’d come in at 2 and finish at 9 or 10 and then go home, have my dinner and then long day again. So we did, at least, get a rest. If there was only one showing, which mostly the Concert Hall didn’t work all the time, so we had to work mostly six days a week. The Concert Hall - they had busy times of the year: the end of the year was busy and the beginning of January and then it would die off a bit and the summer was quiet in the Concert Hall, so we’d get a day off or we’d take our holidays, so it was busy.
There was one time when the chap I worked with, he hurt his shoulder. He was off about three months and I had to ask for a day off. I had to come and ask. The Operations Manager, Jimmy Ashford at the time, he said “What do you want a day off for?” So I said I’d worked every day for two months. I just kept going. It’s not as if it’s physical, is it? It’s using your brains and just standing. People used to say to me “Don’t you get bored?” So, I don’t let myself get bored. I’ve got the radio on. Crosswords – good at crosswords. I’m doing them all the time. My Ma says she’s going to bury me 6 down and 4 across.
Born in Nottingham in 1946, Dick had a few jobs prior to working at the Theatre Royal, including a long stint as a milkman.
Dick always had a friendly welcome for all visitors and his jokes and sense of humour were notorious. This is still very much evident in these interviews.
In this interview Dick talks about how he got the job of Stage Door Keeper (excellent letter writing skills!) and the long working hours attached to the role:
When I first left school I started out in Engineering. I used to make pit props – there’s a blast from the past! Then that, sort of, died and so I went into the dye and finishing trade, working on the stent which dresses the fabric. That, sort of, went as well, so I ended up being a milkman for about eight years. And that got me working with the public, which I really enjoyed, being a milkman. I know it was early morning, but early finish. It was nice working with the public. And then I was made redundant from that because it went over to franchise. I didn’t want the franchise, so I was out of work about a year and it was advertised in the newspaper. So I applied. And I’ve got really good letter writing skills. I put the right words in here. I used words like “rapport” in the letter. It looks good, doesn’t it, you know what I mean? “I’m good at this. I’ve got a good rapport”. And that’s how I got the job. That way.
Long hours. It was different from what I imagined. I think, as a Stage Door Keeper, but it was very long hours. I used to start sometimes first in and last away. I’ve been in here 8 in the morning and gone home at 2 the next morning. There was only ever two Stage Door Keepers, which we were mostly covering seven days a week. That was between two of us. Great long hours. So we’d do a big long hour one day and the next day we’d come in at 2 and finish at 9 or 10 and then go home, have my dinner and then long day again. So we did, at least, get a rest. If there was only one showing, which mostly the Concert Hall didn’t work all the time, so we had to work mostly six days a week. The Concert Hall - they had busy times of the year: the end of the year was busy and the beginning of January and then it would die off a bit and the summer was quiet in the Concert Hall, so we’d get a day off or we’d take our holidays, so it was busy.
There was one time when the chap I worked with, he hurt his shoulder. He was off about three months and I had to ask for a day off. I had to come and ask. The Operations Manager, Jimmy Ashford at the time, he said “What do you want a day off for?” So I said I’d worked every day for two months. I just kept going. It’s not as if it’s physical, is it? It’s using your brains and just standing. People used to say to me “Don’t you get bored?” So, I don’t let myself get bored. I’ve got the radio on. Crosswords – good at crosswords. I’m doing them all the time. My Ma says she’s going to bury me 6 down and 4 across.
Type
Oral interview
Location of item
Theatre Royal & Royal Concert Hall Nottingham
Rights
Theatre Royal & Royal Concert Hall Nottingham
Contributor
Interviewers: Diane Jones & Jennifer Sherwood
Transcriber: David Chilton
Transcriber: David Chilton
