So as we all know rehearsals are well underway for the cast and creative team in the studios – but over at the Adelphi Theatre, a very different kind of preparation is taking place as Production Manager Steve Rebbeck and his team of electricians, technicians, lighting experts and many more are getting on with the complicated job of turning the Adelphi Theatre into a Coney Island fairground…

Yesterday we were lucky enough to pay a visit to the theatre as one of the largest key pieces of the amazing Love Never Dies set was assembled by Steve and his team.

Following a brief Health and Safety presentation and wearing our hard hats (very important when you’ve got dozens of guys hanging cables and carrying heavy bits of scenery up and down ladders right above your head), we snuck onto the stage. Covered as it was with boxes and wires and bits and pieces, it was still possible to see what a spectacle this set is going to be. The team have started with one of the largest pieces – without giving too much away (sorry!) let’s just say it’s pretty tall, it’s pretty huge and it looks pretty heavy. This specific piece will take up almost the whole of the back of the stage and it goes up quite high too – but as Steve pointed out, getting a piece of this size into a theatre like the Adelphi is quite a feat.

“Everything had to be made to fit that door,” Steve told us, indicating the very average-sized door at the back of the stage. He explained that the piece his team were assembling onstage was originally made in 14 sections, in order to get it all through the door. “Sets used to primarily be much more flexible backcloths and fabric, which is why that door is so small!” Steve said.

Visiting the theatre in the morning, the piece was in its 14 sections and spread across the stage. When we returned at 5pm it was to see the full piece in its glory in place at the back of the stage, hanging from the wires which will be used to fly it up into the rafters. This is where it will be stored during the scenes when it is not required.

Steve estimates it will take another 2-and-a-half weeks to get the full set in and assembled – so the team will be keeping their hard hats on for a little while longer!