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Ken Smith
Ken Smith
 

What is a Flyman?

Traditionally, ex-sailors were hired as flymen since they were physically fit and used to heaving ropes to raise sails. A flyman's job used to be very physically taxing, but now, in many theatres, the job of flying scenery is mechanised and only requires a person to control a computer. Flying scenery is often not a job on its own, but can be a part of the role of stagehand or theatre mechanist.
Some of the duties of a flyman are loading and unloading scenery, maintaining and repairing the flying equipment and scenery, building and setting up stage scenery and suspended scenery, raising and lowering suspended scenery during a performance, operating the mechanical components of the stage, and storing and setting up scenery. As you can see, a flyman's job involves a lot of the technical work behind the scenes, and in smaller theatres where the flying systems are not mechanized, there is still a lot of physical labour involved.
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