The
role of the Production Manager, Sacha Milroy, is to be responsible for co-ordinating and scheduling every aspect of the physical production of the two plays that make up
His Dark Materials. This means she’s at the centre of things throughout, liaising with the heads of each department: lighting, sound, props, costume, puppet-making, and set design.
Her work begins from the moment Set Designer Giles Cadle has created his first
model of the set. From then on she oversees every step of the way. She has to make sure that the workshops in which the set is created to Giles’s design - the metal shop, woodwork and paint shops - complete their tasks on time and on budget. It’s a demanding job requiring good people skills, considerable patience, and the ability to keep several balls in the air at once.
Because Sacha is responsible for the money, she sometimes has to explain to Director Nicholas Hytner that
budget limitations mean they may face some tough choices about their ambitions for the set and staging.
Sacha’s busiest time is the technical rehearsal when everything finally comes together on stage, and a host of last-minute changes often have to be made.