Most, but not all theatres have a stage door, the place where actors, directors and theatre workers enter the theatre and which is separate from the entrances used by audiences. It is interesting to speculate on why actors and audiences entering the same building should be kept apart from one another in this way. Perhaps it has something to do with protecting the mystique that sometimes surrounds actors, or maybe there is a much more straightforward answer: actors want their privacy respected. The stage door, through which they can pass but their audience cannot, is a helpful tool in ensuring that privacy is maintained, at least whilst they are at work.
Linda Tolhurst has been working at the National Theatre’s stage door for over 25 years. She is now the supervisor of a small team. The job is an important one, not least because Linda and her staff are the first people the company see on entering the theatre, and the last ones they see on leaving it. Not only are they the guardians of access to ‘backstage’, but they also perform a very important
service to the acting company by passing on messages (it is very important to an actor to be able to remain in contact with his or her agent in case offers of work come up unexpectedly) and looking after their post. The stage door staff also give the actors their salary cheques every Thursday. Sometimes, people (such as
autograph hunters) who aren’t normally allowed backstage attempt to bluff their way past Linda and her team – they never succeed!
