Meet the ‘invisible’ backstage team who make the song contest tick

Thirty-five seconds. That is on a regular basis you get to vary the set at Eurovision.

Thirty-five seconds to get one set of performers off the stage and put the subsequent ones in the precise place.

Thirty-five seconds to ensure everybody has the precise microphones and earpieces.

Thirty-five seconds to ensure the props are in place and tightly secured.

Whilst you’re at residence watching the introductory movies generally known as postcards, dozens of individuals swarm the stage, setting the scene for no matter comes subsequent.

“We name it the Components 1 tyre change,” says Richard van Rouwendaal, the affable Dutch stage supervisor who makes all of it work.

“Every individual within the crew can solely do one factor. You run on stage with one mild bulb or one prop. You at all times stroll on the identical line. In the event you go off target, you’ll hit someone.

“It is a bit like ice skating.”

The stage crew begin rehearsing their “F1 tyre change” weeks earlier than the contestants even arrive.

Each nation sends detailed plans of their staging, and Eurovision hires stand-ins to play the acts (in Liverpool 2023, it was pupils from the native performing arts faculty), whereas stagehands begin shaving treasured seconds off the changeovers.

“We have now about two weeks,” says Van Rouwendaal, who’s usually primarily based in Utrecht however is in Basel for this 12 months’s contest.

“My firm is round 13 Dutchies and 30 native guys and women, who rock it in Switzerland.

“In these two weeks, I’ve to determine who’s proper for every job. Somebody’s good at operating, somebody’s good at lifting, somebody’s good at organising the backstage space. It’s a bit like being good at Tetris as a result of it’s a must to line all the things up in a small area, within the good method.”

As quickly as a music finishes, the workforce are able to roll.

In addition to the stagehands, there are folks answerable for positioning lights and setting pyrotechnics; and 10 cleaners who sweep the stage with mops and vacuum cleaners between each efficiency.

“My cleaners are simply as vital because the stage crew. You want a clear stage for the dancers – but in addition, if there’s an overhead shot of someone mendacity down, you do not need to see shoeprints on the ground.”

The eye to element is medical. Backstage, each performer has their very own microphone stand, set to the proper top and angle, to ensure each efficiency is digital camera good.

“Generally the delegation will say the artist needs to put on a distinct shoe for the grand closing,” says Van Rouwendaal. “But when that occurs, the mic stand is on the mistaken top, so we have got an issue!”

Spontaneously altering footwear is not the worst downside he is confronted, although. On the 2022 contest in Turin, the stage was 10m (33ft) increased than the backstage space.

Consequently, they had been pushing heavy stage props – together with a mechanical bull – up a steep ramp between each act.

“We had been exhausted each night time,” he recollects. “This 12 months is best. We have even acquired an additional backstage tent the place we put together the props.”

Props are an enormous a part of Eurovision. The custom began on the second ever contest in 1957, when Germany’s Margot Hielscher sang a part of her music Telefon, Telefon into (you guessed it) a phone.

Over the intervening many years, the staging has turn into ever extra elaborate. In 2014, Ukraine’s Mariya Yaremchuk trapped considered one of her dancers in an enormous hamster wheel, whereas Romania introduced a literal cannon to their efficiency in 2017.

This 12 months, we have got disco balls, area hoppers, a magical meals blender, a Swedish sauna and, for the UK, a fallen chandelier.

“It is a huge logistics effort, really, to get all of the props organised,” says Damaris Reist, deputy head of manufacturing for this 12 months’s contest.

“It is all organised in a type of a circle. The [props] come onto the stage from the left, after which get taken off to the precise.

“Backstage, the props which were used are pushed again to the again of the queue, and so forth. It is all within the planning.”

In the course of the present, there are a number of secret passageways and “smuggling routes” to get props out and in of imaginative and prescient, particularly when a efficiency requires new parts half-way by means of.

Forged your thoughts again, if you’ll, to Sam Ryder’s efficiency for the UK on the 2022 contest in Italy.

There he was, alone on the stage, belting out falsetto notes in his spangly jumpsuit, when abruptly, an electrical guitar appeared out of skinny air and landed in his palms.

And guess who put it there? Richard van Rouwendaal.

“I am a magician,” he laughs. “No, no, no… That was a collaboration between the digital camera director, the British delegation and the stage crew.”

In different phrases, Richard ducked onto the stage, guitar in hand, whereas the director lower to a large shot, concealing his presence from viewers at residence.

“It is choreographed to the closest millimetre,” he says. “We’re not invisible, however we’ve got to be invisible.”

What if all of it goes mistaken?

There are specific tips the viewers won’t ever discover, Van Rouwendaal reveals.

If he proclaims “stage not clear” into his headset, the director can purchase time by displaying an prolonged shot of the viewers.

Within the occasion of an even bigger incident – “a digital camera can break, a prop can fall” – they lower to a presenter within the inexperienced room, who can fill for a few minutes.

Up within the management room, a tape of the gown rehearsal performs in sync with the stay present, permitting administrators to change to pre-recorded footage within the occasion of one thing like a stage invasion or a malfunctioning microphone.

A visible glitch is not sufficient to set off the back-up tape, nevertheless – as Switzerland’s Zoë Më found at Tuesday’s first semi-final.

Her efficiency was briefly interrupted when the feed from an on-stage digital camera froze, however producers merely lower to a large shot till it was mounted. (If it had occurred within the closing, she’d have been provided the prospect to carry out once more.)

“There’s really plenty of measures which are being taken to be sure that each act may be proven in one of the best ways,” says Reist.

“There are individuals who know the laws by coronary heart, who’ve been enjoying by means of what might occur and what we might do in varied totally different conditions.

“I will be sitting subsequent to our head of manufacturing, and if there’s [a situation] the place someone has to run, possibly that is going to be me!”

It is no shock to study that staging a stay three-hour broadcast with hundreds of transferring components is extremely demanding.

This 12 months, organisers have launched measures to guard the welfare of contestants and crew, together with closed-door rehearsals, longer breaks between exhibits, and the creation of a “disconnected zone” the place cameras are banned.

Even so, Reist says she has labored each weekend for the previous two months, whereas Van Rouwendaal and his workforce are frequently pulling 20-hour days.

The shifts are so lengthy that, again in 2008, Eurovision manufacturing legend Ola Melzig constructed a bunker below the stage, full with a settee, a “sadly underused” PS3 and two (sure, two) espresso machines.

“I haven’t got hidden luxuries like Ola. I am not at that stage but!” laughs Van Rouwendaal

“However backstage, I’ve acquired a spot with my crew. We have stroopwafels there and, final week, it was King’s Day in Holland, so I baked pancakes for everybody.

“I attempt to make it enjoyable. Generally we exit and have a drink and cheer as a result of we had an important day.

“Sure, we’ve got to be on high, and we’ve got to be sharp as a knife, however having enjoyable collectively can be essential.”

And if all goes to plan, you will not see them in any respect this weekend.