BISQC Blog:

Of the bells

Posted by Jim Swanson
Wednesday, 1 September 2010

Bell ringer Nova Pon signaling the audience to return to the fold. Click photo to enlarge.

To signal the audience to take their seats in the Eric Harvie Theatre, the front of house staff traditionally flicker the lights. That signal does not work during the day, so at the 2007 BISQC a bell was brought into service. This year, the bell was retrieved from the desk of the front of house manager, dusted off, and rung during the day on Monday.

On Monday evening an usher picked up the bell, gave it a ring, and the clapper fell out. The bell was sent backstage for repair by head stage carpenter Dave Miller, and returned to service. Then customer services director Jim Olver noticed the bell and offered the use of his own, which he thought sounded better, being more solid, thicker, and of a deeper tone. But it is also more difficult to ring.

The first ringer of the new bell was gently heckled by some members of the notoriously tough BISQC audience. There were complaints that the tone was flat and the timing off, that the bell rattled like that of an ice cream truck. Front of house subsequently held auditions to find the best ringer. On Wednesday Nova Pon of Calgary arrived to volunteer as usher and mentioned that she is a musician. She tried out for the part and turned out to be the best ringer. She has since received many compliments on her technique.

The bell is rung eight minutes prior to the start of a performance, and five minutes before the end on an intermission. Front of house claims that every performance has started on time because of the bell ringer.

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