The fly gallery is the name given to the area in a
theatre where
flying is done from. No, not when people are attatched to
ropes, and swing across the
stage - this is where the
ropes for
lifting pieces of
scenery,
lighting bars, and anything else that needs to fly into the
roof are tied off.
The fly gallery can be an incredibly
dangerous place to be if you
don't know what you are doing, and aren't aware of the
risks. If one of the
ropes were to slip, and your
ankle were to get
caught up in the
loose end of the
rope, you would be
hanging from the
ceiling before you knew what hit you. And then the
floor probably would. Another major
hazard is knocking a rope, and a bar, or piece of
scenery falling on someone on
stage's head. Both
accidents can be
fatal. For these reasons, it is imperative that the fly gallery is kept tidy at all times. If a
fly rope is going to
slip, then you don't want a
coil to be able to wind itself round somebody's
ankle. It is also a good idea for people not to be able to trip over any loose
fly ropes, and possibly
hurt themselves.
Larger
theatres might have two fly galleries, one on either side, but a lot of
theatres will have a
half fly on the other side, which leaves height on one side of the
stage for tall pieces of
scenery to be moved around.
If you're after any other theatre tech information, then do take a look at '
Everything you ever wanted to know about theatre tech, but were afraid to ask'