Tim Hastings’ stage career started with building sets for Mount Boucherie school productions. Now, he’s doing it for Cirque du Soleil.
Hastings is a stage carpenter for Cirque Du Soleil’s Varekai show, which is playing this week at Penticton’s South Okanagan Events Centre.
Hastings got his start with Cirque when he was part of a local crew hired to help put a show together. Through this experience, he established relationships with the company and its production manager and “was drawn to its exceptional nature.”
When a position opened up, he applied.
“After the application, I didn’t expect to hear back for a few months because they were busy touring the Middle East, yet they called back in two days and said they needed me in 10. Therefore, I packed up my life in two weeks and jumped on a plane to Beruit.”
Hastings says the job itself is as unpredictable and exciting as Cirque’s shows.
Typically, he spends much more time travelling than at home.
In his first 12 months on the job, Hastings visited 14 countries.
“I went from blazing heat in Gran Canary to freezing cold in Alaska within a few months.”
When asked if he misses the stationary life, Hastings agreed there is something special about home.
“There is something about your own friends, couch and neighbourhood,” yet travelling is exciting, unpredictable and forever an adventure, he said.
“Just for an example, my first day on the job. I got off the plane in Beruit and entered an airport full of army personnel because of a Syrian hostage situation. At that point, I knew that my wish for adventure was coming true.”
As for the working hours themselves, they can range from relaxed to exceptionally demanding. “Frequently, I find myself working long days. Today, I started at 9 this morning and won’t wrap up until 10:30 this evening.”
Hastings assures us this is required to execute a performance that will invigorate the audience, something he and his team of 100 Cirque employees are “entirely committed to.”
This commitment is what leads Hastings to say, “I don’t have a job, I have a lifestyle.”
It would seem that, akin to the spectacular physical feats achieved by the Cirque performers, Hasting’s job requires unique degrees of determination, drive and flexibility.
As for the performance of Varekai, which will be orchestrated on his home turf, Hastings could not be more excited.
“I cannot wait for those from my home to come and see my ‘office,’ so that they can truly experience why I do what I do.
“But to an equal level, I cannot wait to show off my hometown to my team.”
{ SOURCE: Kelwona Daily Courier | http://goo.gl/CMx6x8 }
