Emma Wilson, MBE, is a distinguished leader in the UK's arts and culture sector and a driving force at the Royal Opera House. Wilson formerly worked at Sadler's Wells and her legacy there includes a detailed blueprint for expansion. She is also an elected trustee of the Association of British Theatre Technicians. She has an MSC in Environmental Policy and a PhD in Cultural Theory and Environmental Policy and brings aspects of both to her work in the theatre and in 2024, Wilson was recognized with an MBE for services to the arts, awarded by King Charles III.
The head of technical, production, and costume at one of the world's most prestigious theatres, Wilson shares with Live Design how she chose the theatre over other careers, and becoming a Member of the Order of the British Empire.
Live Design: What triggered your interest in theatre?
Emma Wilson: When I was at university I got involved in the student drama societies, making scenery and working backstage, but after university I followed a very different path intending to be an environmental specialist. I came to London to do postgrad studies part-time and supported myself by working as a technician in clubs and festivals, starting small, learning and working on steadily bigger shows and then international touring, and finally a full-time job as a lighting technician. When I finished my studies – which I saw through to the end – I had a choice to make, and theatre won the day, bringing me full circle from my earlier student days having fun backstage.
LD: You have an NGC Occupational Health and Safety certification. Was that qualification tailored to work in the theatre or are the principles the same wherever you work?
EW: 15 years ago I’d been newly promoted to Technical Director at Sadler’s Wells and at the same time was given the health and safety (H&S) responsibility for the whole the theatre. I already had functional H&S training in theatre specifics (as all technicians should have), but with my new building-wide responsibilities I ramped this up to a national qualification, knowing I’d have need to have much greater knowledge.
That national training was not tailored to theatre, the NGC (National General Certificate) covers all safety legislation in the UK – which is very thorough and structured. Combining that very legal training with your professional experience is the key, so you can apply that confidence and training to whatever industry you work in. Working at height for example is covered by the same laws and legislation, just manifested differently in a theatre versus a building site.
I’ve also been fortunate enough to work with excellent theatre H&S consultants and advisors over the years, and it has given me confidence as a leader to demystify legislation, empower staff, facilitate safe choices, and implement maintenance regimes, ensuring we collectively work together for injury-free and healthy working lives.
LD: You have some impressive qualifications that are unrelated to theatre, how do these inform your life backstage?
EW: I have a master’s but also a PhD in Environmental Policy and Cultural theory – my path in life could have been very different had theatre not lured me away – and it has informed my work for 20 years. Sustainability is a constant in my work and is embedded in Royal Ballet and Opera productions, but it’s also a prevailing theme in the theatre industry across the UK and Europe. We are constantly looking to improve energy use onstage, be accountable for the life cycle of our equipment, implement modularity and reuse in scenic building, reduce harmful products in scenic art or prop making, promote ethical purchasing in costume, and so on.
But alongside the better making and running of productions is the powerful role the arts play in messaging what is important to us a society, as a people. We can tell stories onstage of course, but we can also tell those stories through our wider actions, through our messages about how we make our shows. The arts can be a powerful vehicle for moral leadership, and I believe we have the responsibility to promote a more responsible stewardship of our planet’s resources while creating great art.
LD: What are some trends you see in terms of new gear?
EW: Visualization in a digital environment is proving to be very valuable, enabling collaboration and creative input where before physical presence in the room was necessary, and maximizing the use of time onstage by putting building blocks in place for the designer with greater and greater accuracy, and advances in gaming are helping development here. The unification of systems is also allowing us to bring together the various components of a production to talk to one another. The digital arena doesn’t replace live experience, but it can give us tools to work more ambitiously.
LD: What piece of gear at the ROH is absolutely essential?
EW: We have a system that allows the floor to move in huge sections; we build the scenery and then move it onstage, the floor around it raising and lowering to facilitate this mechanically driven movement. It was a bespoke design for the Royal Opera House when we opened the theatre in 1999 after a two-year significant rebuild, designed for us and then the manufacturing and installation contract apparently went to Rolls Royce Engineering. We call it the Wagon system (i.e. the sections of floor that move) and Compensating Elevators (the raising and lowering of sections of the floor to allow for the wagons to track over it). This system is in place throughout our extensive upstage and wings areas, the build area where scenery is first assembled prior to rehearsals, and even into our opera rehearsal rooms.
It means we can move several shows around like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle so we can rehearse and perform four or five productions in the same week. Without this system, our season would look very different and we wouldn’t be able to rehearse a full opera or ballet at 11am and perform an entirely different one at 7pm, almost every day.
LD: Have you ever implemented a policy/best practice that on paper looked like a great idea but in practice did not work out?
EW: In any organization there will be many policies or best practices that have been changed or amended; in my department it may be in the way we assess fire effects on shows, it may be in how we load trucks, or our touring policies for staff overseas - I think all policies and practices should be under scrutiny and should be subject to a process of continual change and improvement. Amending or abandoning a previous process is not in itself a failure; change indicates flexibility and adaptation.
So for example we welcome the annual audit of our safety processes, and I have implemented a Technical Director’s summer safety review too. We learn and adapt as people discuss, test, bring new ideas, and suggest better ways of doing things. My role is to listen, filter, implement, empower, and make sure we are working collegiately.
LD: What are the biggest challenges in your job?
EW: Traditionally this hasn’t changed: The top two challenges in this role are money and time. Can we keep pace with technological advancements, do we have the resources to stage the production as the designer & director conceived, are we going to have enough stage time, are we paying competitively, do we have time to get the show to the other side of the world. But the third challenge is the human element; post-Covid people are looking for a different work-life balance, and the younger generation want to work differently as their aspirations change alongside societal changes. With an increasing focus on good mental as well as physical health at work we need to invest time and resources in our staff, and understand how a modern workplace might be different in the future.
LD: What inspires you in your work?
EW: People and productions; seeing the skills and craft applied to the design, the making and performance of a show, and standing in the wings as the curtain goes up and hearing the audience reaction makes it all worthwhile.
LD: What are some of your favorite things about working at the Royal Opera House, versus elsewhere?
EW: The main reason I came here was the opportunity to work in a big production house, at a huge scale, with workshops that produce everything we need to allow the fantastic show teams to present spectacle onstage. The skill of our staff in our scenic, props, costume and technical teams are extraordinary, and seeing a project develop onsite from initial design concept and raw materials to the opening night onstage, has been a real privilege.
LD: Congratulations on the MBE! Has that recognition made any difference in your career/life or is it just nice for professionals in the arts to be recognized?
EW: Thank you! And no it hasn’t made any professional difference, but while artists are often recognized it is rarely extended to anyone behind the scenes. I had a lot of very generous messages when it was announced, but I’m also really happy that people felt proud that they were, by association, being represented, acknowledged, and celebrated, particularly as I am one of relatively few women in a senior technical leadership role.
On a personal level, knowing that my colleagues across the industry submitted the recommendation and wrote testimony was extremely heartwarming, it made all those years sitting on safety committees and speaking at schools and conferences worthwhile!