Spotlight On: Bradley Roast
Bradley Roast has lived enough lives to make a spy jealous. After careers as a DJ, a professional soccer player, a tech professional for stage plays, and a money broker, life shifted forever for Bradley when he went to work for the English National Opera and fell in love with the art form. In an operatic journey that has taken him from his home country of England all the way to Cincinnati, New York, Los Angeles, and across Europe, he now enters his second year serving as HGO’s Technical Director. With an expansive resume and the greatest accent in the building, HGO’s own 007 works alongside creatives and executives to bring the magic of the stage to life.
Here’s Bradley on his life and career, in his own words:
When I left school, I went into soccer. I was at a club called Tottenham Hotspur, we call them the Spurs, as a junior until I was 17, and then I went out on loan to another club, Aldershot, and I broke my leg. I stayed there for another year, then went back to Spurs to recuperate. Then I got injured again. I missed my boat with the Spurs, but after that I went to another couple of teams and played pro for a few more years. I fell out of love with it, to be honest.
When I came out of the soccer world, I went into the Royal Shakespeare Company, but I didn’t want to work nights because I was young and wanted to be out and about with my friends. So, I went into the city and worked as a money broker for four years. Then my company got bought out, and I went back to working for the Royal Shakespeare Company. I started enjoying it, and I thought, well, I better get a career in this. I worked my way up to the deputy head of stage at a young age for the Royal Shakespeare Company, until they pulled out of London. I was offered a position in Stratford-upon-Avon, but I didn’t want to move cities, so I went to English National Opera and worked my way up there. I’ve been a technician, assistant show manager, show manager, production manager, and everything higher in the production sphere in my 20 years at ENO.
I fell in love with opera when I went to ENO. Royal Shakespeare Company was very much play-orientated, and some of the shows, for me, got a bit boring. And I preferred the music. Once you do the big, large-scale operas, you’re sold. I’ve had the great pleasure of working with Terry Gilliam—the Monty Python guy—and David McVicar. I’ve worked with all the biggest in the opera. I’ve crossed paths with many, many of them.
I’m the one who gets to put the shows on, technically. For instance, HGO’s production of Il Trovatore. We started that from the design process, and my job is to make that into reality. I take it to the shops to have it built to make it work on our stage. We do two shows at a time here, which means if we take one set out, the other one has to be in place within a four-hour timeframe. I’m the one who has to make sure it’s built how both HGO and the designer want it. I cross paths with the singers, with the dancers, with the stage management, with the electric team, with everyone. And when we rent a production, I deal with other companies’ technical departments. It’s my job to ask: What are we getting for this show? Are we getting everything? Do I need to add anything to it?
Sometimes, you have to have difficult conversations. I’ve had to tell Terry Gilliam no, that ain’t happening. And when I say no, I’ve got to have a plan A, B, and C ready. What you’re asking me won’t work, but I think this might. And they will go, right, okay, let’s try it. When we put our shows on, I’ll make a plan for everything, but sometimes, things do arise that you haven’t foreseen, so you’ve got to be thinking on your feet.
Of all the operas I’ve worked on, I have two favorites: the biggest one I did, Terry Gilliam’s Benvenuto Cellini, and A Dog’s Heart from Simon McBurney. They're not traditional operas. They’re contemporary operas, very off-the-cuff, very different. Cellini was just Terry’s mad brain put into an opera, and A Dog’s Heart was behind a projection, like a shadow play. It was amazing. I was the production lead on them at ENO, so they were my two shows. I loved them dearly.
Coming to HGO was the best move imaginable for me. The shows are fantastic. I’ve got an amazing boss. My relationship with her is fantastic. It’s like one big family here. When I’m working on these shows, I enjoy doing it as a team, and that’s something I’m trying to create here. It’s working well. HGO is moving in the right direction as a company, so that’s really, really cool. And in terms of location, I love Houston. I think it’s amazing. Getting used to the hot weather is another thing, though.