How-to · Calling cues
Warning. Standby. Go.
Three words run every light, sound and scene change in the show. Here is how to say them so nobody jumps early.
If you're new
You only need the order: warn them, stand them by, then say the cue and end on GO. Click through the cue light below twice and you've got it.
Try it
LX desk
On headset
Quiet on headset.
Nothing is lit. The next cue is a few pages away, and the operator is free to breathe.
- 1. warning
- 2. standby
- 3. Standing by
- 4. go
The three words
Calling the show means reading every cue out of the prompt book and telling each operator exactly when to take it. Each cue gets the same three beats (Wikipedia).
Warning
About a minute out
A heads-up that a cue is coming. US calling uses it; a lot of UK calling skips it (Wikipedia).
Standby
Seconds out, or 30 in the UK
Hands on the button, eyes on the cue. The operator answers “standing by” so you know they heard (Theatrecrafts). With no warning first, as in a lot of UK calling, the standby comes earlier, about 30 seconds out (Wikipedia).
Go
On the moment
The only word that starts a cue, and it always comes last: “Lights 14… GO” (Theatrecrafts). No GO, no cue (TMU Production Handbook).
Say it in the right order
Do
“Lights 14… GO.”
The operator hears which cue, then the trigger. GO comes at the end of the sentence, every time (TMU Production Handbook).
Don't
“Go lights 14.”
Say GO first and a keen operator is already moving before they know which cue. Two cues at once work the same way: name both, then one GO.
US vs UK
Same job, different habits. If your crew trained on the other side of the Atlantic, settle these at cue-to-cue, not opening night.
United States
United Kingdom
Who calls
US
The stage manager, on headset (Wikipedia).
UK
The deputy stage manager, “on the book” in the prompt corner (Theatrecrafts).
The words
US
Warning, standby, go. Some US houses say “warn” where the UK says standby (Theatrecrafts).
UK
Standby, go. Lighting is “LX”, as in “LX Q 11, GO” (Theatrecrafts).
Cue lights
US
Some houses run one lamp: on means standby, off means go (Wikipedia).
UK
Red flashes for standby, goes steady when the operator acknowledges, green is go (Theatrecrafts).
Habits worth keeping
- 01Keep GO out of every other sentence on headset. Nobody says it unless they mean it (Wikipedia).
- 02Never start a cue with “fade” or “stop”. GO is the only starting word (Theatrecrafts).
- 03Use the same words for every cue, every night, so the crew hears the shape before the number (Theatrecrafts).
- 04Stand a busy sequence by in one breath: “Standby LX 1 through 25, sound 2 to 12” (Theatrecrafts).
- 05If an operator takes a cue without hearing GO, that is on them; if you forgot to say GO, that is on you (TMU Production Handbook).
Words on this page
Sources
- Theatrecrafts, “Calls and Cans and Comms”: call wording, cue lights, UK practice.
- Theatrecrafts, “Prompt Book”: the DSM on the book, standby vs warn.
- Wikipedia, “Cue (theatrical)”: warning, standby, go timing; headset etiquette.
- Toronto Metropolitan University, Production Handbook: operators wait for GO.