Sophie Leach - Stage Manager

Sophie Leach has worked at Glyndebourne for 26 years.

In her role, as stage manager, she takes a show from the very first day of rehearsals all the way through to curtain down on the final performance on stage.

Photo by Alun Callender

The Marriage of Figaro, Autumn Season 2026. Photo by ASH

In a typical year at Glyndebourne, a stage manager will work on two different productions in the Festival. We will also act as an assistant on a third production.

In the Autumn Season, stage managers work on one production and assist on a second. This year, I’m stage manager for The Marriage of Figaro, and assistant for new opera Spark.

This means more than just moving bits of set, which you can see on stage, but also things the audience can’t see – like moving people.

One big part of my job is making sure that all the moving elements are safe and they’re all in the right place, at the right time so that the audience sees what the director envisioned.

Sophie backstage during Billy Budd, Festival 2026. Photo by Graham Carlow 

Sophie backstage during Tosca, Festival 2026. Photo by Graham Carlow

We are lucky enough to have people from all over the world coming to work on and in our productions. Some of them are away from their comfort zones or their support groups, so we’re here to look after them and make sure that they can give the best of themselves to the production.

When the curtain goes up on a production like Barrie Kosky’s Saul, and there are 600 flaming candles, hearing the audience gasp and applaud is wonderful.

What the audience don’t see is that it’s taken us 90 minutes to do the interval change, and we’re all sweating buckets!

Photograph from side of stage before Part II, Saul, Festival 2025. Photo by Sophie Leach