Before the audience notices

Text A: an original contemporary practice extract.

I arrived at the theatre while the auditorium was still dark. Lena, the lighting technician, switched on one lamp and asked an actor to walk slowly across the empty stage. From my seat, nothing seemed wrong. Lena stopped him at the edge of the scenery, where his expression suddenly became difficult to see.

I assumed that the lamp was failing, but Lena showed me how its angle had shifted when a piece of scenery was moved. She altered one bracket and watched the actor cross the stage again. During the rehearsal, the lighting appeared completely natural. Nobody mentioned it, and I began to understand that Lena’s work was successful precisely because the audience would concentrate on the performance instead.

Text B: an original contemporary practice extract.

When I met Arun at the cricket ground, I expected the groundskeeper to begin mowing immediately. Instead, he walked slowly beside the boundary, rubbing the grass between his fingers. He rolled a ball across several sections of the field and watched it lose speed near one corner.

To me, the whole outfield looked identical. Arun explained that the shaded corner still held moisture from the night before. He brushed only that strip of grass and returned later to inspect it. Once the match started, the ball travelled evenly across the field. The spectators watched the players, unaware of the careful work that had made the surface reliable.

Both texts describe a narrator watching an experienced person prepare for an event.

What similarities are there in what the narrators learn about this preparation? Use evidence from both texts to support your answer.