A stage timer for theatre and live performance

On stage you cannot stop and ask how long is left. OnCue Stage is the quiet channel between the stage manager and the performer — a timer, cue lights and messages that reach only the person who needs them.

What goes wrong during a show

Live has no pause for a conversation. Anything not agreed beforehand has to go through sign language from the wings.

• Performers lose their sense of time on stage — it happens to everyone, and it is not a sign of inexperience.
• The stage manager signals from the wings and the performer has to choose between looking and staying in the piece.
• A last-minute change — drop a song, stretch until the guest arrives — has no way of getting across.
• There is no agreed moment to begin. Someone guesses, and someone else isn't ready yet.
• In a two-hour show the stage manager can't watch a clock the whole time, and misses exactly the moment that mattered.

How it works during a show

A timer that reads from the stage

Large numbers on black, in the colour you pick, up to full screen. Readable from the far side of the stage without glowing too much in the dark.

Cue lights

Standby, go, hold and clear — full colour across the whole screen. An agreed language with no words, no control-room cabling and no technician needed to run it.

Flash when you need attention now

A brief flash of the screen pulls the eye back without a single word. Send it to one screen only when there are several people on stage.

Adjust without stopping

Show started two minutes late? Move the timer forwards or back while it runs. You don't reset and you don't start over.

Producer mode — no timer at all

When the show doesn't run to a clock, turn the timer off and keep only the messages and the cue lights. A quiet screen that speaks only when there is something to say.

The network can't stop the timer

If the connection drops mid-show the timer on stage keeps running locally and does not reset. The devices re-sync on their own when it returns.

Before the curtain

A soundcheck for communication — ten minutes, and you can forget about it all evening.

Find the sightline

A monitor on the deck, on a stand or in the wings — depending on where the performer stands. Check it from the stage itself, not from the house.

Set the brightness for the dark

What looks right under work lights can dazzle once the house goes down. Pick the colour and size after the lights are out.

Lock the screen

Lock it onto the timer view. A dropped prop, a hand leaning on it — none of that opens a menu mid-show.

Agree what each colour means

Ten seconds with the performer before you go on: what orange means, what red means, and what a flashing screen means. A signal nobody agreed on is just a distraction.

Keep a backup

This is a live tool, and we say the same in the FAQ: a wristwatch or a second timer in the wings. Not because something fails, but because that is how live work is done.

You can try it at your next show

The screen on stage and the phone that controls it, through a 5-digit code. The timer, the cue lights and the messages are free. The screen can open in a browser; the controlling side runs in the app.