Seven days Later ...

Monday 28th August 2006 - S4K Office - Bank Holiday Monday
It's been a week already! And what have we achieved?

Apart from all of the first half of the show; all of the music in the second half and a full first costume fitting ... not a lot really! It's hard to believe that we've covered so much ground. I'm pretending that it's because the company have been inspired by the genius of their director, but that can't be it! At this rate we'll have Act Two finished by Friday - leaving us a whole production week in Horsham before we move to Mansfield for the opening shows. Sheer luxury!

All of the acting company are very good - (better than me!) - rehearsals have been very funny. On Saturday we did a speed run of Act One without dialogue. A simple exercise to see just how well the moves, the blocking, the exits and entrances have been locked in. Although the result is a bit like the Benny Hill Shakespeare Show, it's really useful - and of course really funny.

Beforehand, we had a quick chat about characterisation and relationships within the play. Pippa, who is playing Titania and Hippolyta explained how she felt that her characters were, by contrast to the others, more serious and helped anchor the deeper moods of the piece; a counter-balance and control to all the slapstick elsewhere. Two minutes later she was the campest fairy queen the Athenian woods has ever seen. An Amazonian Julie Walters, Hyancinth Bucket with a touch of Mrs Overall.

It's a day off today for the UK Bank Holiday - so it's absolutely tipping down with rain outside the office window.

First day of rehearsal

Monday 21st August - First day of rehearsal - Horsham.
These can be funny sort of days. You meet up officially for the first time, everyone is itching to get cracking, but there is so much "boring" stuff to get through first before you can start. I was half way into my (very funny) monologue about the company and how we work, when I tried to tell everybody that I was a real stickler for "punctuality" - but I actually said I was a real stickler for "punctuation"!

This is probably because on the way in to work I was listening to the breakfast show on BBC London and Jo Good was asking listeners for their punctuation "bugbears". In showbizland, of course, I like many people look out for missing exclamation marks - especially in Oklahoma! Oliver! and Honk! Most of all it reminded me of that great musical Elephant! from the film The Tall Guy.

Funny enough - according to the season brochure - Oliver (without an !) is playing The Capitol this autumn.

Look out world, Dream! is up and running and we've only had one day of rehearsal. (!)

Tuesday 15th August 2006

Very important day. Had meeting with Fran the Assistant Director and Choreographer. More importantly, been for an Indian with the MD (Uncle Col the Bellman). It starts next Monday. Have another Baileys Bellman.