A weekend in the life…

Saturday:

8.15 Get up and get ready…slightly berate myself for not getting up earlier and for making the same mistake every week. Leave the house ensuring Jonny will bring CD player and I have everything I need for today’s rehearsals…

9.15 Travel to Thornes Park with Alice and Ash…pausing only to check with Cheryl we can have the rehearsal room for the afternoon…usual stop for coffee and food

9.30 As people arrive I catch up with them about their day, their week, their costume issues…psych myself up to deal with security guard who needs a piece of paper signing

10.00 most people now in attendance go and deal with confused security guard who tries to explain new system of signing in whilst looking for the piece of paper he’s lost…not sure he understands new system…eventually sign paper and thankfully move on to…

10.05 Best and Worst…this week terrifyingly including politics and religion…always slightly risky territory…still the mixture of optimism and sad moments gives me a gauge as to group “morale”

10.20 Warm up…impressed with Danny’s improvisation scenarios especially as my head is steadfastly refusing to come up with anything at all…feel significantly better after vocal warm up

11.20 Break…bombarded with a variety of questions, excuses, reasons mainly about costume…I hate costume I realise again…still those people who have managed to get it right look good…

11.39 Start run…frustrated, concerned and pleased in turn…main frustration costume…main concern vocal strength and predisposition of cast to do laps back stage…delighted by some of the characters, Aaron has found new depth…Joanna is simply a delight to watch and Bob and Elizabeth Cratchitt have the right blend of heartbreak and desperate attempts to hold on to hope…there are others but those are the ones that come first to mind…another joy is oddly the music…also quite pleased with the way some of the writing is sounding…

12.20 End of run…notes and finishing the session…another round of questions…head pretty much spinning...

1.00 Home time…

1.15 A mixture of cleaning, cooking, planning…just before I leave I discover Amy is ill…she has come back from her rehearsal grey and tearful…nightmare…means tonights theatre trip is in jeopardy, Oz can’t watch Musicians as planned and she’s a lead in a ballet tomorrow

1.45 Leave for Musicians rehearsals…everything feels a little bleak

4.45 Entirely reaffirmed by Musicians run…couldn’t be more impressed…a short rehearsal time has produced wonderful results…with a bit of thought and creativity The Musicians could be one of those shows…some of the stuff that Marber has written is deceptively simplistic when actually he’s making real statements…food for thought… Credit to Danny and Rob for their commitment and talented approach to tricky characters…thoroughly entertaining and engaging…credit also to a true ensemble…that are working truthfully…

5.50 Leave for the theatre…a night out with family and friends…no petrol grrr and no handbag…call in at Sarah T’s to retrieve said handbag… the couple who were there when we finished our rehearsal are still there…just finishing their session with Amy (who incidentally I directed as Lilly St Regis in Annie a number of years ago) The idea of people attending dance lessons in order to carry off their first waltz as a married couple with style keeps my mind occupied for a while…there’s a story/scene in that

9.30 Leave West Yorkshire Playhouse…thankful for the fact that the Secret Garden was well cast, well sung, well lit and well designed…possible to pick many holes in it but one of my favourite stories had been well told so this is good…couldn’t help feeling jealous of them calling the first week of shows previews…Musicians will have one show in total…hardly seems fair…and also they have a fully equipped costume, set, lighting, sound department at their disposal…but…does this sometimes leave other things lacking…

10.00 Debate the show and the day with Oz…plan for the day ahead and then catch up on blog accompanied by the sounds of Match of the Day…

11.30 Then bed…and sleep…

Sunday:

7.23: I wake up and realise I have to get up... yes on a Sunday and yes at a horrible hour…

8.30 I get ready…I get props sorted, I get CD’s burnt…I find out the washing machine has broken….arghhhhhh

9.30 Set off to the theatre

10.00 Arrive at the theatre after a terrifying journey through torrential rain and too much standing water than is healthy on the M62

10.30 Start A Christmas Carol tech

12.00 Finish tech – we have time for a quick vocal warm up to get a feel for the power needed on the stage…I really am quite concerned about the audience being able to hear…

12.30 Start Beauty and the Beast tech

1.45 Finish tech…this time the concern is lines and volume…on the plus side we have an extra rehearsal tomorrow…Ellie Moran – the hero leads a line run with the cast while I…

2.00 Start The Musicians tech

2.45 Finish it because the Black Company are brilliant…still need to be louder though…

4.00 Leave the theatre after getting to see snippets of Purple companies Snow White which looks stunning…tidying up and thanking the theatre technician…

4.40 Get home shortly after my Mum and Dad arrive from the North East

6.00 Go to the dance show Amy and Tom are in and watch my two talented children smash it…they were magic…supported by Oz, Danny and Rob technically who should for yesterday get hero status…

8.45 Get home

9.00 Say goodbye to Mum and Dad

9.15 Take away…Studio 60… a little post day analysis and planning for the day ahead and then sleeeeeeppppppp