Opening, Closing and Doing It All Again

‘Lear’ was a success! I am very pleased with our performances. I do believe everyone else is too. I hope so!

Opening night proved to be amusing. Everyone was in place for the top of the show, ready to begin, when the fire alarm went off. We all had to evacuate; audience, cast and crew. The fire brigade came and had to check everything before we were allowed to go back in. Turns out the fog machine we use in the show was the culprit. It was fine, working normally but a window was open in the tech booth and some of the fog escaped from what is normally an isolated theatre. This triggered the alarms in another part of the building. It was inconvenient, yes, but it would have been much worse if it had happened during the show!

What a wild ride this past week has been! We opened Monday night and ran for four performances. And during all that craziness we were also squeezing in ‘Caesar’ rehearsals. Tomorrow we continue to tech the ‘Caesar’ and open Tuesday night. It’s a bigger show with a larger cast and more complex technical demands. I just have to say, the design and tech teams have been absolutely amazing. A big shout out to all of them!! They really do have a tremendous task in dealing with this show and are having to turn it around very quickly. The crew is the same as worked on ‘Lear’ so they too have been putting in long hours. It is looking great and I think will come together beautifully.

Today; our only day off from the Shakespeares; my project partners and I worked on ‘Dead in Scotland’. We had a very productive rehearsal that resulted in a streamlined script and very clear objectives. Our excitement for the project multiplies with every rehearsal. Although, we usually don’t work for six hours like we did today. But hey, we were on a roll!

Next week we are off to Ullapool with our Shakespeare shows. We will present each show twice to the good people of the Highlands. Everyone is looking forward to our little tour but I don’t think many of us are focused on it at present. Too many things to tackle this week. We’ll think about next week later.
Not much else to report. It is all about pulling the plays together.
I’ll let you know how it goes!
Take care!
-m