Rehearsal diary, week 7

'Cloud Nine' by Caryl Churchill

---

By Jo Hollingworth

Monday 23 October 2006

Two blokes down tonight so there was only one thing for it…red wine. With less than two weeks to go…I´ll say that again…WITH LESS THAN TWO WEEKS TO GO and lines still being fluffed, sometimes it´s the only answer. Obviously there was a limit to what we could achieve tonight with two cast members missing but we did what we could in areas that were particularly poor. Lovely Colin turned up to return Daniel´s man-sized skipping rope (it had been the victim of some over-enthusiastic skipping by the latter…) and ended up reading in for everyone who wasn´t there and prompting everyone else…a lot. Be careful Colin…next thing you know you´ll end up directing…it happened last year to Mrs Lucas and I believe she was originally intending to do props…ha! We finished the rehearsal with a run through of all the songs. And the less said about that the better. Thank goodness it´s not a musical. It´s not is it…?

And Aggi did a timely speech about line learning and that if we didn´t pull our socks up we´d be back after school on Wednesday (which is supposed to be our day off.) Then we all went up to our rooms to think about what we´d done…

Tuesday 24 October 2006

A line run at my house with wine and home made chocolate cake. Not a very exciting event so I won´t go on about it a length… Two individuals were asked back to do extra work at Aggi´s on Wednesday night…but they shall remain nameless.

Wednesday 25 October 2006

Do you know what…? I can´t honestly remember what happened at this rehearsal. We had Kevin and Daniel back so we were back to full cast again so I am presuming we worked our behinds off and maybe did a run…? I don´t think we even went to the pub so we must have been exhausted. Yep, that´s probably right. If anyone out there knows any different just keep it to yourself…

Thursday 26 October 2006

A run tonight with a discerning audience member! Wendy came to give her input and arrived with pizza which she nearly choked on when she heard our singing…needless to say those songs definitely need some work. And the less said about that Cloud Nine ‘dance routine´ the better. However…Wendy came into her own when she demonstrated how to do an ‘About Turn´. As you might predict I was rubbish, but I am hoping my huge skirt and even huger bottom will cover up any dodgy foot work…

Discussions in the pub centred on the orgy and whether or not we should raise the action up on the ‘broken polo´- the technical term for our rather nifty bit of set. It´s all very well that we´re rolling around the floor having a great time but ‘tis pointless if no-one can see it! It was decided to have a go on top of the polo at the Sunday rehearsal to see if we can all three manage to writhe around without falling off. No chance. Let´s have another pint of Stella.

Sunday 29 October 2006

A mammoth day of rehearsing at the Unison Club. Beginning at 10am we worked steadily through to 5 with props and set dragged across from the warehouse, and Poo arrived at lunchtime laden down with all our fabulous Victorian costumes. I am not joking…they all look spectacular. And with the Mrs Bates wig to top mine off I am definitely giving Queen Victoria a run for her money. And Lindsey got his nipples out…hurrah!

Although space was confined we managed to work through the play about one and a half times, stopping to repeat bits that still weren´t working or that we were getting repeatedly wrong, which was really helpful. Having the costumes really made a difference to the whole feel of the play and our performances…for the better I hope! It really feels that we need an audience now because that always lifts everything and creates an exciting buzz…even if it´s only one or two people. Hopefully there will be a few more than that at the Drill Hall…

The singing and ‘movement´ still needs work so we´re all off to Kev´s house tomorrow night to give them both a good hammering. Aggi has optimistically suggested a word run too…we definitely need it.

Oh yes, we tried the orgy on the polo…and as I fell off it on top of Mala with about as much finesse as a chocolate cheesecake I began to think that there must be easier hobbies…I think I´ll try skydiving next.

THREE DAYS TO GO!!!!!!!!