One final Midsummer Night's Dream then the whole run is ended.

 

We did the second extra show last night to our biggest audience yet – 89 tickets sold! They were like sardines in the chapel. I thought it'd be a goodly number, though on Mon only 30 had been sold – dunno were they all came from. Of course thoughts turned to what would have happened if we'd tried to sell Fri and Sat too – though sod's law we'd have probably sold none. So it was a good night to end on. We have a Corporate Evening tonight with post-show discussion, buffet and wine so that'll be interesting.

 

Sun came up this morning. Opposite to last night when grey coulds covered the sky. Just as we were about to begin (15 minutes late after getting all the audience into their seats) it started to rain. So we went inside. It was a raucous opening – I was still using my outside voice and had to tone down. Though plenty of energy and aggression. Did a lot of running outside as Deme and Helena don't charge through the chapel as the audience is coming back in. Really enjoying Demetrius. It'll be a shame to let him go. Second half was excellent I thought. Really enjoyed scenes and watching others playing and creating.

 

I'd like another month to run the show and develop it. It'd be interesting performing in different venues. Or doing the whole thing outside. Or playing on a procenium arch stage. Endless possibilities.

 

 

Thoughts of the shows:

 

Forgetting a pencil to write down the Lion's prologue and pretending instead

 

Sitting in the crypt trying to shut out the shadows that looked like strange ghostly figures

 

A dog belting around chasing its tail in the garden whilst Titania and Oberon argued

 

A large proportion of babies and kids coming to see a show that finished after 10pm

 

Bottom's tail repeatedly falling off and finding its way into other scenes

 

More anon.

OUR FINAL WEEK

 

Strange situation. Seems light years away at the start, then it just flies and here we are now. We've done a lot of shows, had a few dramas, had amazing audiences, lovely criticism and its been a brilliant journey. We have 4 more shows – 2 extra "normal" ones, plus a Corporate Event and a Charity Evening. An eventful final week.

 

Last shows last Frid and Sat were great. Friday because we began slow and had to encourage the audience and draw them in, and Saturday because similarly the audience were a little reserved. I loved that one particularly. Its been my favourite show so far. Now got 4 chances this week to top that and I'm gonna give it my best shot.

 

A friend of my Mum's is over from Australia and she came to see us last Tuesday. She liked it so much she made some truffles and brought them all the way out to Roslin for us. They were delicious. She's known me since I was wee and has seen a few things I've done now and she really loved MSD. That means a lot.

 

Don't think the audience is gonna be full tonight so it'll be interesting what happens. We started with a few smaller audiences and it was nice to build up to sell-outs. It might be a shock to see less in the crowd tonight, but they've all paid their money so we have to give it our all, as usual.

 

A lot of people have been interested in what the company is doing next. For the record, it is "The Canterville Ghost" – an Oscar Wilde story adaptation. We now have a core audience, a growing mailing list, and a lot of email contact with people and organisations interested in Nonsenseroom. It'll be healthy to keep building the audience – amazing that its taken as little as under 4 years to establish and grow such a thing – now there is a tradition of theatre at Rosslyn Chapel – one of the best performance spaces in Scotland – and the company should be proud of this. It listens to its audience and hopefully in tandem with them it can produce better and better shows in the years to come. And because of the ambition, the dedication, the talent and excitement of the company, its members and supporters, I want to be involved whenever possible.

Final Friday Night

 

 

Our last Friday. It was raining.

 

So we did our 3rd indoors show. Started at a real lick. Lotsa pace and aggression. I forget how darkly the play begins – threat of death to a girl who disobeys her father's will. I got the impression the audience was pretty clued-up about the play. They were following it really closely. So we had to encourage them to like the silly, knockabout stuff as well as the beautiful, profound things. And they did. All of us told the story very clearly. And they were laughing a lot and enjoying themselves. The final play within the play was excellent – really took off.

 

The director challenged us to shake ourselves out of our complacency and comfort zones which we've all fallen into in the last few weeks. Its kinda natural. We get used to doing things – standing here, moving there, delivering the punchline like this – mostly because it has worked well so far. But if we treat the audience and the event as a new one each night we have to discover everything afresh and this makes the production spontaneous and immediate. It was very rich last night. I found all sorts of new things and wondered why I haven't been doing this before. Demetrius had a whole new dimension to him. I was a little distant – thinking about a friend of mine who I just seen off on a train back to London and I was missing her. It was a kicking show therefore. Especially the scene where Demetrius tells Hermia that he loves her and she rejects him. Don't remember too much about that one. Pretty emotional. Coupla pints after helped.

 

Totally forgot to plug my Mum's show. Her drama group do a Fringe production each year and this year are doing "Lord Arthur Saville's Crime" – based on an Oscar Wilde story. I saw a dress rehearsal because our shows overlap. Its very good. They got 4 Stars in the Evening News and thoroughly deserve it. They're very good at Oscar Wilde or Shaw or anything 19th/20th Century. Their actors know about those old-fashioned essentials like posture, deportment, projection, etiquette, even a simple thing like how to fold their hands and cross their legs. Its amazing watching them because they do it unconsciously – younger actors like me have to work hard at these foreign manners. Its an education to observe. A current trend is that it doesn't matter how actors stand, sit, behave on stage because its more about their pyschological landscape and their emotional agonies than anything else. I think this is misguided. And obstructive when it comes to performing anything older than John Osbourne's work. I don't particularly care about what actors personally are FEELING. Feeling is a byproduct of Though. I do want to hear what they're saying and know what they want and I hope they have the stagecraft to best display this to an audience. I think this is what we spend a lifetime learning. There is always a better way to present something, a better way to say it. We're lucky we've had a long run at this play to discover all the ways we can. And watching older actors like those in the Makars diligently going about their work is the best inspiration we have.

 

A Dutch lady saw us in the pub after and she offered her congratulations. She liked the play very much. And she said the audience and the players "Were as one". There is no higher compliment.

 

 

Start of Final Week

 

 

 

Bizarre we're now at this stage. Always seems years into the future and now its upon us. 6 shows in the final week.

 

Last saturday was our second Gala Night. It went off really well. The audience has a glass of wine to begin with, then the show, then a post-show discussion, then more wine and buffet and finally a tour of the chapel. Finishes late but it's a nice thing to be part of. The discussion was really interesting. People ask fascinating questions. I've been part of some of these events where it becomes more about the cast displaying their knowledge and opinions which is always really boring. Its much more interesting to find out what the audience has to say. And so it proved. I spoke to a couple who divide their time between here and Chichester which has a thriving theatre that stages diverse, interesting shows and gets very good reviews. Others had never seen a Shakespeare play staged before. Hopefully they'll be encouraged to experience more of his work. A kid asked if it was easier to learn Shakespeare than other work. It is. The rythmn helps. The syntax and grammer creates the most perfect way of capturing a thought and it's easier to learn perfection than the next-best.

 

Talking of which I went to see "Troilus and Cressida" last night. Its part of the International Festival. It wasn't very good. Very long with no flow, no excitement, no pace to it. A lot of blackouts. And most actors couldn't do what's demanded of them in this highly complex, political and social love/war story. The leads were young and poor and it was unfair to expect them to carry this epic. A huge set and live music obstructed the actors. The exception to all this was the actor playing Ulysses. He was extraordinary. The clarity, stillness and economy of speech and movement was amazing. He had a lot to say but I could watch and listen to him all night. If our current political leaders spoke and performed as he did, held authority and bound us to their particular spell, they'd be very powerful, dangerous men indeed.

 

The challenge is to start this week with a bang and get some momentum behind us. Really push to a brilliant run until the end. I hope we can sustain it because I think last week we ran out of steam on Fri and Sat.

 

There is was a rumour we might be doing extra shows. It looks like we are. There'll be extra performances on Monday 28th and Tuesday 29th.