Last Entry

 

 

Its Friday night. Having a few glasses of wine and reflecting on the shows, the run, the process.

 

It's all over. No, we have not dreamt it.

 

After each production I do I read a passage from a piece by Auden entitled The Sea & The Mirror. It ends with the most incredible poem to Love. But before that is the most inspiring few words on acting I've ever read. Re-affirms why I do this and what the rewards can be. The genius who founded my drama school (Drama Centre London) read it to us on the final day of our year and it's poignancy is incredible. Read it.

 

How do I feel?

 

Sad. Exhausted. Adrift. Proud.

 

It was a great production. A wonderful process. A show that on most nights was magical and lovely and entertaining and comical. On some nights it was brilliant and we all knew it. I moved forward as an actor and a person. It was wonderous to be in creative company and try to live up to the standards set. I learned from each actor involved and from every audience. I wish the rehearsal and show process had been longer. Another month would have been fascinating. We'd have hit a wall and then gone through it, and who knows what we'd have found on the other side?

 

What do I do now?

 

Off to Paris for a few days. A break and chance to explore another culture. And be anonymous for a while. Then back to London for the foreseeable. My theatre company has a production coming up at Theatre503 called "Blue on Blue" and I'll be organising stuff for that as well and keeping the Actor's Gym ticking over.

 

A plea. Go see Rosslyn Chapel!! Its beautiful. And now the tourist season is moving away from its peak, it's nice to experience it in a quieter atmosphere.

 

A thing of note. Our director stayed with us EVERY NIGHT. Except when the football was on. But each night we'd do group warm up and sing songs and play games. Bruce would give us notes, ideas, new gags and ask for objectives for the evening. This is unbelievably rare. Directors usually leave the show for the run and return only for the final night drinks and celebrations. We were lucky to have a director who was not satisfied and wanted to develop the show each night and make us work harder and pursue the characters' objectives further and further. Just playing. With a serious goal in mind. But I don't think we realised our fortune. The opportunity was there for us to create anew every night and when we did it paid off handsomely. I want to make the very most of what little talent I've been given, and am dedicating my life to doing this, and to have a director who's equally driven and enthused is very special and inspiring. Gotta make the most of these chances. Cos now it's all over.

 

I'll end with more Memories and Thoughts:

 

"Diiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeee…" Every night a joy.

 

William The Cat giving us his blessing and meeting me after the show most nights.

 

The cutest Lion you've ever seen spinning and spinning and spinning…

 

The first time I saw the fairies doing their scene outside and watching with my mouth open.

 

The director, one of the most laid-back people I know, cramming furiously for his emergency performance that evening, and then acting us off the stage, getting all the laughs and his surprise when he came across lines in the script as they really are, rather than how we've mis-learned them.

 

Furious games of Woosh (Trademark Bruce Strachan Inc.) who's final standings I'd like to take a look at.

 

The comments of surprise, delight, warmth, gentleness, happinness, joy and more we'd elicit from audiences who had no reason to come see us or say what they thought. Their kind words are the best encouragement to our profession.

 

Many people having this as their first taste of Shakespeare which hopefully will encourage them to explore his work more.

 

The LOVE put into this production and the COMPASSION it took to make it work. Everyone should be proud of their work and it proves the age-old adage true: "What you put in you will receive ten-fold."

 

"Mind there's a step here."

 

 

Finally thank you to everyone who's read this blog and all the comments and advice and postings and the audiences who've made this an amazing journey for me. Thank you.

 

 

End of blog.

 

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.