I was rather excited about performing in London. It has buzz and cudos and I was very proud in my anticipation of stepping onto a London stage. Also, I feel amongst friends at The Pleasance. They looked after me very well in Edinburgh and I was happy to be renewing our acquaintance. In terms of preparation I felt I had done rather well. However, it was only on the morning of the show that I read that the theatre space was at the top of two external and two internal flights of stairs. The Double Booked props comprise most of the internal furniture of a small family saloon car, together with the contents of an average-sized kitchen. All I could do as I sweated my way up and down those stairs with table, chairs, bookshelves and car seats was laugh. The show was fun and the audience was appreciative - if small. Lots of forces were keeping people away: half term, Hallowe'en, the clocks going back, and of course, X Factor and Strictly. For a London debut, this was rather quiet ... but a precious memory nonetheless.
So, on to Waterfall (where there isn't one), where, to start with, it was even quieter. Parked atop a Staffordshire moorland outside the converted Victorian school building which was to be my venue I did wonder where the evening's audience could possibly appear from. There didn't appear to be any houses close by .. or even people. A couple of dog walkers bent their heads into the wind and hurried past. They were the only evidence of humanity on top of the moorland for about twenty minutes as Toby and I waited for the key. But .. two hours later the building was full of people out to have a good time. Fuller even than the organisers had expected and they had to keep coming in to the dressing room to fetch more chairs. Community is everything in places such as this. The hall was warm and friendly and boasted a brand new kitchen, which I was shown with pride.
The next day we went to Waingroves. This is a very different place - semi urban in feel, the community centre and surrounding buildings gave the impression of having been (still being in fact) at the centre of a hard working community. I don't know, I'd have to check, but I bet there was once a mine nearby. I was shown the brand new kitchen. This being the third brand new kitchen I had been shown in the past four venues I tried not to be blase. In fact, I think it's absolutely fantastic that these meeting places are so well supported that they need and can provide bigger better facilities for the men, women and children of the neighbourhood who want to gather there.
Live theatre is all about tales of the unexpected. In Waterfall the fairy lights played their usual trick on not coming on. So I put in a line "... and the lights didn't work - as usual." And then they came on, which made me feel stupid. In Waingroves the malteser packet exploded and I watched a malteser roll off the table onto the floor. So .. I picked it up, didn't know what to do with it next, and ate it. And there was a laugh and a ripple of applause. Toby the techie says I should do it every time, but really, I'm not that keen to build eating off the floor into the show. Not even for the sake of an easy laugh. Or am I? I must do something about the ending of the show though ... gives me something to work on, which will be fun.
So, that's it for 2010. No more performances till January 2011. But a mountain to climb with another script to learn... If you read this, do let me know. Otherwise it's a bit like shouting into the wind.
