It only went and happened again, didn't it? No, not the microphone thing, nor having royalty in the audience. The allergic reaction. I've narrowed the offending substance down to paracetamol or ibuprofen. Sometime later this year I've got to go in to hospital for a controlled experiment to discover which of those two provokes the reaction. Or I could just take one of them now ... no, maybe not.
I've got all behind with my performance by performance blog though. After Waingroves there was Heage in Derbyshire. The last time I went there someone put their raffle prize on my set. This time, I couldn't work out why people were setting off fireworks outside on November 18th. Turned out it was the tea urn making all the noise. Heage is a bit like that, but for its eccentricity, remoteness and the fact that people are prepared to go out in the pitch dark in the dead of winter to see a performer from warm and cosy Warwickshire, I love it.
Then Alrewas, where I must confess I had a sense of humour failure when the lights played up again as we were setting up. It was the wrong place to get stroppy because the Alrewas welcome is very special: the food is amazing, the backstage help second to none and the audience are wonderful. Why the lights keep playing up is anyone's guess and I'm just not a good enough actor to pretend that everything is hunky dory before a show when I'm faced with the prospect of performing with one light, or no lights, as the mood takes them. They have now been fixed. Did you hear that lights? You have been fixed. No more allergic reactions from you, if you wouldn't mind.
So .... it was a huge relief and big, big treat to go to perform at the Bridge House Theatre in Warwick. Oh, what a night! One of the best. But before the show my son was terrified. This was a fundraiser for his forthcoming school rugby tour and lots of his friends were going to be in the audience. He couldn't bear to be present and waited at home whilst his mother cavorted around on his school stage before his teachers and classmates. I'd hardly entered the house when I arrived home before he asked how it went. "Terrible." I replied. "They just didn't laugh at all. In fact I think I'm going to give up doing this. It just isn't worth it."
Why did I say that? I don't know. I'd wanted to pick the audience up and take them home with me, they'd been so great. Just seemed like a bit of fun to tease my son.
I waited for an outburst of recrimination: Why did I have to do the show there in the first place? How could I let him down in front of everyone? That kind of thing. But I'd forgotten. Son is a nice chap. "I'm really sorry." I said, attempting in a fake way to cover my own fake disappointment at my fake flop, ready to disabuse him of the disaster as soon as he reacted. Son looked at me kindly, covering the humiliation he must have felt. "It's all right, mum. Don't worry." Five minutes later he dump tackled me onto the sofa and got his own back.
After that it was one more visit to Bulkington and I was home and dry for 2011 - well nearly. Bulkington holds the record for seeing all three of my shows in the space of ten months. Most venues take three years. I was therefore pleased to be able to tell them that I was still one step ahead and that a new play "Something Fishy" would be ready in March.
As a finale for 2011 I did a preview of "Something Fishy" before a selected audience of friends in our garage. The performance wasn't flawless but I was pleased with the reaction and can't wait, really can't wait to doing some more in 2012. Brighton here I come! Maybe Buxton too ..... Edinburgh, not sure.
See you soon.
No comments:
Post a Comment