Less than two weeks to go...

Now that the opening night is less than two weeks away the production and publicity issues that need to be dealt with dwarf the time I spend in rehearsal with the actors.

The programme was sent to Paul Scott at the Box Office for proofreading on Wednesday and the lengthy improvement plan he sent back was implemented. I then went to negotiate a quote with nice Liam at Print by Design who gave me a very reasonable deal. Any chance of a fiver off for the plug?

I paraded my ignorance about wardrobe in front of several costumiers in an attempt to resolve the ongoing difficulties. The ladies on the other end of the phone were very helpful and patient – rather as if they were talking to a deaf three year old. Ah the humiliation. And did we get anywhere? NO. But there is still time.

Set construction started on Thursday evening and I went down to paint. It’s very therapeutic to do some physical work to burn off the adrenaline and I was more relaxed as a result of doing something tangible for the play.

The actors rehearsed on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and are getting better all the time. They are working very hard and are very dedicated. On Friday we concentrated on the bits from both Acts that needed extra work and on speeding up the dialogue where it needs to be fast and punchy. There are large sections where the performances are wonderful: very funny and moving. Actors like to terrify themselves and the rest of us by only getting it together at the last possible moment. They will be great.