Odds and ends

The odds and ends that have to be done and can only be done at the last minute plagued the first part of yesterday’s rehearsal.

Jack Boskett (Photographer) was attempting to get some arty black and white shots of the cast to fill the boxes on the front of the theatre. Liz White (Costumes) was running around with an armful of waistcoats to match Peter Osborn’s (Bohr) suit. Martin Oakes (Lighting) and myself were trying to mark out where the edge of the stage will be with chairs to give the actors a better idea of the acting width. Sadly the rehearsal room isn’t nearly deep enough to mimic the staging area so they will have to get used to that at Monday’s Technical Rehearsal.

It’s frustrating. All the actors and I want to do at this point is rehearse the play: work on getting the speed up, polish the performances and get confident with the lines. However, the rest has to be done.

Today I went to do a pre-recorded interview for Radio Gloucestershire. Not something I would do voluntarily but it comes with the job. I book in and am told that the interview will be live on air. The Receptionist notices my immediate look of panic, checks and discovers that it is pre-recorded after all. Enormous relief. It’s going to take some careful editing to make me sound as though I know what I’m talking about unlike Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran (creators of TV wit such as Birds of a Feather), who are being interviewed first and are sitting very relaxed when I arrive. They go out live and are very good. Obviously they’ve done this a few times before.

Eloquence under pressure is not my strong point and curiously I’ve always found Copenhagen a difficult play to summarise. Perhaps it would be best to skip the next 15 minutes, they won’t be up there as highlights when I look back over my existence. Earnest-rabbit-caught-in-the-headlights-of-a-juggernaut sums the moment up nicely. I was planning to have a bath tomorrow morning when my moment airs.

The best news came from the workshop yesterday. Set construction is complete – thank you stage crew – and Helen will finish the artworking today. This means an evening off for all. Our families’ will remember what we look like!