We will be up at the Festival venue tomorrow, so all focus is now on the plays. We have still not sat and worked on our play, so we are going to have to learn it in a week! Can we do it? I am trying to treat it as an experiment really. Some of the plays we have worked on have suffered as a result of laziness in line learning, and it always frustrates me, as I am particularly bad at line learning, but I always work hard at it. In this case, we will be able to prove that it CAN be done if you set your mind to it. Mrs Plug has a 14 minute monologue to learn! I think she will manage, but I hope I don't let the side down! The Screw Your Courage team seemed on good form tonight, so I am looking forward to it all starting tomorrow!
Friday, 27 April 2012
Thursday 19th April
I continually find myself frustrated at people's seeming unwillingness to listen unless they are 100% sure that it is relevant to them. For the last three weeks I have been repeating myself over and over and I am beginning to wonder if it's just me. Anyway, we started the process for a variety show tonight with the adults, and it all seems to be quite popular. I will be taking part in a secret act, but I cannot think about that until the next week or so is out of the way. We started work on our major summer production tonight with the kids, and it seem to go down ok. I will be nagging for regular attendance over the next few weeks to ensure we get it up to the right standard.
Wednesday 18th April
It looks like the club at my old town is going ahead finally. I still have mixed feelings about it, but I think I need to give it a go. After all, it could end up being hugely successful. We are struggling with the Spring weather here at the moment, with the sun blazing down one minute and heavy showers the next. I do think that I have a slight case of seasonally adjusted depression, as the weather affects my mood so drastically. After School club was a challenge, but I think that is more down to my fatigue than anything else. I hope I can survive next week at the Festival.
Tuesday 17th April
Now the madness of last week has calmed down, we can start to get our heads around next week, and the fact that we are also performing a play. The fact that this play is around the 45 minute mark, and neither of us has learned our lines is a slight worry, and I suspect that if we are going to be sensible about it, we will pull out. It's a special play, as it was written for just us two, so we want to do it justice. The trouble is, we just have so much catching up to so with the business, so it all has to go on hold for a while.
Tuesday, 17 April 2012
Monday 16th April
Last day of holidays for the girls, and first day back to work for me. We had School report day for youngest which went well, though I did end of with a frank exchange of views with one teacher about a "dispute" she had with youngest. I think she now understand where youngest gets her debating skills from! Back in the afternoon, for tea, whcih eldest took into the garden with the guitar. She plays outside, and gets a visit froma Robin who seems rather taken with her playing. The robin is called Derek apparently. Session plan done, invoices done, and off to work for what turned out to be a relaxed and gentle start. Home for tea, Arsenal losing and then episode three of the second series of Game of Thrones. A good day.
Sunday 15th April
Mrs Plug had a Craft Fayre today, so we were up early pricing up her wares and loading the car. She was off by Nine, so I sat and drank coffee, and read. I have decided to read the Hunger Games, I have heard so much about it, and to my surprise, it's rather good, and does deserve the hype. The rest of the day was really all about the build up to the cup semi final and what a let down it was in the end. A promising season for Spurs seems to have gone into terminal decline, and whilst there was a massively controversial moment with a non goal being given, the 5-1 defeat seemed inevitable. In the end, it was a sad way for the day to fizzle out. I have started to piece together the plot line for a new play. I have now had formal confirmation that "Screw Your Courage" will be published, which I am so relieved about. It is a little bit more "Out there" than the last two, so I had it at the back of my mind that it would be rejected. I have some housekeeping to do on it first, but that will be done this week. BAck to work tomorrow, and I cannot help but feel that there needs to be a bit of a change in the way we relax.
Saturday 14th April
Back to the hall at lunchtime to rebuild, and a good crowd turned up to help, and a relaxed evening was had considering we performed four shows. All casts seemed happier tonight, and we were eventually tidied up and out by about 12.30. A short blog today, but there has been nothing but the shows going on today, and my mind is empty.
Friday 13th April
A relaxing day!!!! No access to the hall, so I am able to put my feet up a little, we dash over to the village and pick up the art work that the kids all did at the workshops, and get them ready for firing, We have something like 25 giant clay beetles to fire! I love my life. A lot of the cast and crew are meeting up for a curry tonight, so it would be rude not to join them. Sadly, they have chosen the place that we vowed never to go into again after our treatment last time. We went anyway, and I resolved to be an awkward customer. In the event, there were 25 of us, and we were all rather boisterous. It was funny to see the waiting staff struggle to cope with us, and I felt that revenge was sweet. Home pretty early and deep sleep.
Thursday 12th April
Opening night, and another day at the venue, making sure everything was perfect for the cast to arrive. I know I should be off doing other things, but there is a real sense of pride at stake here, so it was fun to tinker and touch up with a bit of paint. Considering we are putting on four shows in a night, we have managed to get four quite different looking sets, of which I am rather proud. Opening performance night was well received, although a couple of the casts were disappointed with their performances. It's always difficult to lift a cast when they are not feeling great, but I hope we managed it. We had the onerous task of completely clearing the hall after tonight, as there has been a double booking and another group needs the hall for Friday. We manage to get this done in 20 minutes which is excellent and everyone mucks in.....that's more like it
Wednesday 11th April
Dress rehearsal day, but no access to the venue until 5.00, and we are running workshops at the Middle School (Or Academy as I now have to call it!) which went well. Straight to the hall after those, and then right through till midnight with the run throughs. which provided us with the chance to see them all for the first time. Not bad at all considering, and I have ended up being prompt for pretty much all of it which is great. The concentration levels required are quite high, so I slept well tonight!
Tuesday 10th April
Spent the day at the hall again and a couple of run throughs. I do like being left alone in the building to just get on with it. We have lent our Scenery to the group and our PA system, so it was good for us to get the chance to play with it all and make sure we know how it works. I am also able to turn my hand to a few practical tasks, which I am never particularly good at, but being able to attempt this without having someone looking over my shoulder is easier, and I manage to get everything done that I need to. The run throughs went fine, and we were able to have an evening at home.
Monday 9th April
A day at the hall finishing up the setup, and waiting for the casts to turn up and have a run through or two. Of course, we still didn't get everyone there. It was a long day, but I think we achieved pretty much all we could hope for under the circumstances. I am, however, constantly amazed at the imbalance of contribution to the cause. I just couldn't do it, just let someone do all of the work, and then turn up and click my fingers. I managed to hold it together without losing my temper, but it was a struggle at various points. Never mind, the vast majority seem grateful.
Sunday 8th April
Up early and off to the Hall to set up for this weeks excitement, and quelle surprise, only three of us turned up. I made the decision to cut it all short and finish at lunchtime. Ultimately, why should we give up our Easter Holiday when the rest don't turn up. It would make it rather difficult for the rest of the week. When I got home, there were three more bags of holly to clear to the tip, which we did in record time, so that I could get back and watch the football. The rest of the day was spent drowning in Gin and watching crap television. Youngest had a fabulous time, but has come back with what appears to be a slight chest infection, so we have allowed her to collapse into a heap. I suspect that not a great deal of sleep was partaken of in Italy by the looks of her. When we picked her up last night, she was the only kid who went around thanking all the teachers personally, which I was rather proud of . Granny and Gramps went home in the afternoon, and we spent the evening drinking Gin in the hot tub. What decadence!
Saturday 7th April
I never eat breakfast, but my lovely wife always does a cooked breakfast when her parents are over, so I ate some out of tradition. I wonder why we do stuff like that? Why we create an impression of how we live, when I think everyone knows it's not the case. Anyway, I was able to slope off for a couple of hours into my office and work, and the hedge cutting began. I believe I earned these brownie points for all my heavy carrying yesterday. I almost forgot to mention as well, that I had a haircut on Thursday. Bearing in mind it had not been cut this short in anger for probably about four years,it was a shock to the system. Today I felt the difference in the way that people spoke to me in shops. What a strange place we live in that people are that backward. We managed to fill up three giant industrial rubble bags with Holly cuttings that I then loaded up in Gramps's trailer, and off to the tip we went. The rest of the day was spent relaxing as much as possible, as I knew that Easter Sunday was to be taken up with our get in.
Friday 6th April
The arrival of Granny and Gramps means that we can at least try and switch off from business. Last night was good, and I forgot to mention that myself and Mrs Plug visited the Thai restaurant in our old village, which was excellent. The arrive at lunchtime, and we were able to relax a little. A large shopping trip, in which we bought a lot of gin then took place, and we relaxed into the evening. The first of the gardening starts tomorrow. However, as is usually the case with Granny and Gramps, they came with gifts. We have been given a large concrete Bird Bath, and a VERY heavy old Urn that will hold a plant. This nearly broke my back. There were planters for the garden and a large piece of slate that we will use as a garden bench. Best of all from the girls perspective, a hammock. I have never seen the attraction myself, but we now have a hammock, which eldest now lies. today was a nice day, and we get our baby back tomorrow. We went into a small spin, as we got a call from Italy, saying that she was complaining about a painful Hernia. We forgot to mention this apparently! Whoops. She gets this from time to time.
Thursday 5th April
The pre show week frenzy begins, with several phone calls, and I can tell already that my minor role will be expanded over the week. Our business advisor has left me with a key to come and use their Pool and Hot tub over the weekend, which all seems rather decadent to me. I hope we can avail ourselves. Granny and Gramps arrive tomorrow, so mucho tidying is on the menu today. Their main reason for visiting, other than to see us all, is to help clear the garden and trim our giant Holly bushes. As is usually the case, I am willing to bet that this is going to be a bigger job than I anticipate. We went to rehearsals in the evening, which was ok, but one of the casts was decimated, so no performance as yet....rather difficult to stage manage when you haven't seen something.
Wednesday 4th April
We have my Ma and Pa in law visiting this weekend, so we need to be ready for that. The house is a bit of a tip, so I have been doing a little tidying, but I suspect it will all be in vain, as we have another show week next week. I spent time line learning as well, and managed to get some decent work done on them today, so I feel a little better. The nature of our play is that there is not a great deal of movement to worry about so it's just lines really, and whilst I am nervous about it as there are a lot of lines, I think we can do it. We shall see. It will at least be an interesting experiment in terms of line learning. We are missing youngest, the house seems so empty. I have a new idea for a play which is all consuming at the moment, which in turn is irritating me, as I have other things I should be doing. We went to the pub quiz tonight, which was fun, even though we finished in mid table obscurity as usual.
Tuesday 3rd April
So the plan for the week was to have some time off, and to relax a bit, however, it would appear our chances of getting away are somewhat limited. Firstly, Mrs Plug has officially got her large commission, which in turn means that she needs to be glued to the kiln for a week or so at the very least. Secondly, we have a show with the grown ups next week, and I suspect I might get rather more involved than I was originally intending. Already the phone calls are starting. I shall smile sweetly and continue. I recently purchased a DAB radio, which has been glued to 6 Music and Radio 4 since purchasement, I have experienced a bit of a revival in my musical tastes. I have got into a little bit of a musical torpor over the last couple of years. and all of a sudden my horizons have been expanded and I have started to listen to new stuff again, as well as revisiting some old friends I had forgotten about. Today was largely spent reading. It was rather pleasant
Tuesday, 3 April 2012
Monday 2nd April
We are missing youngest....It all seems a little quiet! A relaxed day, and the first official day off! I had a long meeting with the accountant first though. I managed to spend time relaxing for the rest of the day. I am hoping that we can get a day or two in purely for writing. I have loads to do, and I want to get it all sorted out quickly. We also managed to watch the first episode of the second series of Game of Thrones, which was good fun as ever.
Sunday 1st April
Show Day. It was excellent fun to be out doing what we love doing, and the whole team really threw themselves into it. We had time to set up, make blood capsules, have two complete run throughs, and chill out a little. We tried something new, in that we ran the show for free and asked for donations at the end....we did this with the bar as well. In the event, we broke even, which was excellent! The show went better than I could have expected, and we got so much good feedback. I still revel in the whole experience of writing something, and then seeing it develop, and eventually get to performance. Tonight was my favourite so far, and hearing some of the laughter in the appropriate sections, as well as the sharp intake of breath on the other sections was excellent. As usual, they all raised their game, but I have to make a special mention of my eldest who was outstanding. She deserves to do this for a living. On to the festival next, and I hope they can keep the momentum up. We managed to sneak into the local Curry House for a late night meal, but sadly were made to feel rather unwelcome. It is a shame, but I felt that we were treated so shabbily that I will not go in there anymore. We have spent many many hours and a lot of money in there over the years, and deserved a little better.
Saturday 31st March
We arrived at a Polish community School, which is held at a mainstream School every Saturday. All was OK, but many of the kids had gone back to Poland for Easter, so we ended up performing for 11 Kids, which was a bit of a low key way to finish the project. We also got invited to sit in on the assembly, which was in Polish, and as a result, rather a surreal experience. We then got back for the afternoon to prepare for the show. We then met up with our friend who introduced us to his new partner, who was lovely. We spent the evening in a local pub that we had not tried before, which has a less than decent reputation. It was OK, but I was subjected to abuse for the first time in ages, when a young chavvy chap called me a hippy. How it took me back to the days when I couldn't go anywhere without being abused!
Friday 30th March
Up early to ensure that youngest had all her stuff together for her trip. I managed to get a little iPod on Ebay for her, which took me into the night to ensure it was filled up with the appropriate tunes. She is so excited, and I hope she enjoys it. She is such a grateful girl and realises how much it has been a struggle getting the money together to be able to afford it. We dropped her at School, but they don't actually leave until the evening, so we had to go back. It was the usual mixture of sadness and bravado, but we suspect we saw a sneaky little tear or two as the coach set off. She is such good fun to have around, we will all miss her. We ran our final session of the term tonight with a final run through of Screw Your Courage, and then home for Wine! Final Bobby Dazzler tomorrow!
Thursday 29th March
A day of DVD production, letter writing, general tidying, and all such shenanigans. I am feeling rather demob happy at the moment, knowing that the end of term is nigh. Eldest planned the session for me tonight, and ended up pretty much running it. She also was feeling a little demob happy as she had another audition yesterday, and has to wait to hear on that one. It could be a couple of weeks, which is slightly frustrating, but we can do no more. She felt it went well, and believes she could have done no more. One more to go. We then watched youngest in her festival play, which was fun. We say goodbye to her for a week tomorrow as she is off to Italy to Ski for a week with the school.
Wednesday 28th March
Had a relaxed day today, as I was knackered after the show yesterday. I had to lift myself for a club later, but apart from that I managed to rest up, and do a little writing. I started work properly on a script for a Summer School, which I hope to put forward for production this year. There is a slight copyright issue to contend with, but I am still able to move forward, happy in the knowledge that I can just change the title. Twas fun to get some of it done, and I am pleased with the way it is going.
Tuesday 27th March
Eldest had another audition today, and again, it was another "Thanks but no thanks", which is hard for her to take. She has another one on Wednesday, and we can do no more than keep our fingers crossed. Spent a long busy day at the School and managed to operate the lights, sound act as prompt and generally be at the back gesticulating to them all. They did a lovey job, and the school seemed pleased. I am to be hired again in the Autumn apparently, which is excellent news.
Monday 26th March
How quickly the months are passing. I still cant quite believe how much we have managed to get done this year already. I have a final Bobby Dazzler appearance to look forward to and then we have the world premiere (That always sounds like I am disappearing up my own Jacksie, but it makes me laugh) of "Screw Your Courage" on Sunday. I never look forward to such things, a basically I am in the hands of a group of young people whose idea of organisation is to make sure they have the right day, and will worry about timings "When they can be arsed". We did our final Ampthill session tonight, and then I was able to prepare for the final performance of the War play at the lower school. A pretty full on day to look forward to.
Sunday 25th March
I still cant manage to do the whole lie in thing lately. Whether I am going a little mental or not I am not sure, but I was up and awake early, so I read and just relaxed, which was fun. The rest of the day was spent doing a little planning, finishing preparing DVD's for the kids, and generally tidying up a bit. It's been a lovely weekend with eldest....she is excellent company.
Saturday 24th April
Our final Saturday session of the term, and all was well. I suspect that the kids can't wait to get on with the big show this summer, but we need to persevere really. I then spent a terrible waste of an afternoon being a bit of a lad, by putting my feet up, drinking beer and watching the Chelsea Spurs game. Mrs Plug and youngest went off to sisters house for the rest of the weekend, and myself and eldest had a bonding session, which basically meant that we drank beer, ate curry and watched crap telly. It was fun, and we should do it more.
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