Change of Direction.

It's a bitty time at work. No sooner have we got a couple of days rehearsal when another bank holiday appears. It's lovely to have so many days off, but with the show fast approaching it's breaking the momentum a little.

The Level 3 students were supposed to fly out to Lilongwe on Friday night, but their plane's been delayed and so they stuck in a hotel in Heathrow. Meanwhile already in Malawi Paul phoned to say that his Dad's been taken seriously ill and he'll need to come back to the UK. An hour of frantic phoning and emails later and the only course of action seemed to be for me to fly out on Monday to cover for him, until Matt, who's currently recruiting in South Africa can get there next Friday.

The knock on is considerable, especially in terms of The Canterbury Tales, but I've entrusted Joe, whose been co-ordinating the band, Emma, who directed a really sound production of Shakers earlier in the term and Katie, who co-jokered the crime prevention play in February to look after things until I'm back. I'm absolutely confident in their ability to keep things rolling.

In many ways a mini-crisis like this offers students a fantastic opportunity to step up the plate and prove their maturity. It's always difficult to direct, and be directed by, your peers - but on this occasion there's no alternative. It's not a gig we can postpone.

In late afternoon I headed into college for the Student Union SIMMstock festival, which was in full flow and caught up with a lot of the cast, who were perfoming bits of the A-political cabaret in-between sets. There was some concern about next week, but in the main I think they're supportive and seem prepared to work together to move the show on.

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