Time Running Out!

The day was split in two. Firstly an early morning run through at Langdon Down with the Level 2s. In the main they're absolutely certain of the work now, which means we can begin to shake things up a little and start to anticipate some of the difficulties of taking the work outdoors.

The exciting and scary part about site specific work is that however much you rehearse and however 'on top' of the material you think you've become there is always something unexpected to take you by surprise. It's why I'm so insistent on running the show over and over - each time making the circumstances a little different. 

The success of the schools workshops means that our matinee show has already got a guarenteed audience of over 170 year 5 pupils and this in itself will dicatate a more direct and interactive performance style. Once again our early work on pantomime and the Victorian music hall will be called upon to ensure we carry the story to the audience. All of this is hard to rehearse, but is, of course the real challenge of taking work out of the theatre building. My concern now is to weave in the Level 1 chess pieces. There aren't many rehearsals left and time is running out.

Hot footed it over to Marshgate School to see another Level 1 group deliver a great session to an enthusiastic group of year 3 children. There were some lovely moments of theatre. The cast hopping in and out of the broom cupboard to change costumes and leave the kids genuinely wondering whether they had dreamt the whole thing.

Back in the workshop and Kate has manged to finish off the Catapillar's toadstool, puffing up the plywood cap with carboot sourced sleeping bags to give it a cloud like feel. It looks wonderful.

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